‘God is the Final Physician,' says wife of Robstown man

Yvonne and Richard Padilla display a t-shirt that says ‘God Answers Prayers.'

Richard and Yvonne Padilla were probably a lot like many couples. They worked too hard and had neither the time nor the energy to enjoy their lives. But all that changed in 2008 when Richard's heart stopped beating for over 30 minutes.

The Padilla family have been parishioners at St. Anthony's in Robstown for years. Richard worked at the Texas Department of Transportation for 28 years and fixed up rental houses during his spare time. Yvonne, was and still is, a hairdresser. She works at home to be available for their two youngest children.

But their busy schedule left little time for them to be with each other or extended family members.

Their true priorities took on a new meaning on Nov. 20 of 2008, when Richard suffered a mild heart attack and was scheduled for surgery the following day. About an hour after a grueling 5-hour quadruple bypass surgery, Richard suffered a massive heart attack. His lungs and heart had collapsed and 30 minutes later he was pronounced dead.

Yvonne remembers saying, "No, I won't accept this," to anyone who would listen and then to her husband she yelled, "Fight, you're stronger than this."

Whether it was the screams of a grieving wife or some intuition, heart surgeon, Dr. Mark Morales, hooked Richard up to a machine that would keep his heart and lungs pumping. His head was iced down to prevent brain damage and after heroic efforts to repair the damage and prayers to keep him alive, Richard's heart began to beat on its own again.

Dr. Morales recalled, "This gentleman had diabetes and multiple areas of obstruction. I knew he would need a new heart. The operating room prolonged the non-heart function, but he would have to be moved to St. Lukes in Houston and the trip alone would probably kill him."

"I did what I could to bring him back," said Morales. "I tried everything I could just short of bringing him back as a vegetable. After working on him for more than an hour I honestly did not think Richard Padilla would make it. Many times I thought that there was no way he would survive."

Praying and bargaining, Yvonne begged God to save Richard and by 3 a.m. her back was hurting so much that she slept on the floor. Richard also began running a fever.

Dr. Morales said, "There was some kind of intervention, some kind of bridge between medicine and the supernatural that occurred. I worked on him giving him compressions for close to an hour. Sometimes medicine collapses… all I know is, he came back from Houston with his own heart and lungs."

Meanwhile, there was a scramble to get Richard to Houston. The trip would require a means of transport, which was eventually found, and a perfusionist, a trained health professional who would go with Richard to operate the heart and lung machine.

When he got to St. Luke Hospital he became very sick. They could not give him the needed transplant.

Yvonne had already enlisted the assistance of her prayer warriors. Among them were Sr. Maria Giovonni Paolo and Mona Bieberstein, both members of the Society of Our Lady of the Most High Trinity. They prayed novenas, rosaries, Divine Mercy prayers and prayers to St. Michael while Father Dennis Walsh, pastor of St. Anthony, was also leading prayer back at the parish and his name was placed at the foot of an image of Jesus.

At St. Luke's in Houston, Richard hung in there for more than 3 weeks battling a multi-infection. By now his lungs had collapsed and the family was told to prepare for him to die. His face and throat remained swollen and finally Yvonne was told to surrender and let the Lord take him.

"I'm not gonna be selfish, but… you need to help me handle this," Yvonne prayed, "I'm going to need to understand this. Your will be done, but you're going to have to give me the grace to get through this."

Yvonne then went to confession and finally surrendered to God's will. Meanwhile, Richard's brother found Richard sitting up in bed and the swelling had gone down. They removed all life support and true recovery began.

Richard was moved to the regular ICU and received psychiatric meds while Yvonne played praise and worship music to stimulate his brain activity. He was then moved to the 11th floor and was given a private room, so that Yvonne could stay with him.

On January 6, 2009 Richard was released from St. Luke Hospital and the Padilla couple went home to Robstown. They were greeted by family and friends.

Richard began physical therapy at Christus-Spohn Shoreline Rehabilitation Center. Valerie Tatum, Director of Nursing spoke fondly of the Padilla couple, "some people say they're Christian, but they don't act like it. The Padilla's have a wonderful relationship with God and they are very Christian in the way they act and speak. They are very open to working with the staff and very receptive and respectful. "He is our ‘poster boy' for the Christus-Spohn Shoreline American Heart Society Kickoff ," said Tatum. "The Padilla's are always willing to talk and work with us. They have a wonderful spiritual relationship with God. God has blessed them."

At first Richard was angry at Yvonne for not letting him die, but now although they have become very poor, they are very happy. Yvonne goes to Bible classes, prayer group meetings and does the readings on Sundays. She takes Richard to physical therapy twice a week and what was once a very hectic schedule for them has now become filled with family, praise and worship. "People need to realize that God is still doing miracles, said Yvonne. When we give it all to Jesus... that's how much we need to trust in God."