By Candace Pringle
THE TURNING POINT: Eric Sterner’s Victory Story
For me, it seems like Eric Sterner has always been a part of Freedom Valley. For as long as I can remember, he has been an integral part of youth ministry. You could always find him setting things up and tearing things down. He has enabled and empowered so much ministry to happen with pure faithfulness, and with a servant’s heart.
The way Eric tells it, though, he wasn’t always that faithful and generous guy. Before coming to FV in late 2004, he describes himself as mean, uncaring, and totally shut off to even considering helping someone else. He had no one in life that he trusted. All that changed, however, as he began to plug in to the church and get involved. He developed relationships, found people he trusted, and built a supportive community around himself. He would need to lean on this community of faith, to get through the difficult and dark season that began in January 2018.
January 19th, 2018 began as a normal day for Eric, but ended with chest and lung pain, coughing and breathing problems, a pneumonia diagnosis from Gettysburg Hospital Emergency Department, and ultimately, hospital admission. These efforts did little to help Eric, and only a few days later, Eric was found unresponsive in his hospital room. The reports from his family were not good. The doctors attempted to put a breathing tube down Eric’s mouth, but were unsuccessful, so they inserted one in his nose, and transferred him to York Hospital by helicopter.
York Hospital determined that Eric’s oxygen levels were not improving, and it was clear Eric could not breathe on his own. A medical coma came next, then a tracheostomy, which is a medical procedure — either temporary or permanent — that involves creating an opening in the neck in order to place a tube into a person's windpipe. The tube is inserted through a cut in the neck below the vocal cords. This allows air to enter the lungs, and it was a last ditch effort to help Eric’s body breathe again.
This was the news as we received it from Eric’s family, at FVChurch. “Have you heard about Eric?”, was on everyone’s lips, and his condition was in our constant prayers. We were heartbroken, and preparing ourselves for the worst. We were told that the doctors weren’t hopeful that Eric would make it. They had prepared his family for the end.
But miraculously, the end didn’t come.
A few days passed, and there seemed to be improvement! His breathing was getting better, not worse. Another day or two, and he was conscious! He had a feeding tube down his nose, but he was conscious! Suddenly the doctors were using terms like, “long recovery”, instead of “prepare for the worst”. They were preparing him to try eating through his mouth again, and after about 2 weeks of handling that well, Eric was walking! He moved to stepping up a few steps at a time, and was soon well enough to be transferred to an assisted living recovery facility, where they helped him improve enough to go home after about a month.
We’ve continued to be amazed at Eric’s improvements since that time. With prayer, patience, and determination, he has decided to make some life changes, and steadily sees good progress! He hopes to have the trach removed, after losing another 30 lbs, and only ever has to use oxygen while he sleeps.
The VICTORIES in Eric’s life cannot be overstated. He now looks back at his life, and sees victory after victory.
He lived, when no one expected him to, least of all, the doctors.
He didn’t have to go through a painful and miserable journey with a feeding tube, and he can eat normally!
His acute recovery time has been significantly reduced, from what was expected. Instead of years, his total hospital & nursing home stay was only 2 months. 2 months after that, he was able to be out and about!
He’s no longer subject to oxygen tanks throughout the day!
He considers this whole situation a turning point, from unhealthy lifestyles and eating habits. Since having a gastric sleeve surgery, he’s begun to exercise and eat well, and is looking forward to talking about removing the trach as well.
Eric knows that he can use his experience to help others in the future, and help bring them closer to God. He sees it as an opportunity, and hopes that God can use his story as a beautiful testimony of His grace and love!
“God has shown me that one of the biggest victories in all this, is that I can now look at the big picture, rather than the here & now. Because what I perceive as a bad thing in my life, God usually turns in my favor.”
