The Gill Family
May - 2009
Please Read Rachel's Story
My name is Nikole Gill. My husband Tom and I have been blessed with 8 beautiful children. Hope Danielle, Amber Grace, Joy Noelle, Bethany Faith, David Josiah, Rachel Honor, Ramah Mercy & Jonathan Daniel
I pray that as you read this Jesus will bring hope and joy to your heart. After all, it's all about Him!
March 25, 2005
A little over three weeks ago we (the Gill family) decided to take a vacation to St. Petersburg, FL, after Tom had been invited to preach at a church in Tampa that had recently lost their Pastor. So, we thought that it would be nice to take the whole family (there are 8 of us now - Rachel was born in January ),drive to Florida, and stay on the beach. Eleven days into our 14-day vacation, Rachel Honor (at that time she was 7 weeks old ) developed a fever. She was previously a little congested in her nose, so when she got the fever I was a little concerned. I called her pediatrician back in Ohio and he told me that if her fever went above 100.4 degrees that she would need to be seen by someone that could treat her. Saturday morning, March 12, her fever was 102. She had no other symptoms and she never really complained at all. Tom and I took her to the All Children's Hospital Emergency Room in St. Pete. There they diagnosed her with RSV Bronchiolitis. They kept her overnight for observation and sent us home (back to the hotel) on Sunday. Sunday night her right eye began to swell a little and she still had a fever. By Monday morning her eye was completely swollen shut and extremely red and puffy. She still had the best disposition, but she was sleeping a lot. We were supposed to leave the next morning (Tuesday, March 15) to come home to Ohio. I called her pediatrician back to see what they recommended that we do since our trip home would take a couple of days. They told me to take her back to the ER so that they could check her out. I thought that maybe they would just prescribe some eye drops for her. A couple of our other children had had clogged tear ducts before and I thought that maybe hers was just a little more severe than theirs was. Tom and I had NO idea that she was as sick as we were about to find out.
In the ER at All Children's Hospital they drew blood and performed a CAT scan. During all this time Tom and the other children were preparing to check out of the hotel where we were staying because we were scheduled to leave the next morning. The CAT scan results came back and showed an abscess behind Rachel's right eye and severe sinusitis. The doctor said that Rachel needed to be in the hospital for 3 days so that they could treat her with IV antibiotics. I remember thinking, "WOW, 3 days. OK, Tom will need to look for another hotel and everything will be fine." So that's exactly what he did. He moved a little closer to the hospital and although we were all ready to head home, we decided to make the best of the situation. Tom and I both figured that if God had allowed this to happen, there was someone that must have needed to hear about Jesus. We began to ask people to pray for Rachel and the whole situation in general. We trusted that God had everything taken care of back home with the church and all, so we were able to focus our attention on Rachel. I am so thankful that God gives us such wonderful family and friends within the body of Christ and that our needs are always met. Well, they admitted Rachel to the hospital and I was able to stay with her and Hope, Amber Grace, Joy, Faith and David stayed with Daddy.
Tuesday morning the doctor came in and said that the news was worse than they had originally thought. After further reviewing the CAT scan they discovered that the cell tissue behind Rachel's eyes, both of her ears and the bones behind her ears were all severely infected.
The diagnosis was bilateral postseptal cellulitis with abscess, bilateral middle ear and mastoiditis, severe sinusitis and RSV bronchiolitis. She also said that they needed to do a spinal tap to check for meningitis and to make sure that the infection had not progressed to her brain.
The doctor said that they would need to begin radical antibiotic treatment and we would need to make arrangements to stay in St. Pete for at least 3 weeks. I remember thinking, "God, I just need to call my husband. I need him here with me." I asked the doctor if there was any way that we could get her to Children's in Columbus without jeopardizing her health and they told me that the infection was so severe that if she were to travel, she would die. The doctor left and I immediately called Tom. I stood there, looking out Rachel's hospital room window, and staring at the palm trees I could hardly speak to give my husband this horrible news. He prayed for her, and he just kept saying, "She's going to be OK, Jesus will take care of her." His strength in Christ was tremendous. We have always balanced each other out so well. And now, when I was so weak, God gave Tom enough strength for both of us. I couldn't believe that all of this was happening. We've always trusted that God would get us through any situation and He ALWAYS has. But this was something that we had never experienced before and I could literally feel my faith being tested. It took a little time, but I finally gained my composure. All I could do was pray.
As a mom you usually feel like you can help your children through any trouble that they bring to you, in Jesus' name. I've put on my referee outfit many, many times. But this was one situation that I had absolutely no control over. It had to be Jesus. It's all about Him anyway. The first Scripture that came to my mind was Psalm 118:17 "(Rachel) shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord!" They had some trouble getting an IV into Rachel because her veins are so tiny, but when they finally did, they began giving her fluids because she was not eating well and they hooked her up to oxygen and heart monitors. She looked so pitiful. There's something about having your baby hooked up to all that STUFF that makes you feel completely helpless. They performed the spinal tap on Tuesday and after 48 hours everything came back clear. Thank God! People all over the world were praying for her. And now we were praying that somehow God would make a way for us to get her home to Columbus.
For the first time in a day or two I got to spend some time with my other babies. I was so glad to see them. Tom stayed with Rachel so I could see the others because they weren't allowed in her room. When I came back into Rachel's room that day I leaned my head down in her bed and called her name. She turned her head to look at me and she gave me the biggest smile. It was so special to me because that was the first time she had smiled since she was born. My heart leaped for joy! Meanwhile, Tom had started to make arrangements at home for church and everything. God took care of it all. We even had people offer to drive/fly down to Florida to help with the kids so that Tom and I could be with Rachel. Having our family separated was very difficult. We do almost everything together, but the kids were absolutely wonderful and the older ones were so understanding. They were praying very hard for their baby sister. Thursday was a very good day! Although they had to pull the IV from her foot and insert a midline catheter in her little head, Rachel was responding well to antibiotics and the swelling in her eye was almost gone. Now the doctors were a little more optimistic about us flying Rachel to Children's in Columbus. That boosted our hopes tremendously! They told us to begin to check into it, but that she would need to be at All Children's through the weekend. By Friday night the doctors had agreed to allow Rachel to fly home with me and we immediately began to make arrangements. She was doing so well, eating better, staying awake longer, no fever, no swelling. God was answering our prayers. Tom and I were taking turns staying at the hospital. It was so nice to be able to spend time with Hope, Amber, Joy Faith and David, but Tom and I struggled, being apart from each other. God, however, was using this situation to make our marriage stronger as well. It is so hard to be apart from the one that you love. Thank God that He is the cord that binds us together; even when we're apart. Tom is the best husband and father, it's unbelievable.
By Saturday everything was about ready for us to fly home. We had purchased a plane ticket and the doctors were making arrangements for Rachel to be accepted at Children's Hospital in Columbus. Rachel had another CAT scan. They said that obviously the antibiotics were working since the swelling in her eye was gone, and that the abscess behind her eye was shrinking, however, there was no significant change with all the infection. They said that we needed to get her straight to Children's Hospital on Monday when we got home so that they could continue IV antibiotics right away. Rachel was released from All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL on Monday morning and we went straight to Tampa Airport to make our flight home (Rachel and I). Tom was going to drive with the other children and it would take a couple of days to get there. So, when we got to Tampa Airport, Tom pulled up outside the door and dropped me off to check in. He went to look for a place to park and then he would bring Rachel and the others in. I got into the LONG check in line and as I was waiting, Tom called me on my cell phone. He told me that he was going to have to drive around until I got checked in because he couldn't park the Suburban with the kids' toy 4 wheeler on top of the car. The ceilings in the parking garage were too low and he couldn't get through. He told me that we would need to say our goodbyes outside since he couldn't bring the kids in. Moments later he called me back and said, "Look toward the front door. Do you see a black man with dred locks, wearing a green security jacket?" "Yes", I answered. "Well, wave to him because he's looking for you." So there I am in the midst of all these people, waving my arms frantically at a security guard that I don't know. The guy motioned for me to come to the front of the line and he got me checked in right away. I thanked God for His favor and called Tom back on his cell phone. I told him that I was done checking in and he said, "Have a seat because we're coming in." I thought, great, my family gets to see me and Rachel through security and we'll have that much more time together.
I sat down and waited and as I see them coming toward me I notice that Tom has tears in his eyes. He said, "You're not going to believe what just happened out there!" He went on, "You know that security guy? Well, I'm driving around in circles when he steps out in front of the car, stopping all of the traffic behind me, and motions for me to pull to the side of the road. When I pulled over, he came to the window and said, "Brother, what is it that you need?" Tom's reply was, "I need a place to park my car. My baby is sick and she and my wife are flying home to Ohio this morning." "That's taken care of," the man said. "What do you need?" Tom thought for a moment. "We need prayer to get home safely." "No, no, no, that's gonna happen. What do you need?" The man asked again. Tom said he thought harder as lots of little things entered into his mind. The man looked at Hope in the front seat of the car and asked her, "Honey, what do you need?" Hope replied, "We need to get home." "That's gonna be taken care of," he said again. He pressed Tom once more, "Brother, what do you NEED?" Tom said that it was as though God physically nudged him and he said, "We need Rachel healed!" "Ahhhh", said the man with a smile that would light the world. "It's done. Your daughter is healed." He prayed for Rachel with complete faith. Tom said it was God sent. The guy knew exactly what to pray for and he had no idea who we were and he really didn't even know our situation. Then he said, "Now, go do what you've gotta do." He put a tag on our car so that Tom could leave the car there and he came inside the airport. After we said goodbye, Tom went back to the car with the kids and he met the security guard again. Tom said that he had some money that he wanted to give the guy to bless him (that's just the way Tom is), but the guy refused to take it. The security guard said, "Isn't it amazing that God let me live this long, to be at this particular place at this particular time, just to serve you?" Tom told me how humbled he was. He said to me, "This guy outdid me in Jesus." I'm not so sure about that myself. Nonetheless, we were blessed. God is so amazingly good!
Anyway, Rachel and I made it to Columbus almost effortlessly. Waiting there for us were my mother and stepfather, two friends from the Worthington Fire Dept. (to escort us safely to the hospital) and unknown to me; a pediatrician that was planted on the plane just for Rachel in case anything went wrong. God is soooo amazingly good!!!
We arrived at the Columbus Children's Hospital Emergency Room at 2:30pm and waited unexpectedly for 6 1/2 hours. We were supposed to be pre-admitted but something went wrong and we were told to wait. God had a purpose for that too, because we were able to witness a little to a couple of ladies and pray with a mother whose baby was also sick. We finally were admitted and the nurses immediately tried to get an IV into Rachel, but were unsuccessful. As a matter of fact they were unsuccessful all 5 times that they tried over a period of about 9 hours. They never did get an IV in her at all. I kept communicating with Tom and the kids as they drove home. That was so rough. We still were not together physically, but Spiritually we never left each other at all. Tuesday the doctor came in with his entourage of interns and examined Rachel and asked me a million questions about her diagnosis and treatment she received at the hospital in Florida. He kept saying to me, "She looks fine! I just can't believe that all of this is wrong with her." My reply was always, "Yes, from the outside she looks wonderful. It's what's on the inside that concerns me." My pediatrician had assured me that this doctor was one of the best Infectious Disease doctors in the state of Ohio, so I had complete confidence that they would do whatever needed to be done to help Rachel. However, I kept thinking to myself, "Just do a CAT scan so you can see for yourself." Suddenly, not as though I had forgotten, God reminded me of the words of the security guy at the airport.
"It's done."
Now I just needed confirmation that she truly was healed. Tom never doubted for a second that God had already healed her. I didn't want to doubt, but I admit that I did struggle to believe. The doctor did order another CAT scan, and once again they couldn't get an IV in her. Looking back I know that that was God's way of saying, "She's not going to need an IV." The other doctors were telling me that if this summary (from Florida) was correct, she may need to be kept in the hospital for four to six more weeks. Waiting overnight for the CAT scan results made us about crazy. When the doctors came in the next day (Wednesday) with the results I thought I was going to need resuscitation. All eight of them stood before me smiling as the one said, "We don't have the CAT scan that they performed in Florida to compare this to because we never requested a copy of it. But IF there was something there... it's gone now!" I shared with the doctors what had happened at the airport and how I knew that God had healed my baby girl. Praise God that they were able to see first hand God's awesome power, whether they believed in it or not. What could they say! What else could I say! I knew my God was able, even though I questioned whether or not He would do it for me. I am so completely thankful for the hope that I have in Jesus Christ. It's because of Him that Rachel IS healed. I pray for that same hope for everyone who hears Rachel's Story...
Rachel was released from the hospital that day with a prescription for oral antibiotics, and she and I made it home one hour before Tom and her sisters and brother. The Gill Family is together again, always under the grace and mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ! To Him be glory and HONOR both now and forever. Amen! Thank you Jesus! 
Nikole & Rachel Honor Gill
Time does not heal all wounds, but His wounds Heal for ALL TIME!
(Pastor Tom Gill)
Rachel Honor Gill
