Marcia Elke shares the journals she wrote in a book she published, ‘Our Journey of the Heart…and Soul,” documenting her life with her husband, Bill, as he fought heart disease.
Bill Elke was diagnosed with heart issues at the age of 35. Marcia, his wife said, “Bill was in denial thinking he was invincible.”
Throughout her husband’s longtime battle with heart disease, Marcia Elke kept a journal of thier experiences, which she later turned into a book. (Photo by Christine Such/My Sun Day News)
Bill said, “It became reality on a drive home from work. I was driving and I had blacked out, not remembering I stopped at a stoplight. When I told Marcia she brought me to the emergency room.”
Marcia said, “Something guided Bill through the traffic for four blocks. It was an angel.”
Bill had a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted, and in the years following, the procedure was repeated twice.
Bill said, “My heart rhythm was erratic from low to high causing the defibrillator to fire off often sending me to the hospital. The diagnosis was that I was at the end-stage heart disease and I needed an LVAD, left ventricular assist device until I got a heart transplant.”
During the heart transplant evaluation, the last doctor to clear Bill was a urologist. The news was not good, Bill had prostate cancer.
Marcia said, “Surgery was not possible with Bill’s weak heart. He had to have 40 radiation treatments. During this time, his heart continued to deteriorate and he continued to pass out. The paramedics who came to our aid were wonderful.”
Bill was taken off the heart transplant list while fighting his cancer until his doctor wrote a letter to Loyola stating that Bill was in remission. He was admitted to Loyola in the intensive care for heart and transplant patients in February 2012. He was very sick.
Bill said, “We waited 32 days for as heart. Finally, one day, the doctor came in and told me ‘Today is the day, Bill. We have a heart.’”
“He was wheeled into surgery yelling to our kids and me, ‘Be not afraid.’ After a long wait, the procurement nurses told us the new heart was here and his old heart was out. After the doctor let us know that things were going well, it was another long wait to see Bill. The journey was a spiritual one and it kept us going.”
Bill said, “I came back with a shopping bag full of medications. Marcia was my caregiver. She went above and beyond with trips to Loyola. She never gave up. She kept going and then she needed open heart surgery herself and we had to take care of each other.
What made Marcia decide to write the book?
“My friends kept encouraging me to have my journals published. When I worried about editing, or changing the wording; they told me to leave it as it is. It was hard to find a publisher.
Finally, a doctor suggested I go through Kindle Publishing. My hope is that it will help others through their journey and will give them comfort knowing they are not alone. We are forever changed in so many ways. God was with us through it all. We appreciate the little everyday things.”
Marcia’s book is available on Amazon.
The couple has a joyous update.
Bill said, “I just had my 11th-anniversary check-up. That’s always a reason for thanks and appreciation of what you have.”
