Vicki Zoradi, Quadruple Amputee and Faithful Believer
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Tested by Fire
On her 60th birthday, shortly after receiving a Teacher of the Year award, Vicki Zoradi was diagnosed with an innocuous kidney stone. But when the kidney stone became lodged between her bladder and kidney, Vicki’s health took a frightening turn.
Cued by her lethargy and glassy eyes, and generally not seeming like herself, Vicki’s husband, Mike, and daughter, Tiffani, rushed her back to the hospital. By the time they arrived, Vicki had fallen into severe septic shock.
As Vicki says: “With severe septic shock, you have moments to live. I had 20% cardio output. I had complete kidney failure… I remember them saying my blood pressure at the time of admittance was 50 over 30 and it went even lower… I eventually had no registered blood pressure at all for 12 hours.”
Medical professionals gave Vicki virtually no chance to live…
As Vicki fought for her life, Mike stepped out of the hospital to pray for his wife and ask their friends and loved ones to intercede on her behalf.
“Mike immediately knew that my only chance of survival would be prayer and the power of God… He instantly began contacting family for prayer; family friends for prayer; church members that could initiate prayer lines. Tiffani was doing the same.”
Vicki
With Vicki on the brink of death, her family and friends flocked to the hospital. When doctors told the family they’d done all they could for Vicki and invited family members to say their goodbyes, Mike led a group of loved ones to his wife’s bedside where they prayed, sang hymns, and shared final reflections. But just as some family members left the hospital room, Vicki’s niece looked at one of the monitors and saw the reading of a faint blood pressure.
“God has truly become my hands and feet…” – Vicki
By God’s grace, Vicki survived after spending 35 days in the Intensive Care Unit. But because of inadequate blood supply to her extremities during her septic episode, Vicki learned that she would need to have both hands and legs amputated.
The night before her quadruple amputation, Vicki spent time in prayer asking God for a miraculous healing, restoring the health of her limbs. She recalls a still, small voice in her soul saying “no.”
As she sobbed, the words of 2 Corinthians 12:19–10 came to mind: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
“Grief is big, but I know that God is stronger and his comfort is paramount.” – Vicki
Trusting God through the fiery trial of her quadruple amputation, Vicki leaned on Jesus and her husband. Even after 40 years of devoted marriage, Vicki’s health ordeal drove them closer to Jesus as a couple. And as Mike provided tender care for his wife, and grieved alongside her, their love grew deeper than they had imagined possible.
“Grief comes in many forms. And I think of other people that grieve, because my loss was so profound, but people lose loved ones. They lose a marriage, they lose jobs, they lose businesses, maybe medical diagnoses…
Me, I lost body parts. It could be anything that’s dear to us. Grief came definitely in different stages with Mike and me. We cried many times together grieving our loss: our loss of life, our loss of what ifs, or what could be our future.”
Together Vicki and Mike found comfort and hope, not only to carry them through the hardship and grief they faced, but to discover a new call on their lives. And today, with Mike’s support, and fitted with prosthetic arms and legs, Vicki follows God’s call to share her story of loss and hope, encouraging others to trust God through grief, loss, and other hardship.
A Word of Encouragement
Vicki recalls a time in her life when she trusted her own “can-do” attitude to get through pain and trials. But it is Christ, not her own strength, who has seen her through the loss of her limbs.
“Jesus Christ gets me through each step of the way. And I just want to encourage you… that you will feel this grief and loss and pain and disappointment, and maybe even possibly betrayal right now, but just trust him. He’s sovereign. He knows every pain, whether it’s physical, emotional, spiritual. Let him be your rock, because my faith in Jesus Christ, that was the only way.” – Vicki
For anyone facing a storm or trial right now, Vicki extends an invitation to find an anchor and refuge for your soul in Christ.
As we read in Hebrews 6:18–20: “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
Tested by Fire
Purchase your copy of Vicki Zoradi’s inspirational autobiography, Tested by Fire
