My girlfriend  – my best friend since the 8th Grade went in for out-patient surgery on a Thursday. As out-patient surgery’s go, my friend never even mentioned it the last time we talked. We were just so excited to be back in touch with one another after several years, we could only plan on meeting in Washington D.C. during her childrens Spring Break.

Driving to work that Thursday morning my cell phone rang and identified the caller as my friend – but, it wasn't her it was her husband calling to let me know that she was in a Critical Care Unit on a respirator and dialysis. He didn’t want me to hear the news from anyone else.

News, from anyone else…? What was he saying? We have plans – we just reunited…

My husband had to call back to gather details. What he found out was not good. An infection developed in and around her pancreas, limiting the flow of blood to all other organs of the body. Her husband asked us to pray for her. A couple of days later I saw Allison walking her dog. I shared with her my friends condition. After listening to me, she began to tell me the ‘The Chair Story’ and promised to bring me one of the few chairs she had made.

I sent the chair and the story to my friend and asked her husband to read it to her and to please ask the nurses to allow the small chair in her intensive care room.  They did.

In the weeks following my friend’s condition improved. She was able to stay awake, breath on her own and no longer needed dialysis. The nurses in her Critical Care Unit called her ‘a miracle’.

When her husband gave me the good news, I asked what the turning point was and he said, ‘the doctors, the hospital staff, everyone’s prayers and … "the chair" you sent to her.