Aug 26, Miri – I was attending church service last Sunday morning when I received an unexpected message from my good brother-in-Christ.
To my disbelief, Ho Hee Mang informed me that he had sudden chest pain the day before and had undergone an emergency angiogram and angioplasty on that same afternoon! Medicated balloons and stents had been inserted into his clogged heart arteries.
As I tried to clear my dazed disposition, Psalm 56:3 came to mind: When I am afraid, I will trust in You.
Wife Roseline and I had arrived in Kota Kinabalu just last Thursday (Aug 23) from Taipei. Enroute home Miri, we had planned a night stopover to meet up BB Officers for outreach discussion.
Ho and his wife, Terry, came to fetch us for dinner. The following morning, Ho even brought us for breakfast before sending us to airport. There was no signs whatsoever that he was feeling unwell, I recalled.
On Sunday afternoon, I managed to speak to Terry. Thank God for His mercy, the wife proclaimed! And thank God for BB Asia, she continued to praise God. If not for BB Asia, my husband would have a less hectic schedule and he would have participated in marathons, she added.
The following is the transcript of Terry’s message via Whatsapp:
Thank God, my husband was discharged within 24 hours, with five stents inside his coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart. Sorry for the medical information overload but I just wanted you all to know that God’s healing hand is in this! Let me testify that the Lord God is so good to us.
Ho could have had a massive lethal heart attack that day. He had one 99% blockage on one of his coronary arteries. He had another one major coronary artery that was 100% blocked. All in all, a total six sites of severe blockages in a four-vessel disease.
The miracle is this: he could have had a heart attack way before this but he didn’t. Because another artery was sprouting many small arteries called collaterals to cross cover the part of the heart that was supplied by the 100% blocked artery.
The sudden chest pain happened because these collaterals were also starting to get critically blocked recently.
And this is an inherited disease as he has a strong family history of heart attacks. This disease occurred despite my husband being a non-smoker, not obese, no diabetes and not-so-high blood cholesterol. He only had a well-controlled hypertension.
In the old days, he would have to undergo bypass.
If I may add to this testimony, the other thing is this: You might know that Ho was running full 42km marathons many years back. Because of the nature of his traveling job in Boys’ Brigade Asia, he didn’t register for any over the last two years. This also is God’s grace and mercy. Because from the way the coronary arteries looked, the doctor informed that the blockage had been gradually increasing over the last two years as well!
Imagine if he had been running full marathons during this period of time! Ho didn’t have any significant early signs of chest discomfort. It would have been one major lethal attack during the run!
GOD IS MERCIFUL!
While I’m not the first of God’s people to praise Him for His unfailing love and mercy, I thank God for giving Roseline and I a “front-row seat” to witness His miracle given to the Ho’s family in unexpected ways.
All glory to God!
(Ho Hee Mang is currently the Sabah State Commissioner, The Boys’ Brigade in Malaysia. He is also the Executive Secretary of The Boys’ Brigade Asia. A warm and friendly BB Officer, Ho is also an avid mountain trekker and marathoner. In his leisure, he also enjoys deep-sea fishing and photography. Ho is married to Terry Huang, a medical doctor who owns a paediatric clinic. Both husband and wife serve actively in 2nd Kota Kinabalu Coy. A God-fearing family, they have two wonderful children.)
By Lt. James Tc Wong, 4th Miri Coy