After almost two weeks in an induced coma, doctors will attempt to bring Christian author Rachel Held Evans slowly back to a state of consciousness, her husband announced.
The Christian world has continued to pour out prayers for Held Evans, who began reacting to medication and experiencing seizures while being treated for an infection.
Seizures can be extremely dangerous and detrimental to brain function, so doctors decided that placing her in an induced coma was the best option. They have since been attempting to diagnose exactly why the writer’s condition deteriorated so quickly and what medication is causing these episodes.
“The neurology team at the hospital is weaning Rachel off of the coma medication,” Rachel’s husband, Dan, wrote in an update April 30.
“This is a multi-day process that started a few days ago,” he explained. “This is not the first attempt at weaning but it is the first attempt at the current facility. Our hope is that she has had time to heal, the medications used are helpful, and the seizures won’t start again.”
Fellow author and good friend, Sarah Bessey, noted that the weaning will be a “long process.”
In this wildly uncertain time, the prayers continue to flood in from friends and followers on Twitter.
“I’m out of nice, pious, scripted prayers. I’m holding her name up to Jesus and waiting outside the door, knowing he is near to her in this in-between place,” Bessey tweeted. “Even now Holy Spirit, we believe you are at work.”
“I wake up and think of @rachelheldevans in the first five minutes of every day,” added author Jen Hatmaker. “Then Dan. Then the kids. Then all of the rest of us that love her so. Then I give everyone to Jesus and ask him to give our person back to us.”
A GoFundMe campaign launched by Bessey to help the Evans family has raised over $100,000.
“The outpouring of support has been overwhelming. Saying ‘thank you’ feels inadequate but seriously THANK YOU,” Bessey wrote in an update.
“Our GoFundMe goal has been met!” she added. “Together, across our spectrums of belief and practice and place, you all did this for Rachel and her family. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What a powerful thing.”
We will keep you up to date with any developments on Rachel’s health. In the meantime, please continue to pray for her complete healing.