Passion Play: Behind the Scenes: Chicken Soup for the Passion Play soul!

Sent out a request last month asking for our cast to send out stories of their experiences throughout the years at The Canadian Badlands Passion Play. Little did we know......here's an experience from John, whom we thank dearly for sharing, and feel free to share with whomever you so choose!

JOHNS STORY

Our daughter, Holly, gave my wife and I tickets to the play last June for my 59th birthday. We had never been to the play before, but she thought I'd enjoy it, as I had written and acted in numerous plays at our church over the years.

We instantly were enthralled with the production. After the play, we mingled with some of the cast and other volunteers, and ran into our friend Victoria Krawcruk, the costume designer. She had helped us with costumes for a play we did some years ago. She encouraged me to become part of the cast for 2011.
So I put my name in for an audition. As time went on, though, I started to have second thoughts. I just didn't wish to give up all my weekends for two warm months and use all my vacation time being involved with something to which I could bring little if any real artistic talent. I made up my mind to withdraw my application for an audition.

Then on Dec 30, Holly gave birth to her third daughter, Elianna Felicity, up in Bonnyville with her husband Mike at her side. But it went horribly wrong. Severe haemorrhaging prompted the medical team to immediately call for a STARS helicopter to fly the 200 km from Edmonton to take her to the Royal Alexandra hospital. She was given 13 units of blood in Bonnyville and another six in the helicopter. She spent 3 hours in the OR in Edmonton, where she went into cardiac arrest. Her lungs collapsed, and her condition was grave.

The anaesthetist told us later that during her 30 second cardiac arrest and with no measurable blood pressure…..he could hear her singing softly.

My wife, Lynn, and I arrived at the hospital early afternoon. Mike, his parents, and our three granddaughters arrived from Bonnyville soon after (brand new healthy baby included). Holly was unrecognizable, with tubes and monitors everywhere, and bloated to almost twice her normal size. But she was alive. Prayers for her flowed like tap water from all over the country and the world. They gave her coagulants in a desperate move to stop the bleeding. The next 48 hours she improved miraculously.

We were staying with relatives in Edmonton. As we were driving there with our granddaughters Teagan and Kaelyn after spending the day with Holly, she called us in tears, learning that the chest pains she'd been having were the result massive clots in her lungs.

That night was my lowest of all. I didn't know if I should curse God or thank Him. I know what one is SUPPOSED to do at such times. I just sat in a chair, trying to just blank it all out. Then I saw a little glimpse of a really momentous thing. Holly was walking, pushing a baby carriage, with Teagan and Kaelyn by her side. She was walking with hundreds of other women who have overcome. And the walk was on Mother's Day, 2011. I wept. And at that moment I thought of my PP audition and knew I owed God nothing for saving Holly. His grace is more than sufficient. But I also knew that I needed to thank Him in a powerful way. So I auditioned.

Holly and baby are doing well now. The epilogue to this story is the fact that the first performance of the season, and the 100th performance overall, is also Holly's 32 birthday.