*Katy (Robyn’s sister) accompanied Robyn to Plano in the helicopter. Katy kept Robyn calm even though she hated riding in the chopper.*

Ben Tice (Robyn’s brother), Katy Nix (Robyn’s sister) and Rick Tice (Robyn’s father) celebrated Katy’s birthday while Robyn was in the hospital with Macaroni Grill and a bota box. (No wine for Robyn, of course.)

*Without the support of her husband, Shane, and daughter, Ivy, Robyn admits that her recovery would have been so much harder.*

“When hard things happen, I believe the true nature of our faith will show up.” Robyn Kennedy eloquently affirms God’s influence on a very hard thing—the emergency open heart surgery she survived this past March. A life changing experience for anyone, Robyn’s recovery only strengthened her faith and reliance on God. She is truly blessed to be alive.

March 2, 2020, began like an ordinary day for Robyn. She woke at 5 a.m. to enjoy her coffee and quiet time on the back porch swing before driving her 11-year-old daughter, Ivy, to school. “I felt great!,” Robyn remarks. “My husband, Shane, had flown out the day before to visit his oldest daughter and our new grandbaby in Florida. I began cleaning the house in preparation for guests that evening.” As Robyn bent over to change the mop head, she “felt a sensation (sort of like electricity) shoot through my body. Immediate cold sweat, the worst headache I can remember (right below my temples in front of my ears), and extremely weak arms. I knew it was bad!” Robyn called her sister, whose husband, Sam Nix, is her primary care provider, and happened to be off work that morning and within earshot of the conversation. They immediately came over to Robyn’s house. Sam could not find a pulse in her right arm. “He sprang into action and (carefully) got me to Wadley Regional Medical Center. Before I knew it, I was on the helicopter being flown to Baylor Scott & White Heart Hospital in Plano.”

When Robyn awoke in the hospital Tuesday morning, she learned that she had survived an aortic aneurysm over three nches in size and “one of the top 5 largest aortic aneurysms my surgeon, Dr. Justin Schaffer, had ever seen.” She also suffered an ascending and descending aortic dissection, as well as a faulty aortic valve. Robyn’s case is highly unusual, as most patients presenting with these diagnoses are male and over age 65, with a genetic history. As Robyn explains, “I was age 40, female, and have no family history.”

Robyn’s journey of recovery has been daunting as well as inspiring for her. She comments, “Heart surgery is tough. Several times before I left the hospital, I was told to focus only on my physical recovery. ‘They’ say your body won’t allow for the mental and emotional healing until IT fully recuperates. I thought this was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard … but ‘they’ weren’t wrong!” Emergency open heart surgery is physically grueling. Robyn’s sternum was sawed in half and her chest clamped open while a machine kept her heart and lungs functioning throughout the surgery. Robyn elaborates about the physical recovery, “It’s a great deal of trauma on one’s body. In the beginning, a walk about three mailboxes down the street and a shower (administered by my saint of a husband) were enough to exhaust me. Using the bathroom alone was nearly impossible! But days turned to weeks and weeks to months, and I kept gaining strength every day.”

As her physical recovery progressed over this time period, Robyn’s mental and emotional recovery began. “Wham! The enormity of what just happened hit me,” she explains. “To say the mental and emotional healing has been a bit slow seems like an understatement to me. I am a moody little thing and I cry … a lot! There’s medicine for that, but I’m just enough stubborn to try and get through it on my own. My spiritual growth has benefited tremendously, and I think Shane would agree that his has, too!” Robyn sees how God has played a hand in her recovery. “I in no way believe that God CAUSED this to happen to me and my family, but He has certainly USED it to make us stronger. His handy work was and is evident in the most minute details. We continue to give Him all the glory for bringing me through such a miraculous recovery and for all the wonderful blessings along the way.”

*Robyn (right) with her sisters Katy Nix and Stacy Proctor, and mother, Brenda Jones, during a girls’ weekend in Houston, Texas, last November.*

Robyn continues healing, noting that her aorta is “pretty much all manmade now.” Her surgeon inserted two Dacron grafts, a stent graft, and a mechanical valve that “sounds like a cheap Timex watch,” Robyn laughs. These new devices should last the rest of her life. Although Robyn has to take a daily blood thinner and undergo frequent testing of her INR value (blood clotting time), she acknowledges that these somewhat annoying doctor visits are a “small price to pay.” Robyn has also experienced some hypersensitivity due to the wires that held together her sternum during the healing process. “I’ve studied up on having them removed and will discuss it with my surgeon when I have my bi-yearly checkup this month,” she states. “It’s a quick day-surgery that would hopefully give me much relief! All in all, I have been released to ‘live my life’ which I intend to do to the fullest.”

That is exactly what Robyn is doing, and she could not do it without the support of her family and friends. “My husband Shane is a saint! He was patient beyond belief while nursing me back to health. He showered me and helped me use the bathroom, he dressed me and changed my compression socks (which is no easy feat), he walked and talked and prayed with me, he took me for drives when I couldn’t stand being at home one more second, he ran for popsicles and prescriptions, and he stayed positive all the while. Shane never allowed me to feel sorry for myself which would have been easy to do! He remained the rock that Ivy and I have always known.”

Robyn also credits Ivy as a tremendous help. Robyn feels that motherhood is the greatest reward of her life and adores being a mother to Ivy. In turn, Ivy “is an absolute soldier. She took over the role of ‘sitter’ when Shane had to leave for work. She kept the house clean and took great care of herself and me.”

Robyn is grateful as well to her parents and siblings who provided daily FaceTime visits and funny COVID-related text messages. “My dad was great about coming and rubbing my back and shoulders when I thought I couldn’t take the pain any longer. My best girlfriends and church family kept us fed and were available at all hours for whatever we needed. The ‘Meal Train’ my dearest friend, Mendy, set up for my family during recovery was a huge blessing. It made me realize how important it is to feed others in their time of need. If you are looking for a fun and easy way to volunteer or just love on people check out ‘Meal Train’! You will be blessed in return.”

*Robyn’s brother-in-law, Sam, literally saved her life ... and she says she still owes him dinner!*

Robyn’s support team would not be complete without her brother-in-law. She avers, ”I would be remiss to not mention my brother-in-law, Sam, who I fully believe saved my life with his knowledge, quick thinking, and professional connections that sped up the process of getting me to Plano in time. He hates being called ‘hero,’ but he is … and I am forever grateful that he was available.”

According to Robyn, her main takeaway from her surgery and recovery is that “my faith in humanity is restored. I have never felt such an outpouring of love, kindness, and selflessness as I did in the midst of my episode. While it’s easy to allow our hearts and minds to be inundated with the ugliness of the world, we mustn’t forget that ultimately people are good and lovely and agreeable.”

Robyn also hopes and prays that her story serves as a “beacon to anyone going through a tough time.” In fact, Robyn credits her pastor, Matt Graves, with helping her understand the idea of post-traumatic growth. “I have come through something major that easily could have beaten me down. Instead, because my hope is in the Lord, I can shout from the rooftop that I am loved, blessed, highly favored, and healed! I have a new and much greater appreciation for life, and I am so grateful for all of the lessons I am taking away from this experience.”

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Blessed To Be Alive