Virginia G.

“I have attended and been a member of First United Methodist Church of Laurel since 1959, when I was 2 years old. I was raised in the church, was married in the church, and raised my children in the church. However, the most significant event that demonstrated the true spirit of my church family at FUMCL was in 1998. My daughter, Lydia A., has suffered from grand mal seizures since she was 11 months old because of a deformity in her brain and was hospitalized 13 times by the time she was 7 years old (including brain surgery when she was 3 ½ years old). In the spring of 1998 (when Lydia was 7), she was having another bout of multiple seizures daily and was admitted to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She was placed in a medically induced coma to try to get her brain to “forget” about having seizures. After 3 weeks in the ICU, Lydia’s neurologist determined that the only way to help her was another surgery. We consented, and it was scheduled to take place on a Sunday morning. FUMCL had set up a prayer vigil for Lydia for the entire day, and every slot had been filled before the 8:30am service. Lydia is my miracle girl and for some reason had stopped having the constant seizures, so the surgery was canceled around 8:00am the day it was supposed to take place. The late Stanley B. was the lead pastor and was able to announce the cancellation at the beginning of the service—only to receive a response of a standing ovation! Although the surgery was cancelled, the prayer vigil went ahead as scheduled. Of course, I was not in church that day since I was at the hospital with Lydia, but I have heard about individuals who actually made the decision to join FUMCL because of that demonstration of love and support for Lydia and my family.”