To all those who love Miranda and/or her family, we wanted to create this site to have a uniform place where friends/loved ones could follow to see updates on Miranda. I’m Elisa Powell, a good friend of Miranda and Joel and am working with a few others to make sure we can keep this site up to date. The hope is that there will be one general place to inform everyone of all that is going on. In turn, we will try to post here what is happening as we learn new information and in an effort to keep everyone informed.
To catch everyone up to speed, due to her polycystic kidney disease, Miranda was in need of a liver and kidney transplant. On December 11, Miranda was able to receive her liver transplant and on December 12, Miranda was able to receive her kidney transplant. Both surgeries went well, and Miranda was making progress, although slow progress. A few days following the surgeries, however, there seemed to be some complications which resulted in a cardiac arrest and further decline following the cardiac incident. At this point, doctors haven’t been able to identify, specifically, what caused these events or what all is occurring with Miranda’s limited progress.
Just this morning, however, it was shared that the brain MRI showed anoxic brain injury due to the cardiac arrest that Miranda experienced. It’s difficult to discern how long and to what state she will improve. Time is the only thing that will tell. Sometimes it takes days, weeks, and occasionally months. The doctors did affirm that Miranda showing emotion, whether it is tears or distress, is a good sign!
Overall, the complications have been significant and have resulted in limited responses by Miranda, as well as a tracheostomy to help with breathing when needed. We have seen some significant emotions exhibited by Miranda in the past few days, as well as some tension when exercising her muscles. These are good signs, but we pray for more!
As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for the family as they work to support Miranda and process everything that is occurring. Joel and the kids have a wonderful support group around them, caring for them daily. We will try our best to keep this site updated with any changes or improvements. We ask, out of respect for the family, however, that you please look to this site for your information and place comments of encouragement and care here. Please reach out to those, outside of the family, who may know what is occurring, if further action is needed. Protecting Joel and the kids from unnecessary communication is critical at this time, and we ask for cooperation with this effort.
Joel, and the family, are extremely appreciative of all your prayers during this time. They know there is power in prayer and are thankful for all intercessions! We will do our best to keep things updated through this COTA site, and will list needs and prayer requests as they arise.
Overall, thank you to everyone who loves Miranda and her family!! Thank you to all the support and prayer during this critical time of need. We have listed some specific prayer needs below:
- For overall miraculous healing and intervention!
- For clear understanding among the medical team of what is occurring and the BEST treatment options available!
- For clear communication between the medical team and family!
- For continued progress among responses by Miranda, especially cognitively!
- For peace and rest for the family, as they grapple with so many emotions and unknowns.