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Living Stories that change lives
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Jonathan David Olds
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Our story began 11 years ago when our first son, Jonathan David, was diagnosed within a few weeks of birth with severe heart failure. Our best hope, according to the physicians, was a heart transplant. We were devastated. We worked non-stop to get him to gain weight but it was to no avail as he was too weak to eat. At the point he was given a feeding tube, we were told it was time to proceed with the transplant. We felt in our hearts this was not God's plan for Jonathan.
We still remember the day we prayed and asked the Lord to send someone who could help us navigate through all of the health and nutrition issues involved. Within the hour, we received a phone call from Forest Townsley stating they had heard from a patient that we had a baby with a heart condition and were wondering if we could bring him in to see Cheryl that afternoon. Even with a waiting list four months long, he said they felt led to call us. We knew of Cheryl from her cookbooks and a nutrition seminar of hers that we attended and knew this was God.
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Cheryl & Jonathan 1999
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From the moment they met, Jonathan and Cheryl had a special bond. Cheryl and the folks from Lifestyle for Health embraced our family, and over the course of the next several years, walked us through the necessary lifestyle changes we needed to make to reclaim our health. It wasn't just the nutrition education that was so meaningful, however, but her bull-dog tenacity and faith that encouraged us to hang on when our hope was being attacked on all sides. She refused to accept or even entertain a bad report and kept her vision for Jonathan's future square in her frame of view.
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On Jonathan's first birthday (a monumental occasion by itself), she gave him a preaching suit and Bible old enough for a three-year old. She said it was given in faith that she would see him in it. This simple act of faith impacted us immensely and encouraged to keep hanging on even when close friends told us to give up and get the transplant.
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Kirk & Brenda Olds & Family 2009
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Today, Jonathan still has his own heart and will be getting his feeding tube removed later this month. Although his heart may not look or function like  anyone else's, no one could tell from the sports and activities that take front and center stage in Jonathan's everyday life. His tender heart, zest for life, and love for the Lord are all testimonies of the hand of God that has rested on him from the day he was born. We thank God for the investment that Cheryl and Lifestyle for Health has made in Jonathan and in our family and know we would not be where we are today without the obedience and sacrifice of one special lady.
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