The Hartford Letters

In early summer of 2005, two middle aged couples, husband and wife, drove together from the Midwest to upper Maine for a two week vacation. The trip went just as they planned; occasional excursions to experience the lobster fishing culture of the area with plenty of time for reading, sketching and painting. Little did they know their lives would be forever changed by unexpected events that occurred during the return trip to Indiana.

Driving through Connecticut on the first day of their return trip, they were nearing the intended end of the first leg of leisurely travel back to central Indiana. Reservations had been made at a motel in Waterbury, just a short drive south of their present location on the Interstate highway south of downtown Hartford. They were looking forward to a nice, comfortable, dinner at the hotel’s renowned restaurant.

Joe had been at the wheel all day when he, without a word, suddenly pulled the four-door pickup to the side of the highway, got out, and went around the rear to stand between the guardrail and truck. As Larry stepped out of the passenger’s seat to approach Joe and find out what the problem was, he saw a look of panic on Joe’s face, and that he was clutching his hands to his chest. Joe was experiencing a heart attack.

In a matter of minutes, Joe was transferred by ambulance to an emergency room in Meriden, evaluated, and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. Later that night, after Joe was settled in, Lea and Larry decided they would rent a car the next day so they could resume the drive home.

However, when they arose the following morning, Lea wasn’t feeling well to have breakfast. She said that her stomach was hurting her, indicating her lower right side. They both presumed it might be a recurrence of her occasional gall bladder flare up. Lea’s pain got worse as the morning wore on; much worse. This might be the gall bladder attack their doctor had predicted for some time would convince her to have the gall bladder removed. What terrible timing!

But, they thought this attack would pass just as all the others had. During the drive to the hospital, Lea kept saying that she thought she might be feeling a little better. As they arrived in the parking lot outside the emergency entrance of the medical center she said she wanted to stay in the truck while Larry went in to get Pat so she could be taken back to the hotel to clean up after her all night stay in the waiting room.

Larry went inside to get Pat, and upon their return to the truck a few minutes later, found Lea doubled up in the back seat moaning loudly. She had gotten sicker. Larry asked if she thought she needed to go to the hospital, and she replied that she needed help. Larry lifted her down from the truck, while Pat took Lea’s right arm over her shoulder, and they helped her into a wheelchair in the admitting area.

After several hours in the emergency room she was diagnosed with necrotizing pancreatitis, and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. Her condition continued to severely worsen over the next two days. Her chance of survival was nil. The family was called in.

Meanwhile, she was airlifted to Hartford Hospital, a Tier One Trauma Center, where she remained for another six months, undergoing over thirty surgical procedures! Her heart stopped twice during her stay, requiring emergency procedures, one of which Larry witnessed bedside, and wrote about in the Update for that day.

Her lungs failed twice during subsequent weeks, and she struggled desperately to regain control. Her survival chances were increased to 15%, then 40%, and finally rose to better than a 50% chance.

Over the 180 days of hospitalization, Larry remained at her side, documenting the daily travails they experienced as her condition worsened, improved, and worsened again. Larry distributed his daily “Updates” via email to family members and friends, who sent the messages on to others, until eventually there were perhaps thousands keeping track of Lea’s progress and Larry’s growing submission to the Lord’s will.

This series of communiques touched many hearts, causing many to rethink and renew their devotion to their family. Some stated that they returned to church for the first time in many years as a result of following Lea’s illness. Often readers, many of whom Larry has never met, shared their personal testimony with Larry to help him deal with the roller coaster emotions.

This journal style publication is a compilation of Larry’s Updates and other emails sent between family members and friends with insight into their behind-the-scene efforts and concerns. Each entry lists the sender, and the day/time the email was sent.

The reader is pulled into the story by the drama in the emails sent back and forth, asking for prayer for Lea and Joe. Then, a few days after Lea’s attack Larry sent out the first daily Update. The journal details his trials over the full six months of Lea’s hospitalization.

Larry’s journal, called The Hartford Letters, is located here. Click click here to begin, or click on the “Larry’s Letters” tab above.