Cory's Alive Again Fund

Last Tuesday evening July 25th, Cory Holland went into cardiac arrest. This is a summary of what happened.

 From Cory's own words, "nothing was out of the ordinary" as he went to work that day, checked his trail cam out in the woods, and then once home, began to relax on the couch.  As he laid on the couch, Autumn related to me that suddenly everything about him stopped, she watched her husband's life force cease, his heart had stopped, he went into cardiac arrest and wasn't breathing.  She quickly called 9-1-1, got him off the couch to the floor, and began administering CPR in a desperate attempt to bring him back to life.  As strength left her arms, she drew deep within and continued on giving him CPR because she noticed if she stopped, his breathing would stop also.  Finally, the ambulance arrived, they took him away to the nearby hospital where they were able to revive him enough to get him on life support.  He was life flighted to Bend and put into the intensive care unit.  It was estimated he was seemingly gone for at least 10 minutes, and now it was unknown how he would recover.  

 The next morning at 7:00 a.m. was when I received the call from Autumn. As she explained to me what happened, my mind first went blank as if I could not understand her words, and then emotion followed.. I began to cry uncontrollably as I learned that my best man in my wedding just one year ago was unconscious, on life support, and no one knowing if he would be able to be himself once again.  I kneeled on the ground and offered up prayer to God desperately asking him to allow Cory to live, regain all of his brain power, and fully recover from this.  All that day I went up and down, emotions flooded me as I thought about my best friend possibly not returning to me, regret entered into my mind, I had so much I still wanted to tell him, I wanted to let him know how much I loved him, he couldn't be gone yet.

 Once the word spread about Cory, I felt more and more peace that everything was going to be ok for him.  I learned my prayer for him was supported by thousands of others, he was put on prayer chains, family and friends rallied around him and prayed like never before that he would be ok and would recover.

 Sure enough, 3 a.m. Thursday morning, he was awake, he was already using his brain to write questions, like what happened? Why can't I breathe? How did I get here?  By noon that day, he was out of the intensive care unit, and moved to the cardiac wing of the hospital where he was able to breathe on his own, talk, and begin the process of becoming Cory again.  As I visited him and prayed for him that day, I felt the power of prayer like never before, God was listening and answering, he was outpouring his love and peace to not only Cory, but to everyone who was involved in his recovery.  We all knew he would be absolutely fine, we knew it would still be a long road ahead, but that Cory would still be his full functioning self.  He was estimated to be recovering in the hospital for 2 weeks, but on Sunday, July 31st, just 5 days since being admitted, he miraculously walked out of the hospital a new man, full of thankfulness, love, and joy.  He still felt all sorts of pain, but it was nothing compared to the love he felt from family, friends, our community, and God.

 Cory and Autumn are now home and doing good, thanks to some family and friends they were able to come into a clean, stress free house.  Love is still being shown to them through service, visits, and prayers for everything to work out.

 Cory is a plumber by trade, he and his wife own Four Season’s Plumbing in John Day, Oregon. He works hard to support his family, he serves his community with a good attitude, he treats people fairly, and he goes out of his way to make people happy.  He will be unable to work for at least a month while he recovers.  He and his wife do not wish to be a charity case, and were hesitant to let me start this Go Fund Me campaign, but I told them when you give out love, it is only fair that is returned unto you.  I ask whoever is reading this now, to search your heart and give to them whatever it is you feel.  Money always helps, but so do acts of kindness, service, love, and especially prayer.  I feel as if this sudden and almost horrifying experience is now a great blessing to us all, as it has awakened Cory, Autumn, myself, our family, our community, to a greater realization of the preciousness of living life.  It is way too short to be stressing about pretty much anything, realize what and who is important in your life and go out and make the best of each day.  Cory just celebrated his 33rd birthday and I am so incredibly thankful he is still here to continue onto the next.  

I love you Cory, I have always looked up to you, I am a better person because of you, and it is my hope that you will always know I will be there for you for whatever life brings next.  My invitation to all is, make sure the people you care about know how much you love them and will be there for them in their time of need.  Thank you and God bless.

-Cousin Nicholas