From being in hospice to running her 1st 5K race, Amanda Fischer believes in the power of miracles
MINNEAPOLIS -- From being told she has three days to live, to finishing her first-ever 5K race, a Bethel woman has experienced a rollercoaster of emotions over the past five months.
"It's been very hard. Very, very hard," Amanda Fischer said.
For Fischer and her son, Paul Benally, the first health scare came 11 years ago when he was bit by a mosquito and contracted encephalitis, which caused his brain to swell. The mother and son spent countless hours at the hospital and at the Ronald McDonald House.
"As our whole life changed, yes, we didn't go home. We had to stay in the hospital with him," Fischer said.
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No sooner did he recover than she had a serious health scare of her own. She was diagnosed with PAH, a non-curable form of heart disease.
"They said I was teeter-tottering off a cliff," she said. "I never really got better."
Despite treatments, her health steadily declined, and in March doctors hit her with a grim outlook.
"When I went in, I thought they were just gonna take fluid off of my stomach because I got really, really swollen everywhere. And instead, they told me I had three days to live," Fischer said.
Doctors didn't have a "plan B" for her.
"They just said they wanted to make me comfortable. I know what that means, and I refused to believe that. When I was in there I had an episode where I stopped breathing. So they put a band on me that said, 'Do not resuscitate,'" she said.
Shortly after, while in hospice care, a woman Fischer didn't know paid her a visit.
"She just told me just believe in miracles," she said. "Believe in miracles."
Those were the words she needed to hear, even if they came from a stranger. The next day, her vital signs improved, and that's when the comeback began. A new doctor and new treatments got her back on her feet and feeling good to the point that, this past Saturday, Fischer went from being in a wheelchair to finishing her first-ever 5K race with her husband and son. The race was to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House.
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"It was amazing. It was great to pass that finish line. It really was," she said.
"I was actually excited for her that she finished," Benally said.
Doctors say Fischer's heart is still enlarged, but it's working normally now. There's plenty of optimism that her health will continue to improve.
"Don't give up. Don't give up. Miracles do happen. That's the truth," Fischer said.
She believes her faith is a big part of her recovery. She will undergo more tests in September to see what's next, but she says this is the best she's felt since she was diagnosed with PAH in 2019.
Regardless of that, she plans to do more 5K runs in the future.
