Emily's Obituary - Extended Version

Emily Ruth (Dirks) Mulkey, age 26 of Lubbock, Texas, left this earth on Wednesday morning, January 27, 2010. She passed away at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama from a lifetime battle with Cystic Fibrosis. Although she is leaving behind a deep void on this earth, she is breathing deeply in heaven and no longer in pain. Emily's legacy is a life spent pursuing her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the midst of brokenness and pain, joy and hope. No matter her circumstances, she chose to trust the One who created her and sustained her.

At first glance, you might think of Emily and her kind disposition, her beautiful thick blonde hair (before making the recent switch to red), her frail body, and her caring nature. But as you looked deeper, you would find a hidden gem of the selfless servant, the determined mother, the supportive wife, the loyal friend, a lover of her family and a passionate woman of God. In the most guarded places you would discover the courageous fighter, the quiet contender, the hopeful soul. Emily exemplified faithfulness. And all the while, this imperfect human being with so many earthly challenges, was being strengthened, transformed and renewed day by day by the work and life of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10: Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Emily was born in Lubbock, TX on June 25, 1983. Emily’s true joy began at the age of 6 when her Dad led her into a personal relationship with Christ and she was forever changed. She participated in the Lubbock Swim Team for 4 years, played piano and was active in the Melonie Park Church youth group. At 16, she was able to go to Disney World with her family through the Make -A-Wish Foundation.

While working at Chick-Fil-A, Emily met her future husband, Jason Mulkey. They began dating when she was 18 and then married on February 15, 2003 in Lubbock. Chick-Fil-A moved them to Midland, TX where they were active at Crestview Baptist Church and then in 2005 to Cullman, Alabama to open up a new Chick-Fil-A store with Jason’s brother, Brandon Mulkey. They participated in Northbrook Baptist Church and developed a wonderful community of friends.

While in Cullman, Jason & Emily learned of the beautiful surprise of a pregnancy on February 9, 2006. It was a mix of emotions since Emily had been told all of her life that she probably would not be able to get pregnant and that it would be a dangerous endeavor for her. God had other plans and later that year…Faith was born! What a beautiful miracle and blessing she was and continues to be and is a legacy of the faith of her sweet Momma.

Emily’s health began to decline but on June 8, 2008, Emily was given another chance at a prolonged life with a double lung transplant at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, AL. The success of the transplant allowed them to move back to Lubbock to serve in the Lubbock Chick-Fil-A store and be close to their entire family. Emily also became passionate about helping with Teen Moms over the last year after volunteering with pregnancy centers as a young adult. Emily’s circumstances were characterized by her Cystic Fibrosis, but her life was characterized by her faith, family and friends.

Emily is survived by her loving husband, Jason and their precious daughter, Faith; her mother Stephanie Holland and her husband Darryl; her father Tim Dirks; three siblings: brother Tyler, sister Callie and husband Hayden, brother Landon, her grandparents James & Bonnie Newville; Mary Beth & Rex Wordelman, Bob & Alice Vander Grift; her husband’s family: Tom & Mitzi Mulkey, Juanita Johnson, Brandon & Christie Mulkey and their 6 children, Melissa & David Blann and their 3 children all of Lubbock, as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins that loved her very much.

Visitation will be held Sunday, January 31, 2010 from 3-5 PM at Lake Ridge Chapel (6025 82nd Street Lubbock, TX 79424). Memorial Service will be Monday, February 1, 2010 at 2:00 PM at Lakeridge United Methodist Church (4701 82nd Street Lubbock, TX 79424) with Duke White officiating. Pallbearers include Tyler Dirks, Landon Dirks, Brandon Mulkey, Hayden Lavo, Eric Randolph and Matt Stallworth.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of the following organizations that were special to Emily: Teen Moms Program of Lubbock Youth for Christ (2621 34th St., Lubbock, TX 79410, www.yfclubbock.org, Contact: Renee Morales 806-535-5486); Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Texas Plains, Inc (411 Fillmore, Amarillo, TX 79101, www.texasplains.wish.org); Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (6931 Arlington Rd., 2nd Floor, Bethesda, MD 20814, www.cff.org, 1-800-FIGHT-CF).

To send your words of encouragement to Emily’s family, view her life tribute, and to watch the celebration service webcast at 2:00 p.m. Monday, visit www.memorialdesigners.net.

Funeral Arrangements (Updated)

Visitation will be this Sunday, January 31, 2010 from 3-5 PM

Lake Ridge Chapel

6025 82nd Street

Lubbock, TX 79424

*completely separate location from service

The Memorial Service will be this Monday, February 1, 2010 at 2:00 PM

Lakeridge United Methodist Church

4701 82nd Street

Lubbock, TX 79424

*completely separate location from visitation

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of these organizations:

Teen Moms Program of Lubbock Youth for Christ
2621 34th St
Lubbock, TX 79410
www.yfclubbock.org
Contact: Renee Morales 806-535-5486
(Emily volunteered with this program and delighted in spending time with these moms.)


Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Texas Plains, Inc
411 Fillmore
Amarillo, TX 79101
www.texasplains.wish.org
(This organization helps very sick folks enjoy once-in-a-lifetime experiences.)

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
6931 Arlington Rd
2nd Floor
Bethesda, MD 20814
www.cff.org
1-800- FIGHT- CF
(Working on a cure...)

January 27, 2010

I'm not sure how best to share this with all of you as my hands are shaking so badly and it is the last thing that I would want to be saying.

Emily passed away and went to be with Jesus this morning, January 27, 2010.

My heart wants to stop right there but my head tells me to keep going.

January 11th (Monday): Emily went into the hospital in Lubbock with pneumonia.
January 18th (Monday): Moved to the ICU because she couldn't breathe very well and was panicky.
January 20th (Wednesday): After being on antibiotics, she just couldn't kick it and was intubated and placed on the ventilator.
January 23rd (Saturday): She had some swelling in her face and the team @ UMC felt that it would be better if she was transferred to UAB in Birmingham. The thought they had tried everything they could do and in case they were missing something, they suggested she be moved. The life flight picked her up around 5 AM and transported her to Birmingham.

Once at UAB, she was responding pretty well overall. She had issues with a blood clot in her arm from her pic line, some digestive issues, some bleeding in her stomach related to an ulcer, but as far as her progression on the vent, she was doing really well. Her oxygen saturation and blood gasses were all heading in the right direction.

January 27 (Wednesday-Today):
12:00 AM Midnight: Emily's heart rate dipped really low (below 60 beats per minute) and although the doctors were not too concerned, Jason was, as Emily usually runs a pulse of 90-110. So, this was really low for her.
3:00 AM: Jason woke up to find 3 nurses in the room. Emily's heart rate was now over 200 beats per minute and her blood pressure was spiked extremely high. The emergency crash team was called in and was able to regulate both her heart rate and her blood pressure. Although a very intense time period, she settled back down.
~7:00 - 8:00 AM: Jason thought he might have slept a little more and woke to a nurse checking Emily's vent settings. Everything looked good. The nurse then did a routine check of her pupils and they did not dilate or respond to light. The immediately took her for a CAT scan of her head and found a large brain hemorrhage.

At this point, they brought in a neurologist to do a function test to test the activity of the brain. They tested each region with no response. The final portion of the test looked into the brain stem and tested her breathing, swallowing and gag reflex...again, with no response.

~11:00 AM Emily was pronounced brain dead. Jason and his Dad were invited into the room to say goodbye. Jason was able to be with her for about 10-15 minutes while she was still on the vent but knew she was already gone. At that point, he asked for them to take her off the vent. She did not take another breath on her own after it was removed. Her heart beat for a couple more minutes and he stayed with her until her heart stopped beating.

The doctors do not know why all of this happened. It does not really make sense and it could be a number of things. They have several theories but all they know for certain was that the spike in blood pressure is what was the ultimate cause. Since she was on blood thinners for the blood clot, they think when her blood pressure spiked, that it put too much pressure on her vessels and a vein in her brain ruptured. It was not the blood clot. But they are not sure why the blood pressure originally spiked. After the 3 AM incident, all of her other settings (heart rate, breathing, oxygen, vent settings) were all completely normal. The vent was what was keeping her alive.

Jason is currently driving back from Birmingham to Lubbock with his Dad. They should arrive around 4 AM tomorrow morning. Stephanie was supposed to fly to Birmingham today but will remain in Lubbock. Jason is making plans to have Emily's body brought back to Lubbock and will be making funeral arrangements tomorrow. Please check back and I will post them once I know what they are.

Please be praying for Jason and his Dad's safe travel as well as his conversation with Faith about her sweet Momma who will not be coming home. Emily is in heaven breathing in the sweet aroma of her Savior. Please direct your prayers for the loved ones that she has left behind. Jason as always is a strong husband and a loving Daddy. Pray for him as he makes decisions and leads his family. Pray for Emily's family who was not able to be with her in her final days on this earth. And pray that God would be glorified in her death and in our grieving and celebrating her precious life.

Psalm 71:20-21 20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. 21 You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

I found this over the weekend and when I posted this on her blog, I wanted it to be true on this earth. In the depths of my heart, I think I knew that it was going to be true in heaven rather than on earth.

Now she is revived. Now she is brought up. Now she is comforted. Again and forevermore. Thank you Jesus.

Making Some Good Progress

Today is definitely bringing about some positive progression. Emily has been doing so well on the vent and is on minimal settings that they are in the process of waking her up some and going to try some pressure support trials to hopefully begin the process of weaning her off the vent. Her O2 saturations are staying at 100% so this in wonderful.

You can read back from July, Aug, and September of this year to see the progression of this works. Let's just pray for a much smoother, quicker, and easier transition this time around. Also, be praying for Emily as she wakes up...the sedation meds have been and can continue to be really disorienting.

She is still facing some other issues but they are treating them and have had no further set backs so far. Her kidneys are heading back in the right direction. She has had some bleeding in her stomach likely due to an ulcer that seems to be slowing down and the blood clot in her arm is being treated with blood thinners without further incident. I think the hope is that these issues simply resolve themselves over the course of the next few days.

She is running a fever which still shows that her body is struggling to fight the infection so there is still concern about what all is going on. They are taking more cultures today and will hopefully have some more results tomorrow.

Jason's brother returned home and his Dad and Emily's Mom will switch out tomorrow. Keep praying!

Transported to UAB

Psalm 71:20-21

20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

Emily was transported to UAB in Birmingham yesterday. She started taking a downward turn on Friday and the doctors in Lubbock felt that she needed to be moved. She started swelling up a lot and they were not quite sure of the cause. Em has a blood clot in her arm due to the pic line that she has had for awhile and that is a possible cause.

The plane arrived in Lubbock @ 5 AM and now that they are in Birmingham, they once again seem to have a better outlook for Emily. I have not been able to connect with Jason yet but Stephanie (Emily's Mom) believes that the outlook is much better and positive than it has been over the last 48 hours or so and that Jason does not think it will be as long and drawn out as earlier this year with the Swine Flu. Jason's Dad and I believe his brother too are in Birmingham with Jason.

Em is still sedated but she was at a 1 on sedation and her vent settings were low...50% oxygen and 3 PEEP. This is good. She is maintaining good oxygenation as well. Pray for her physically and that her numbers and stats would continue to improve.

As many of you know because of your faithful prayers for Emily, her bout with the Swine Flu and long recovery has been and is still in process. Her body has not recovered to where it was before and her mind, heart and spirit have suffered as well. Please continue to pray for her in all of these ways.

I'm reminded of a song we used to sing in our Student Ministry growing up. It's by Darrell Evans entitled Trading My Sorrows and is taken from 2 Corinthians 4. I would encourage all of you to read it. Here's a link: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor%204&version=NIV

I'm trading my sorrow
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

Chorus:
And we say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord Amen

I'm pressed but not crushed persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy's gonna be my strength

Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning

:-(

Hey everybody, it's Emily T. I talked to Jason this evening after not hearing from Emily all day. Em was intubated at about 4:30pm this afternoon and placed on the ventilator. The consensus is that she is fighting pseudomonas (which she has fought many times before) and the unknown fungus they were looking into last week has been ruled out (a good thing). After she was moved to ICU earlier this week, she remained on 100% oxygen with a face mask and her saturations stayed in the low 90s. Today, her breathing became labored and her stats went down which led to being intubated. They have her sedated and although in typical Emily fashion, she has fought it some, they have been able to get her comfortable and she is resting.

Please continue to pray for her body to fight off the infection, that this time on the ventilator will allow her to rest, and for Jason and the family to have strength and energy to fight along with her.

Against all Hope, Abraham in Hope Believed

This is going to be brief because I need to rest but we had quite a scare last night as my oxygen continued to drop and I couldn't breath and had lots of pain. They quickly moved me to ICU and tried to calm me down because I thought I was going to have a panic attack. The doctors said they didn't want to antedate me again but if I continued falling they would need too. As tears ran down my face, I could only think of this verse in Romans 4:18~ Against all Hope, Abraham in hope believe and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him.
..............Being fully persuaded that God and power to do what He had promised". Romans 4:21
Hope was not looking very bright for me last night but I just kept thinking if Abraham found hope in Christ when there was no hope then I too need to trust in that same hope.

I'm on high oxygen right now but my stats are staying up right now and I got some rest today. I'm still pretty sick but we just need to take one day one step at a time. Try to write tomorrow and give an update. We continue to need your prayers.........thanks!

The Buddies

Maggie has now found her favorite sleeping spot......up the first flight of stairs and lays around at the top. I think she feels powerful because you can't really see her but she can watch all that is going on in the house hold. Looks like the Queen on her throne. =) Of course, Faith loves to go snuggle and kiss Maggie and so here is a picture of a typical day for the two, laying around at the top of the stairs.

We are not bored......what would give you that idea?!

Health update~ Pseudomonas has grown from the samples they took, which wasn't surprising but there are 4 different strands of pseudomonas and they are not sure which one I have at this time. I'm feeling a tad better today but still have a ways to go. I pray the medicines I am on now will be the right ones to fight the strand I have. Thanks for your prayers....

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him

It's been a rough 48 hours as I can't even get out of bed to walk to the restroom without dipping into the low 80's with my oxygen. I've got quite a bit of pain as well. So far everything that they have tested for (samples from the bronch) have come back negative which is a good thing yet not a good thing at the same time. They believe it is still a pneumonia and so I'm on 1 antibiotic and a couple of inhalation meds. So not much has changed but we continue to pray the Lord will give the doctor's wisdom to know how best to treat this infection. So far nothing seems to have worked and I've gotten worse the past couple of days. Not sure how long I will be in the hospital although I know I won't be going home this weekend. As you think of us in your prayers please not only pray for physical healing but emotional strength. It's hard to describe your emotions when you live with a terminal illness and when you are tired physically you can't help but feel beaten up emotionally. Pray for Jason has he has so much on his plate and I feel like he never really gets a break. I will be the first to say I don't understand God's ways but He calls me to trust Him and so that is what I'm trying to do. As long as Peter focused on Christ he could walk on water, it was when he let the circumstances around him become more important then focusing on Christ did he begin to sink. Though I continue to walk through the storm of physical trails I pray the Lord will help me stay focused on Him and not the uncertainties that surround me. We appreciate all the prayers and encouragement you give. Thanks!

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3

It's a waiting game

Well they did the bronchoscopy yesterday but of course it is too early to tell anything for sure. My doctor said that he could tell there was some kind of infection going on though. However, like most bronchs in the past it has left me feeling even worse today (a lot more pain, very short of breath and I was coughing up some blood this morning). I try not to dwell on all the what-ifs and the fact that I'm not getting better but right now we just don't know a whole lot. I've been praying that the Lord, who sees all and knows all would help bring to light what we need to know to hopefully treat it. Even though my doctor's are puzzled, I know nothing is hidden from the Lord and so I just pray He will give them the wisdom to know which path to take.

I keep up with another CF girl (http://livinglifebreathlessly.blogspot.com) who got a transplant almost 2 years ago and her most recent post she talked about being admitted to the hospital and that it had been the first time she was back in the hospital since transplant (2 yrs). First of all I am so happy for her and amazed at how well she has done but it is also hard to understand why some do really well after transplant and for others it continues to be a daily battle.

Faith enjoys being at the hospital especially when the hospital dogs come around to brighten up the patients. You know how much she loves dogs so she was beside her self having 3 dogs in the room. She kept saying,"they are soooo cute! They want to kiss me!" She thinks every dog should be her best friend. =)