This excited new dad was unaware that the persistent pain that he had experienced was already a sign that it was a heart attack. He was saved by his baby, who came out earlier than expected. How could a newborn, fragile baby save her father?
Jonathan Cedillo, 47, from Jurupa Valley, California, was happy to welcome their bundle of joy. Juliette Francine came out earlier than expected. She was born a month earlier than scheduled. Her mom, Vanessa, went into labor earlier than the projected date. But God knows that this was not a mistake. He knew that baby Juliette should be born at this appointed time for a bigger reason.
Cedillo had been experiencing shooting pain in his shoulder for several days already. But the pain intensified a few days after his fiancee’ gave birth. It was so intense that he decided to go home and get some rest after Vanessa gave birth. He opted to pick them up the following day for their discharge. The pain kept coming back but now had shorter intervals. He was in severe pain every 10-15 minutes. This father is a professional wrestler and had an injury to his spine and shoulder several months before. He thought that the pain he’s in was caused by the injury. A heart attack was the furthest thing from his mind.
The fatal day came when he went to Riverside Community Hospital (RCH) to pick up his daughter and fiancée. He was in much pain. After giving his baby and Vanessa kisses, he immediately lay down on a bed. “He lost consciousness briefly and Vanessa’s nurse, Brittney, knew something was wrong,” RCH explained. They also added that he lost consciousness several times, had shallow breathing, which even stopped for a few seconds. He was then rushed to the ER by the nurses.
A seemingly harmless pain turned out to be a major health scare. The doctors found out that Jonathan had a heart attack and even worse, he had “a 100 percent blockage on his left anterior descending artery”, RCH reported. The medical team was able to clear the blockage and they put in a stent. Medlineplus defined a stent as a tiny tube placed into a hollow structure in your body. This structure can be an artery, a vein, or another structure such as the tube that carries urine (ureter). The stent holds the structure open.
The premature birth of his child was a blessing in disguise. If Jonathan had not been in the hospital when he experienced a heart attack, the worst could have happened. “Had Jonathan not been at the hospital when this occurred, he would have had permanent heart damage, or worse,” RCH said. “If I had not been in the hospital at that particular moment and they caught it, I would’ve just shrugged it off as just more pain from my shoulder injury,” Cedillo thankfully recalled.
“She saved me, and I will be her sentinel and guardian as long as I can. She was born a month early. It was like, ‘I’ve got to get out of here so I can save my daddy,'” this grateful dad told KTLA. Everything happens for a reason. It’s God who appointed the right time, orchestrated things from falling into the right places, and sent the right people to save Cedillo. Juliette Francine’s premature birth might be a challenge initially, but it paved the way for two people to be born that day–his baby girl and Jonathan Cedillo, for the second life God had given him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
