According to a blog her husband maintained on her behalf, a New York best-selling author, Rachel Held Evans, died Saturday morning at age 37.
Her husband, Daniel, began posting updates about her health on her blog on April 19th. He said that doctors discovered that she was having constant seizures during treatment for an infection.
On April 19th, Evans was put into a medically induced coma due to seizures, her husband wrote. And Evans was comatose over the proceeding 10 days and transfers between three facilities.
Although she didn’t return to an alert state during the process, Doctors began weaning Evans off coma medication.
Evans’ husband wrote, “The hospital team worked to diagnose the primary cause of her seizures and proactively treated for some known possible causes for which diagnostics were not immediately available due to physical limitations.”
Thursday, Evans had “sudden and extreme” changes in her vitals. A medical team found “extensive swelling of her brain” and took emergency action.
“The team worked until Friday afternoon to the best of their ability to save her,” Daniel wrote. “This swelling event caused severe damage and ultimately was not survivable.”
Daniel who said that the entire experience felt like a dream added,
“I keep hoping it’s a nightmare from which I’ll awake. I feel like I’m telling someone else’s story,” he wrote.
“I cannot express how much the support means to me and our kids. To everyone who has prayed, called, texted, driven, flown, given of themselves physically and financially to help ease this burden: Thank you. We are privileged. Rachel’s presence in this world was a gift to us all and her work will long survive her.”