I'd accepted that I may not get healed and I may die and I'd come to that place where well, if that happens, if that's your will, God then I need to be right with you0My name's Joyce and this is my story0I went to the doctor's about 2010 with the symptoms and for two years they couldn't find anything wrong0I eventually saw a specialist who said no, it's not that, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, IPF and the diagnosis for that was 205 years to three years left to live0And the only help they could give me was a lung transplant, a double lung transplant but they said, the hospital said don't expect, don't build up any hope because you may not get one0When I first found out, it was obviously it was like a death sentence and when you're given that, and told you've got 205 years left to live, it robs you of your future0I did have a great faith in God, I still do and I knew that I wanted to glorify God0If was going to be ill, I wanted to glorify God in my illness0And I knew I had a choice0We're told and the Bible tells us finish well, run the race and finish well and I knew that I had to finish well and that was the choice I made0Up until about 2014 I slowly declined0I ended up on oxygen for 24 hours a day, extra oxygen0Some days I was in a wheelchair and most of the time I just couldn't move from the chair0So, coming up to Christmas December 2013, I was very, very poorly and we decided it would probably be my last Christmas and I woke up on Christmas Day with a chest infection and I knew that would affect my chances of having that call and being on the list, so I phoned them up and spoke to a transplant coordinator called Katie and I explained the situation and she said no, and go and get the antibiotics, Joyce she said because just think, this time next week I could be ringing you to say happy New Year, Joyce, we think we've got you some new lungs and if you're on antibiotics that won't happen0So, I went to see my doctor on the 27th, he gave me a five0day course of antibiotics which was less than normal0I took the last tablet on New Year's Eve and at 20 past five on New Year's Day morning the phone went and I answered the call and it was the same Katie from the hospital who said have you taken your antibiotics, Joyce0Are they finished0And I said yeah, and she said well, happy New Year, we think we've got you some new lungs, you need to come in straightaway0Death is inevitable and it's something that we've all got in common0I've been so blessed0God's given me a second chance, I've received that gift and I've had the second chance but I know one day that it will be time to go home and I just wanted my relationship with God to be right and I know when I get called home I do have a home to go to and I've got that hope0As Christians, we have that hope that life on earth isn't the end, we've got more, we've got eternity
