Floridian Harold Donaghe may owe his life to his brother-in-law’s heart attack.

After meeting for a hunting trip in Missouri, the two were on their separate ways home in early November, when Harold and his wife, Mary, stopped overnight in Sikeston; and his sister and brother-in-law stayed in Paducah.

The next morning, Dongahe received a call from his sister that his brother-in-law had a heart attack at the hotel and was being taken to Western Baptist. Donaghe and his wife immediately headed to Paducah to be with them.

As he stayed with his brother-in-law in Baptist’s Intensive Care Unit, Donaghe began to feel sick himself.

“I started feeling very bad,” said Donaghe. “A nurse in ICU asked if she could check my vital signs. She then immediately took me to the emergency department.”

Donaghe was admitted to Western Baptist where surgeon Joseph Mayo, M.D., determined that he needed immediate surgery. Diverticulitis that had perforated his colon in four places and filled his body with infection.

While recovering, Donaghe decided to return to Western Baptist for a needed second surgery in three to four months.

“I want to come back to Western Baptist for the care and compassion we were shown,” said Donaghe. “We trust the staff there. If not for the caring people at Western Baptist, I could have died.”

Donaghe calls his unexpected trip to Paducah a blessing in disguise.

“If I had continued home to Florida, I may not have survived,” said Donaghe. “God was watching over my brother-in-law and myself and put us in the good hands of the people at Western Baptist.”