Three Weeks Later: An Answer to Prayer

This week marks three weeks since the accident—three weeks since our life was divided so suddenly into before and after.

By the typical trajectory of injuries as severe as Jon’s, he would likely still be in the hospital. Instead, he has been home for more than a week, healing at a pace that continues to be marked by the fingerprint of Christ.

From the beginning, we have relied deeply on the expertise of Jon’s burn team—the true heroes of Vanderbilt’s burn unit who saved his life and gave us hope when we desperately needed something to hold on to. The treatment was intense, touching the very limit of what a person can endure. Daily debridements required Jon to reach for a level of strength that I believe only God could give him. During that first week, I watched him go to the very depths of his soul and fight his way back to me.

Those early days carried so much uncertainty because burns continue to develop before their full depth is known. We already knew that Jon’s left arm and hand had suffered third-degree burns, and his surgeon began preparing us for the likelihood of surgery and skin grafting.

The surgery did come—but so did an outcome none of us could have fully anticipated.

Yesterday, at our weekly appointment at Vanderbilt, Jon’s surgeon examined the areas that were third-degree only weeks ago and told us they had healed so remarkably that they no longer even appeared to have once been burned that deeply.

And then we received even more incredible news: Jon’s ReCell surgery was successful!

It takes approximately ten days before the team can begin to see whether new skin cells are growing, and there they were—tiny budding cells carrying within them the answer to so many prayers. Jon will not require further skin grafts on his left arm, hand, or fingers. We can now turn our attention toward continued healing, rebuilding his strength, and helping his body recover from all it has endured.

Alongside the extraordinary care of his medical team, we have supported Jon’s healing through a disciplined holistic approach centered around nutrient-dense meals, carefully chosen supplements, frequency healing—and prayer. So much prayer. Prayers spoken over him from every continent, by people we know and by many we may never meet, have carried us to this moment.

Jon has walked through the valley. He has endured the nearly unimaginable agony of being burned almost to death, and yet when I look at him, I see not only what the fire touched, but what Christ has restored. His healing is a testament to faith, to prayer, to the remarkable hands that cared for him, and to the beautiful, redeeming work of God.

The scars will remain as a physical reminder of what he survived, but also of how delicate and unpredictable this life truly is—how quickly everything can change, how little we are promised, and how sacred it is to still be here.

As we begin to emerge from this battle, Jon and I feel called to walk alongside the families who are only just entering theirs.

I will never forget standing in the burn unit ICU at 1am, in an unfamiliar city and away from my children, while Jon fought for his life. I could not make decisions beyond the ones that might help keep him alive, yet life outside those hospital walls continued to ask things of me—where I would sleep, what I would eat, and how I would remain close to him through the most frightening days of our lives.

Then people from around the world stepped into that unbearable space and gave so generously that I did not have to make one extra decision. You could not take away what was happening to Jon, but you lifted a portion of the weight surrounding it, and in doing so, you alleviated a piece of my heartbreak.

Now, Jon and I feel called to “go and do likewise.”

We are beginning the work of developing a nonprofit that will support the spouses and families of ICU burn patients with immediate accommodations and practical care, meeting them in those first disorienting hours when their loved one is fighting for life and nothing beyond that ICU room feels possible. As we establish this mission, future giving opportunities will be created specifically to support burn families walking through those same first, overwhelming hours. We want to step into the gap and become the bridge for them that all of you became for us.

We have a plan and a foot in the door to make this happen, and we would be honored for this community to continue walking beside us as we bring awareness to a need that is both enormous and largely unseen.

Three weeks ago, I watched my husband fight for his life. Today, I am watching new life grow where the fire tried to take it—and perhaps part of that new life will be found in the families we are now able to reach because YOU first reached us.

There is still so much road ahead of us, and Jon has a long way to go before he feels fully like himself again, but I remain overwhelmed by God’s mercy—not only in sparing his life, but in allowing what we have endured to awaken within us a desire to stand beside the families who will one day find themselves where we were.

Jon and I are now taking the first steps toward establishing a 501(c)(3) that will provide immediate accommodations and practical support to the families of ICU burn patients. If you feel called to help us build this mission—through giving, partnership, resources, or prayer—we would love for you to connect with us directly. My email is [email protected] or connect with me via my personal Instagram: kristen_zim.

You carried us when our own strength was not enough. And, with God continuing to lead the way, we are ready to go and do likewise.