To all our CaringBridge companions, the family of Arielle Baker wishes you a safe and blessed New Year. As of today, 2021 has already redeemed itself.

To be clear, 2020 was an epically sucky experience, although our family celebrates a favorable outcome. One year ago, on this evening, our daughter Arielle experienced a cardiac arrest that nearly claimed her life and resulted in an eighteen-day duration of intensive care and hospital rehab. These events are chronicled in CaringBridge posts that began upon our hastily arranged arrival at her Washington DC home. These posts concluded in April, and since then we are often asked about Arielle’s condition. The subsequent months have been less newsworthy for our family, and we are grateful for the restoration of normal life - even anxious normal life, under a pandemic.

We are pleased to report that Arielle’s recovery has been substantial. From her starting point, on the floor of a metro station with no pulse, her activity today is beyond our highest expectations. Arielle’s healing is not a single event, but a process - even after twelve months. Her lifestyle is adjusted to manage her reduced stamina, and she is prone to fatigue, dizzy spells, and chest pain. She is disinclined to spend an evening in extended card games with noisy family competitors. She sleeps more, which allows for her continued healing. She soon returned to full-time employment, which uses up most of her energy.

Diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse (an internal plumbing issue) and pre-mature ventricular contractions (a circuitry issue), Arielle makes regular visits with a team of heart specialists. She also spends an extraordinary amount of time in navigating medical directions and insurance claims. Arielle lifts ten-pound weights for exercise, but her personal paperwork stack is heavier.

Following a favorable brain scan, Arielle may return to road driving, when desired. During her local visits, we still shuttle her around town. This is a good way for us to connect with her friends, as we did when she was a teen. In September Arielle made an extended visit to Grand Rapids that included her 30th birthday celebration, her sister’s wedding, and her grandmother’s funeral. Tears were shed, in all categories. Arielle’s emotional range is restored to 100%, although this is not a scientifically supported calculation.

Medical specialists make no mention of it, but romance is good for the heart as well. Arielle enjoys a kind and supportive boyfriend, who we met (sort of) last January under stressful circumstances. He was living then in San Francisco, and she had already purchased tickets to visit him during that month. While she remained unconscious, we opened her phone and found multiple messages from her friends, mostly on this theme:

“Wow! I heard the news. Are you okay? Arielle? Hello? Are you there? Hello?”

I set aside those messages and reached out her San Francisco friend, who was unaware of events:

“Hello. This is Arielle’s phone, but her father is typing this message. We are sorry to explain that Arielle is unable to visit you as planned. She is unconscious and in the hospital.”

“What happened?” Will she be okay?

“We just don’t know yet. Sorry to be so terse. Go to CaringBridge for details.”

Soon Arielle reclaimed her phone and picked up the conversation with her friend. He later returned to DC and they often appear together on family Facetime. As a topic of conversation, Arielle’s boyfriend has now surpassed her pet cat, and that is no minor accomplishment. The Baker family obsesses over a collection of six indifferent house cats, distributed over four households. Arielle’s sister Maaike recently installed a cat cam in her apartment, because none of us wish to miss the view of her cat napping on the sofa. This occasion is worth a pause in a Baker family dinner to share the video.

So, that is our family hope for 2021: A year of familiar events - a boyfriend, serial cat reports, and the like. The previous year is fading, every smile we see on Arielle’s face is a fresh gift of life, and we are all still here to simply love each other.