'Hope out of devastation'
 

Baptist minister David Hazeldine has survived four strokes and ‘locked-in’ syndrome.

Though retired from full-time ministry on ill-health grounds, he is developing an itinerant ministry in London and the south east, and his miraculous recovery story has just been published

Tragedy struck Baptist minister the Revd David Hazeldine, aged 46, only three years into pastoring his second church in Belvedere, South-East London. On the morning of Saturday 2 November 2019, he suffered three strokes affecting his hearing, sight, and balance.

While in Woolwich A&E that evening, having been told by paramedics he ‘probably had an infection’, he was struck again with a fourth, devastating brainstem stroke.

Rushed to St. George’s Hospital neurological ICU, and after a failed procedure to save him, he was left 100 per cent paralysed and suffering the dreaded ‘locked-in’ syndrome (where you are cognitively aware but only able to communicate with the outside world by blinking).

He was on life-support having had a tracheostomy, and suffering a chest infection which, in his weakened state, was potentially deadly.

The consultants told Sam, his wife, he had 10 per cent chance of survival, and that meant institutionalised living, needing round-the-clock, 24/7 care. His two children were allowed to see him for one last time.

However, before a single human voice could explain what was happening to him, he heard the Lord’s penetrating voice explain why this had happened, that he would be okay, and how God would be glorified in His mercy through this acute suffering. David relaxed peacefully in this knowledge.

Mercifully, after vigils held at Belvedere Baptist Church and prayer from all corners of the globe, David came off life support and was transferred to Lewisham stroke ward. He spent three months there in a paralysed ‘locked-in’ state, supported by regular medical care. Showing small signs of movement on his right side, he was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, Putney, in early 2020.

Here, still being visited daily by Sam, he gradually ‘unlocked’ while receiving intensive rehabilitation. Subject to a gruelling daily regime, he was weaned off his trachea and from being fed via a tube. He learned to eat, drink, speak and sit up unaided.

When the Covid first wave hit the hospital, Sam and the family could no longer visit. Alone, he contracted Covid and while a quarter of patients in Putney sadly died, he survived again - much to Sam’s relief.

When the first wave passed David was able to begin his rehab again, and because he was making such good progress in walking with aids and recovering arm movements he was able to be recommended for an extended stay to get ready for discharge home without a care package. On 14 August 2020, David walked a few steps unaided out of his ward at Putney to an emotional reuniting with Sam and his family.



When home he discovered just how merciful his survival and recovery was; via the internet and social media he found only just over ten people who had recovered to his level of independence from ‘locked-in’ syndrome in the last decade – in the world. David continued to rehab daily getting stronger and more able. Ironically, just weeks before his strokes, he had put the finishing touches to a book called The Majestic Meaning of Mercy.

Now, with a deeper understanding of that mercy than he could have ever imagined, he was strong enough to publish the book.

Then he set about writing his stroke recovery story, called Don’t get excited but.., chronicling the unfolding of this miracle of mercy. Its subtitle is: A true story of deepening love, faith and purpose, discovered on a journey through utter devastation.

In his introduction, David writes, 'I think my story is worth telling primarily because it brings hope out of devastation, not the 'cross your fingers' definition of hope we use colloquially, but the biblical hope of certainty based on faith. 

'It took me two years' worth of afternoons to write this book one handed, because I believe so much in the power of this hope. 

'I could have authored the book in several different ways, drawing out different themes, and they would all be true.

'But I chose to write it this way because the impact of The Voice's words and (my wife) Sam's devotion on my recovery came through the strongest to me.

'It could have been about determination, positivity and exercise. It could have been written as a manual for therapists on their care from a patient's perspective, and there are touches of these - but love, faith and purpose chimed loudest for me.' 


A successful operation to his left foot in March 2022, saw him free of all wheelchairs and cumbersome walking aids for good.

Later that year he was able to preach his first sermon since the strokes at Esher Green Baptist Church, where he and Sam are now members. David continues to recover in Surrey, where Sam and the kids had relocated to be near family while he was in Putney.

Unable to carry out day-to-day pastoral activities David is now retired from ministry on ill-health grounds. And though he is learning to live with some remaining disabilities, he is seeing the itinerant ministry in London and the south east the Lord told him about back in St. Georges Hospital develop.

He has recently made an emotional return to Belvedere after being removed from them so swiftly by the strokes - where naturally he preached on the majestic meaning of mercy.

If you would like the Revd David Hazeldine to visit your church one Sunday, please contact him by email: davidghazeldine@gmail.com or via social media.

His recovery story Don’t get excited but… and earlier book The Majestic Meaning of Mercy are available on Amazon

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