Words cannot express how grateful I am for the prayers and support that you’ve provided my family and I over the past six weeks.

As many of you know, in early December I went into a coma and was being treated for a number of related issues at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario. At four points, my heart stopped, and it was through 90 minutes of CPR and the use of a rare device called an ECMO machine that my life was saved. Despite what happened, and despite predictions from medical professionals, it appears that there are no lingering effects (expect for the loss of 30 pounds from the “Feeding Tube Diet.”) There was no brain damage. In other words, I’m still a conservative.

Contrary to what some people have tried to do, I have no intention of making this into a debate about healthcare. The fact remains, I’m alive, and I’m now home and ready to get back to Strictly Right.

I want to send a special thanks to Michael Coren, Ann Coulter, Mark Steyn and Wendy Sullivan — all of them were wonderful at keeping me in their prayers and sharing with the online community what was happening. Wendy’s persistant stalking of my family was able to keep the Twittersphere apprised of what was happening.

Wendy also did a special episode of Brass Balls Radio in my honor with Kathy Shaidle, Jimmie Bise and Mike Williams (with messages from Jon Siemko, Kimberly Haney and Dina Fraioli) that was very therapeutic for both my family and myself. Connie Fournier at Free Dominion kept a prayer chain going in my name.  I thank all of them from the bottom of my heart.

Most importantly, I need to share with all of Strictly Right’s readers how amazing my family is. While in Victoria Hospital’s Critical Care and Trauma Center, my parents, Jim and Trish Lawton, were virtually living at the hospital. My brother Adam and his extraordinary wife Lesley were at the hospital daily and were the filter for information through to the internet.

This whole experience — the cards, Tweets, Facebook messages and phone calls — has been humbling. To know that there were people all around the world keeping me in their thoughts and prayers and the fact that I barely made it proves to me that miracles do, in fact, exist.

Thank you for everything, and let me just say how happy I am to be back.

God bless,
Andrew