Minburn’s miracle woman, Laura Brewer Richardson, came home Sunday, led by a six-car escort of Dallas County Sheriff’s Deputies and with a slew of friends and neighbors lining the road to welcome.
Laura’s homecoming came just in time for her to celebrate her 38th wedding anniversary with her husband Don Richardson on Thursday and to mark her own birthday next week on the Fourth of July — hence her nickname, Firecracker!
Laura came back with a new heart and kidney, the parting gifts she earned from a two-year stint in a Phoenix-area hospital. She fought like a trooper against cardiac sarcoidosis for these last two years, including Lifeflights to Iowa City, two heart attacks, 160-some-odd days in a coma, intensive care and therapy.
All the while, Don kept their Facebook friends apprised over the many months with nail-biting updates and uplifting messages that made us all feel we were pulling for Laura.
And Laura pulled through against all odds, returning home this week to the family acreage in rural Dallas Center. As their daughter Abbie Luellen said, it was “hard being half-a-country away from everything she’s ever known.”
That distance made the homecoming all the sweeter for Minburn’s miracle woman.
Welcome home, Laura, and happy birthday!
