This article was originally a video produced by Kaelin Clay.
From the start, Bradley O’Dell’s life was nothing ordinary.
“When I was 8 days old, I underwent open heart surgery,” said O’Dell. “It was just a miracle from God. Lots of prayer.”
The year was 1982. But for Lynette O’Dell, seeing her son on the brink of death meant the noise of culture was drowned out by prayer. O’Dell claims the prayers of his family and friends led to miracles too undeniable to ignore.
“They knew right away something was… off with me,” he said. “They didn’t really know exactly what it was, but I wasn’t what you would call a healthy baby. So, the doctors began to do a barrage of tests and within a week, they realized there was something going on with my heart.”
Top cardiologists in the state of Arkansas found the aorta was too narrow for the blood to flow and two holes in the left ventricle essentially meant that O’Dell was born with half a heart. Open heart surgery on a fragile 8-day old child and implanting a pig valve to replace the aorta left O’Dell’s parents questioning if they would ever watch their son surpass a week of life.
“And they, of course, asked, ‘What are his chances?’ said O’Dell. “The doctors said, ‘We really can’t give odds of success, but this is the only option. We can try this surgery, or he’s going to die.’”
But God.
“So, they tried it, and I lived for two years,” said O’Dell. “Then I started having issues again. I slept a lot. What ended up being my heart went into failure.”
His chest, which already was so scarred was opened again to replace the valve which lasted O’Dell until he began high school.
“They did a couple of tests and said it was time replace that valve,” he said. “They had to go through both my back and my front to replace the valve. So, I have this massive scar on my back around my left shoulder. And again, we were good. I recovered from that.”
If you’re keeping count, that’s three open heart surgeries by the age of 15. And at age 28, he received a defibrillator.
“Because of that, I had a high risk for ventricular tachycardia,” O’Dell said. “In 2010, doctors inserted the pacemaker. It’s an ICD (implantable cardiac device).”
A replacement of that pacemaker in 2018 led to O’Dell’s life being saved just a year later in 2019.
“I was driving home from Oklahoma City back to my home in Valliant and about an hour and a half from home, I started feeling funny,” said O’Dell. “I just kept driving, and it just kept getting worse. Before I made it home, I blacked out and my defibrillator went off. It was almost like getting in a wreck. I woke up, and I was still driving down the road.”
O’Dell’s heart had stopped, requiring the help of his fresh defibrillator to shock his heart back to life. Physically, it stopped beating, but spiritually, it has never stopped beating for the Lord since he was six years old.
“And I remember that my mom would read a Precious Moments Bible story book to my sister and me several times a week,” said O’Dell. “And, one night as she read one of those stories, I just fell under conviction.”
At six years old, O’Dell was more aware of life and death than the average child because he was so close to touching death.
“And I remember my mother leading me through praying to receive Jesus,” said O’Dell. “I still remember that feeling of peace I got. It was as if the Spirit—well the Spirit did come on me as the Bible tells us—and and I just felt that.”
Right after high school, O’Dell surrendered his life to the ministry. Today, he is pastor of Valliant, Trinity.
“I feel like, because of all that I’ve been through in regard to my health, it is a benefit to minister to other people, because in a lot of ways, I literally know what they’re going through,” he said.
If there’s any one message that embodies O’Dell’s ministry, it’s submission. James 4:7 says, “Submit to God, therefore resist the devil and he will flee from you.” And in peaceful submission, O’Dell, knowing that his days may be numbered, chooses to surrender what little bit of a heart he has to God.
“You know as I get older—I’ll turn 43 this year—I realize that I shouldn’t have lived past 8 days,” said O’Dell. “And that becomes more and more real the older I get. I’m literally living by the grace of God and a miracle that he performed all those years ago. I really try to remind myself to take all of these moments with my kids, with my wife, with my family serious.”
Therefore, O’Dell is going and making disciples of all nations.
