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RICHFIELD – When Richfield resident Dan Graybill is out walking in public with his service dog, a poodle known as Denver, people inquire as to how someone who appears healthy could need an animal by his side.
Graybill found himself answering this question at length. It’s a complicated story. It’s one that he could not answer in a sentence.
Then, shortly after his 98-year-old grandmother, Mary Hoffman, passed away late in 2015, he knew how he would handle the questions.
Family members were going through Mary’s belongings, and Graybill found many gospel tracts – small, paper booklets that presented the story of Jesus Christ and his power to help humanity in a story form.
It dawned on Graybill that this was how he would handle his situation. He would write his story in a condensed booklet form, and keep them in a pouch on Denver’s back. When someone would ask, he would present it to them and let them find out exactly why that working dog is dedicated to him.
Graybill’s story is one of a very healthy and active man who has been involved in ministry for a number of years, moving out of the area for some time, and then returning. His only thorn was a battle with anxiety and some depression in the late 1980s. He overcame that battle with mentorship and by growing in his spiritual life. He and his wife, Lori, and children, Christian and Sarah, moved to Maryland for 10 years.
It was during that time, that Graybill’s body began to act oddly.
He dealt with dizziness and vertigo, and then he began picking up intense sounds, such as the movements of his bones, his chewing, and the movement of his eyes. They were very loud sounds, something the average person cannot hear.
“It was bizarre. It really started to affect me mentally,” Graybill shared. It affected him socially. Eating out at a restaurant was not an option because he could not communicate with people due to the very loud sounds of his own eating. It was overpowering. His voice even echoed in his mind when he talked.
Doctors were puzzled. No one was able to help him. In 2009 he and his family returned to Richfield. He learned to cope with the problem by simply accepting its presence in his everyday life.
In 2013 Graybill started to have blackouts. One day in July the blackouts were accompanied by intense chest pain at his job. Lorie took her husband to the emergency room. A heart catheterization was done and stents were put in place. He had a tearing of his coronary wall. It was a heart attack.
“The day before this happened, I had visited a cardiologist who said a blockage occurring in my heart was slim to none.” Graybill felt good about that appointment, went home, finished running and training for a marathon, washed his car and mowed the lawn. And the next day everything changed.
“That’s how spontaneous it is,” he said.
He felt fine after the stents were in place and was on the road to recovery. He had no idea that this was not a normal heart attack. This was a rare and serious disease. Four weeks later he was back in ER with another heart attack, more tearing, and more damage to his heart.
Graybill was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. It was discovered he had Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection.
Graybill’s situation was so rare, doctors said, that it usually only occurred in women.
While at the Mayo Clinic, Graybill mentioned his hearing problems – the intense bodily noises that had disrupted his life for years. It was determined he also had Superior Semi-Circular Dehiscence syndrome, which means his skull base under the brain did not form correctly when he was a baby. There were holes in the canals of the skull which caused him to hear sounds due to the open cavity. Graybill’s situation was unique because it was found on both sides of the brain and affecting both ears.
His brain activity worsened. Graybill could not remember things.
“I would literally go up and down the stairs every morning because I kept forgetting things.”
The scariest moment was when Graybill had an appointment with the family doctor in Mifflintown. He got in his car and he could not remember how to drive.
“I just sat there looking at the steering wheel.” He finally realized that the key was to go into the ignition. He drove himself to his appointment and told his doctor, “I need help.”
Graybill was sent to John Hopkins University Hospital for surgery on his skull. The holes of the skull were plugged. The hearing issues are now gone, but there are still other motor skill problems.
Denver, or a therapy dog, was recommended by medical professionals to help Graybill cope when he could think clearly. The dog also is alerted when Graybill faces a cardiac need. Denver can sense blood enzymes from Graybill’s mood and stress level and can alert him to take a nitro glycerin pill. Denver aids in balance and helps Graybill walk by holding on to the dog’s harness.
Graybill has handed out the tracts to various strangers as well as friends and others with questions. The tract has a photo of him with Denver and reads, “Dan and Denver. Our story for His glory.”
Graybill has spoken at public events, and shares his battles of feeling like he was losing his mind through this entire experience of odd health issues. He shares his faith and how this experience has led him to an even deeper relationship with God. He has learned a valuable lesson, he said, and he now hopes to share it with anyone facing a debilitating illness – physical or mental.
Graybill has a biblical and psychological education from Moody Bible Theological Seminary.
He has begun The Simple Truth Ministry and can be reached at Dan@TSUSA.org., 694-9004 or www.tstusa.org.