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Dr. Ginnelle Ries has witnessed proof that this life is not the end and miracles do happen. Take a Deep Breath is two memoirs intertwined into one. The first is the story of Ginnelle, a girl who from a young age strives to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor. It chronicles her life as she struggles with the insecurities of her younger years and her simple wish to be loved. It shares her poignant relationship with her father, her resiliency as she attends medical school as a single mother on welfare, and the stories of the patients she will never forget. You will rejoice with her as she finds love and grieve with her as she loses loved ones. Living through a life-threatening illness brings her full circle and to a point where she can finally say, "No matter what, it will be okay."
The second and more important story is the spiritual one, not distinct but rather woven intimately within Ginnelle's life. You will share in her spiritual growth and discovery and the stories of miraculous healings, guardian angels, and messages from loved ones who have passed. You will be beside her as she hears her husband recount his life-after-death experience and be with her as she witnessed something during the death of a loved one that convinced her that this life is not the end.
Take a Deep Breath will make you laugh, will make you cry, but, more importantly, will give you hope that we are not alone; this life is not the end; and miracles do happen.
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Ep. 1: Dr. Greenspan
About the Author Dr. Ginnelle Ries
After being a physician for 30 years and witnessing “God incidents” not only in my professional life but personal life as well, I felt it was necessary to remind people that this life is not the end and miracles do happen. I was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska attending Catholic grade school and high school there. I graduated from Rockhurst University (formerly college) in 1985 and the University of Nebraska School of Medicine in 1990. I completed my residency training in Anesthesiology at Kansas University Medical Center in 1994 and have been a practicing anesthesiologist since that time. I completed fellowship training in Integrative medicine in 2011 at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and additional certification in Interactive Guided imagery through the Academy of Guided Imagery in 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
After witnessing a profound God incident during the death of a loved one in 2000, I felt a strong calling to write a book about not only that event, but all of the God incidences that I witnessed in my life and career. I almost felt spiritually battered so to speak by this frequent and unrelenting calling to write the book. As a busy physician and mother of four children, I kept putting it off and felt realistically this would be something that would be accomplished in retirement. God had other plans though. I was diagnosed with an unruptured brain aneurysm in 2012 and it became crystal clear to me that my time was not guaranteed and if I wanted to complete my calling, I needed to start to write. The book, a memoir, titled TAKE A DEEP BREATH: This life is not the end and miracles do happen, was published in 2017. Just prior to the book being published, what was presumed to be a virus, attacked my heart and left me with heart damage, arrhythmias, and again, a revelation that each day we are here is such a tremendous gift. It furthered my calling to share with people, especially those dealing with life threatening or chronic illnesses, the message of hope that we are not alone, that God is with us, and we are never forgotten. I had hoped to spread this message through talks and visits in churches, but Covid-19 changed those plans. So to social media we went and this podcast was born. Thank you so much for participating! God bless you all!
Photos That Correspond to Dr. Ries' Book
(From Left to Right):
First Picture: My father as a child pictured on the right.
Second Picture: My friend Sue on the left, myself on the right.
Third Picture: My confirmation
Fourth Picture: The life size statue of Mary in the side chapel of the cathedral in my hometown.
Fifth Picture Bottom Left: My close high school friends from the top- Connie, Kris, Karen, Sue, myself, Kathy.
Sixth Picture: A family picture my eighth grade year. From left to right in back- Chad, Scott, Mike, Rick. Front- Karen, Dad, Mom, myself.
Seventh Picture: My sister Karen in high school.
Eighth Picture: My sister Karen's nursing school graduation picture.
From Left to Right Top
Ninth Picture: My mother hugging Karen at her graduation.
Tenth Picture: Myself in high school.
Eleventh Picture: High school drill team picture. Kris on the left, myself on the right.
Twelfth picture: Plaque gift that I opened up in my car in a time of distress in high school.
Thirteenth Picture Below Left: Me in my prom dress.
Fourteenth Picture: College friends from left - Mary, Teresa, Michelle, Lynn, Mary.
Fifteenth Picture: Mabel (not her real name), my 95 year old friend in college.
Sixteenth Picture: Kristin's Baptism. My parents pictured with me would tell me of their impending separation just hours later.
From Left to Right Top
Seventeenth Picture: The Thank You card and movie tickets I received 30 years ago from my favorite patient, Kevin.
Eighteenth Picture: After a long shift at the hospital as a medical intern, my mom snapped this picture of Kristin and I.
Nineteenth Picture: Kristin pictured in high school. Today she is an assistant prosecuting attorney in the special victim's unit.
Twentieth Picture: A picture of Kristin and I on a family camping trip.
Twenty-first Picture Below: Tim and I just married and stepping into the limousine.
Twenty-second Picture: Tim became an instant father to Kristin.
Twenty-third Picture: Tim's sister Kerry, her husband Bill, and their girls, shortly before Kerry was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Twenty-fourth Picture: I meditated on a vision of a much older Kerry at her eldest daughter's wedding reception when praying for her to be cured. On the day I was required to turn the book into the publisher I asked God for a sign. Should I be sharing such personal things with the world? Kerry called minutes later to tell me her eldest daughter's boyfriend had just asked her and her husband for their daughter's hand in marriage. I suddenly realized why I chose the wedding vision years earlier. Kerry is pictured here cured, with her adult daughters.
Top From Left To Right
Twenty-fifth Picture: Tim pictured here weeks after his heart attack. He still had blood covering parts of the whites of his eyes.
Twenty-sixth Picture: The prayer card with the Miracle Prayer on it that I prayed for Tim 18 years ago.
Twenty-seventh Picture: Tim pictured with his childhood friend Joey. Joey committed suicide in his twenties. Tim later, critically ill, saw Joey standing in the corner of his hospital room. Joey also gave my sister a message for Tim.
Twenty-eighth Picture: Tim pictured with his friend Ray. Ray was diagnosed with stage four cancer and given a 5% chance of survival. He is alive, well, and cured 21 years later.
Twenty-ninth Picture: Tim , I, and our children pictured here a few months after Tim's heart attack.
Thirtieth Picture: My brother, Scott, and his wife, Kathi, pictured here with their children a few months before Kathi passed away from pancreatic cancer.
Thirty-first Picture: My nurse friend Sharon who would wake up from cancer surgery many years ago stating "Many good things will come from this." Since that time she has been a mentor for many cancer patients and a catalyst for faith formation for many others.
Thirty-second Picture: My pilgrimage group in Medjugorje. In the bottom row, my father is second from the left. I am third, and Kerry the fourth. Sixth from the left in the bottom row is Mirjana Dragicevic Soldo, one of the six visionaries of the Apparitions of the Virgin Mary that began June 24th, 1981.
Top Left to Right
Thirty-third Picture: Our friends Bob and Jan. Bob was an anesthesiologist and colleague of mine for many years.
Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Picture: My friend Teresa placed this prayer card in the adoration chapel of her church asking for prayers for me after I was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.
Thirty-six picture: Five years after my brother Scott's wife, Kathi passed away, my brother remarried. Pictured here shortly after the marriage is his present wife Beth second from left, her son Mathew, and Scott and his children.
Thirty-seventh Picture Below: Jennifer Ireland. My dear friend Jan's daughter who was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at age 26.
Thirty-eighth Picture: Jan and her daughter, Jennifer. Jennifer died at age 27. Jan has received messages from Jennifer that give her comfort. Jennifer's legacy lives on in the Jennifer Ireland Foundation.
Thirty-ninth Picture: My brother Chad and his wife Susie. Susie was diagnosed with a brain tumor and visual changes. Her first surgery gave her back complete use of her eyes and sight for several years. A second surgery would later render her blind. Please say a prayer for beautiful Susie. She has a heart of gold.
Fortieth Picture: My college friend Mary on the left who had a miraculous healing from septic shock attributed to the Miraculous Medal. My college friend Teresa on the right who was my "angel" in college and whose faith continues to inspire my own to this day.
Top From Left To Right
Forty-first Picture: My friend Mary close to death. She had a miraculous healing.
Forty-second Picture: Mary and her family years after she recovered in front of a Miraculous Medal at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
Forty-third picture: When I returned to my car after my dad's funeral, this peony bulb taken from my dad's casket arrangement, had completely opened. It was completely closed just a few hours before.
Forty-forth Picture: My dad and his grandson, Chase, a few months before he passed away.
Forty-fifth Picture Below: My dad pictured here with his grandchildren a few months before he passed away.