Graduate Contemplates Miracles in Her Life

It was Christmas Eve at Oro Valley Hospital. A mourning family gathered in the cramped hospital room as the respiratory therapist, Jenna Wade, whose job was to withdraw her life support, stood at the bedside of their grandmother. Out of the heartfelt silence, pained voices joined in singing. The lyrics of “Amazing Grace” rang through the halls. Tears flooded Jenna’s face as she reflected on the trials that occur in life but also the miracles that happen because of them. “How can there not be a God?” she asks.

 

This reverence and wonder for the Lord started for Jenna Wade during her four years of high school at Pusch Ridge Christian Academy. While there, she and her friends – Bre, Taelor, and Natalie – invested in their lifelong friendships with one another by supporting the Pusch Ridge Christian Academy football team at their games and simply spending time together at nearby restaurants.

 

“I could be myself around them. I could be a woman of God,” Jenna says. She found that when it came to friendships, “if you surround yourself with faithful friends you want to be around, you will become like them.”

 

This group of loving, supporting friends was essential in the years to come. After losing both of her parents by the age of twelve, Jenna lived with and was raised by her older sister. That community she gained at PRCA strengthened Jenna through the struggles that followed.

 

Jenna explains, “It was hard that I couldn’t be like the other kids, but chapel really helped.” Wednesdays marked an hour break for students where they gathered in the gym to praise God through worship. “If I was ever having a down day and I knew it was a Wednesday, I would be so happy. I would just sing worship songs, and I knew it was good for me.”

 

This unwavering faith led her through her high school experience to when she was nominated as a Senior Class Achiever. On the day of her headshot, Jenna smiled wide but wouldn’t show her teeth. Principal Dr. Abrams, noticed this and asked her, “Why aren’t you smiling?”

 

“I am!” she answered.

 

“No, with your teeth,” he clarified.

 

She then explained how she needed braces but couldn’t get them. Knowing her home and financial situation, Dr. Abrams set her up with a dentist in the Pusch Ridge Christian Academy community. Because of his Christ-like kindness, Jenna was able to get x-rays performed, which revealed a benign tumor that needed to be surgically removed. “It was by pure luck and faith that they found it,” Jenna recounts, and Dr. Abrams’ blessing in her life was the method by which God worked His miracle.

 

This selfless act is what pushed Jenna down the path to help those who can’t help themselves and bring peace to those who desperately need it. Even though she didn’t know exactly what it would look like, Jenna knew by the grace of God that she just wanted to help people.

 

After graduating from high school and spending two years at Arizona State University to complete her general education requirements, Jenna moved back to Tucson in 2008. She became a student at Pima Medical Institute where she became a respiratory therapist.

 

Jenna's next twelve years were spent at Oro Valley Hospital, working as a respiratory therapist and cardio-pulmonary supervisor. Every day was a challenge in her faith but also a new day to be God’s hands and feet, even through the toughest of days when she had to withdraw life support. “I would pray for them while I was pulling the tube, just to have them pass quickly and let them be at peace,” she explains. There were times of doubt in her faith, but when she put her hand by her patients’ heads and prayed, she knew God was working in miraculous ways that she couldn’t see yet.

 

An example of this in her own life came in early 2020. Jenna met her future fiancé, Tony, on Bumble, an online dating app. They went on a few dates, but two weeks later, the country shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a worldwide quarantine was initiated. However, the two of them kept in contact. While the COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging time for a lot of people, when it came to her relationship with Tony, Jenna chose to view it as a blessing in disguise.

 

“We got to know each other organically without judgments or opinions from others,” Jenna explains. Since it was hard for anyone to get together to meet, the two of them were free from outside influences. “It truly was on God’s timing.”

 

Two and a half years after they met, Tony took Jenna on a trip to New York to visit his grandmother in October 2022. There, he proposed to her, and she responded with “Yes!”

 

Now, Jenna lives in Oro Valley with her old English bulldog named Bronx. In the last year, she transitioned jobs to now work at Tucson Medical Center as a chest pain coordinator. She and Tony are preparing to get married on November 11, 2023, a significant date for both of them since they love the phrase “It’s eleven eleven! Make a wish!”

 

Reflecting on the blessings and miracles that God has brought into her life, Jenna fondly remembers her time at Pusch Ridge Christian Academy, and if she and Tony have kids in the near future, she would like to send them to PRCA. “It really helped mold me into the woman I became. Had I not gone to a private Christian school, I don’t know which path I would be on right now.”