Amy Grant Shares Update on Her Recovery After Open Heart Surgery

Amy Grant underwent open heart surgery last week to fix a rare condition she has had since birth, and the singer shared an update on her recovery with fans on Sunday. The 59-year-old posted a slideshow of photos, beginning with an image of herself in the hospital, a large incision visible in her chest. She followed that with a series of three photos of herself seemingly at home, laughing and smiling. In her caption, she wrote that in the midst of this “crazy, broken, yet beautiful time … in the midst of all of our awareness and becoming and learning to love and see each other,” she had a “really unique” experience of open-heart surgery, which she revealed was unanticipated.

“The only way I can explain my experience would be to ask you to imagine a non-runner who was signed up for a marathon,” Grant told her followers. “I didn’t want it, but I had to have it anyway and it was a week ago Wednesday. And as people heard about the surgery I started getting messages: ‘I’m praying for you’ …’I’m praying for you.’ People I worked with decades ago, people who have come to my concerts or listen to my music, my work family, people on social media, and my own friends and family all offered their prayers.”

Ten days after her surgery, Grant wrote that “if it really were a marathon race, I felt like I got into that runner’s block and as soon as it was time for the race to start there was this massive West Texas wind at my back.. just pushing me through. … Even stuff I was really scared about felt like nothing more than just a deep breath and something supernatural pushed me through it,” she shared, writing that her recovery has “felt miraculous.”

The singer concluded by thanking her fans for their support, writing that she wants “to say thank you to each person who said a prayer” for her. “Prayer changes everything,” she wrote. “Let’s keep those prayers going for our country and let’s turn all the brokenness into love and seeing each other. I love you.” Earlier this year, Grant’s doctors discovered during a routine checkup that she had a condition called PAPVR, or partial anomalous pulmonary venous return.

According to Mayo Clinic, PAPVR occurs when some of the pulmonary veins carrying blood from the lungs to the heart flow into other blood vessels or into the heart’s upper right chamber instead of correctly entering the heart’s upper left chamber. The defect causes some oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to mix with oxygen-poor blood before entering the right atrium. The surgery needed to correct the condition redirects blood flow and takes place under general anesthesia.