WAYNES- VILLE -- Some people find their special gift under the Christmas tree. Others pull it out of a long stocking hung from the fireplace mantle.
Ed Leach watched his come chugging steadily past the twinkling Christmas lights, wreaths and big red bows decorating the antique stores and gift shops along Main Street in Waynesville.
The woman wore a long red coat, a butterscotchcolored corduroy cap with the ear flaps down and hiking shoes. On one side she supported herself with a polished, wooden walking stick that had a white rubber tip affixed to the bottom.
On the other was a big, beautiful 5-year-old Akita with a black face, splashes of white on its chest and front legs and the most golden of reputations around this historic Warren County town.
Joanie Leach, Ed's wife, was taking her daily walk with her dog, Emma, and the sight put an emotional hitch in her husband's voice.
"What a tremendous gift," Ed said quietly. "We have truly been blessed. God really smiled on me and gave her back."
'My head literally exploded'
Fake BoxsIt was March 28, 2007, and Joanie and Ed were hosting a dinner that night in their Waynesville home for a church group.
Ed spent the day at his job at Matrix Systems in Centerville. Joanie put together several casseroles and cleaned the house and then realized it was close to 5 p.m. and she had just enough time to take Emma for a short walk.
When matters weren't so pressing, the pair would hike the trails at Sugarcreek MetroPark or Twin Creek or maybe walk along the water at Caesar Creek.
"I was heading up the stairs to get my shoes and two steps from the top my head literally exploded," she said. "My first thought was that someone hit me with a board."
The pain melted her onto the steps and finally she was able to get back down stairs and call Ed, who already was on his way home. As luck would have it, their daughter, Kim Baltzell, a critical care nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital, happened to call just to chat.
"She recognized in my voice that something was wrong," Joanie said. "I told her I'd go to the doctor in the morning, but she said, 'No, you need to go immediately.' "
Ed took her to Kettering Medical Center, where doctors discovered an aneurysm on the right side of the brain. She was moved to Miami Valley Hospital, where doctors feared the worst.
Fake Hublot"It was an absolute miracle I'd survived to that point," she said, "and I found out later they weren't sure I'd be able to survive the surgery to repair it."
Although she did pull through that operation, more trouble was ahead.
"She developed a blood clot in the carotid artery, had a stroke and it paralyzed her on one side," Ed said. "They caught it soon enough, got a clot-buster on it and slowly she regained her feeling.
"But because of all the blood thinners she was on, she developed brain hemorrhages and finally they drilled a hole in the top of her head to drain the fluid."
Listening to her husband now recount the ordeal, Joanie smiled: "I looked like one of the Teletubbies."
Ed said after the other scares, he was sitting at Joanie's hospital bedside, holding her hand, when he saw her look "go vacant."