Rachel Held Evans, Popular Christian Writer, Dies at 37

Rachel Held Evans, a popular religious writer, tragically passed away on the 4th of May after a lengthy hospitalization due to complications from the flu.

Rachel’s husband, Daniel Evans, shared the heartbreaking news on her blog which he maintained on her website.

“Early Thursday morning, May 2, Rachel experienced sudden and extreme changes in her vitals. The team at the hospital discovered extensive swelling of her brain and took emergency action to stabilize her,” he wrote. “The team worked until Friday afternoon to the best of their ability to save her. This swelling event caused severe damage and ultimately was not survivable.”

According to the blogs, Rachel was in the ICU in a medically induced coma that aided in preventing brain seizures that she experienced during treatment for an infection.

The New York Times best-selling author challenged the Evangelical establishment and exploring themes of faith, doubt, and life in the Bible Belt. She is the author of “A Year of Biblical Womanhood,” which reflects on her experience of “biblical womanhood.”

Her other books include “Faith Unraveled”, “Searching for Sunday”, and “Inspired”.

Daniel described the whole experience as “surreal”, calling it a nightmare from which he hopes to awake.

Rachel first announced that she had been hospitalized due to a “flu+UTI combo” on April on her Twitter account. She also revealed that she had a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics that she took.

Often left untreated because it resolves on its own for most people, influenza can sometimes be life-threatening. The disease manifests the symptoms of common cold including sneezing, runny nose, and sore throat.

However, influenza is much complicated than common cold with more intense symptoms including fatigue and weakness, aching muscles, chills and sweats, nasal congestion, fever, sore throat, and headache.

The author is survived by her husband and two children. We hope her family finds the strength to cope with the huge loss.