He's sharing the special celebration this year with a woman he credits with saving his life.

That woman, Johns Hopkins Hospital neurosurgeon Dr. Judy Huang, was happy to share the podium at a luncheon at Berry Hills Country Club on Saturday. Just as Heyliger credits her skills, she believes his spirituality is just as valuable.

Huang said the relationship she developed with Heyliger while treating him at the Baltimore hospital helped elevate her recent conversion to Christianity.

Shortly after celebrating his 30th anniversary as pastor of the church last year, Heyliger, now 60, experienced a tremendous headache during a church event. He called his wife and asked her to come and get him. Then, realizing he could not stand, he told her to call an ambulance.

The next thing he remembers is waking up in a Morgantown hospital bed.

"I always wanted to travel in a helicopter," Heyliger said. "I just never knew it would be one custom made to fit me, and so expensive."

Doctors in Morgantown told Heyliger they were assembling a team of surgeons in an effort to treat the very rare brain aneurism -- called dural arteriovenous fistula -- he had suffered.

After a delay of nearly a month, Ruby Memorial Hospital doctors told Heyliger he should try to find another facility capable of treating him.

His wife, Grace, whom he calls "Lady Grace," learned of Johns Hopkins while researching her husband's condition.

That's when he met Huang.

"She had a composure about her that said, 'I know what I'm doing,'" he said.

The pastor's sister, Emelda Heyliger, said she appreciated Huang keeping her promise and updating the family every two hours during her brother's approximately eight-hour surgery.

"One of her staff told me, 'He has the best in the world,'" she said. "I was a nurse, and knew that nurses don't say that easily."

Heyliger underwent the surgery on Feb. 2 and was back to preaching in March.

"Because of all your prayers, I never had fear or worry," he told the group of about 70 celebrants Saturday.

Heyliger returned for a checkup in April and got a good report, he said. While there, he asked Huang, 41, if she would come to West Virginia so he could show his congregation "who God used to bring healing into my life."

During the postoperative checkup, the pair had discussed Huang's newfound religious beliefs. She told him she recently had been baptized.

Huang, who grew up in Taiwan, wasn't exposed to any religious affiliations. As a surgeon, she saw how important religion was in the lives of her patients and embarked on her own spiritual journey.

"That's when we had a merging of the minds," Heyliger said. "We spoke of health and healing, and meditation and prayer."

Huang was thanked numerous times by church and community members Saturday for the role she played in saving Heyliger's life.

"This luncheon isn't in honor of me, it's to honor God, and what he's done," she said. "It's been made clear to me what a huge healing source and comfort [Heyliger] is to so many -- it's amazing I had a little part in seeing it continues."

Huang said Heyliger's treatment was a long journey.

"All things happen for a reason, and the reverend's case solidified my faith," she said. "This is the highlight of my journey -- and really my career -- to be here with you."

Huang said seeing the appreciation from people who know and love Heyliger is life-changing for her.

"I'm so moved, more than I've ever been," she said. "It's glorious to be able to witness."

Grace Heyliger presented Huang with an engraved timepiece bearing the inscription, "May God bless your healing hands."

"There are no words or deed that can tell you how much you mean to us for what you've done," Grace Heyliger said.

Huang described the reverend's recovery as "terrific."

The celebration will continue during a service Sunday at the church in Dunbar.

Reach Kate White at kate.wh...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.