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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

Prayers are pouring in from local leaders and the community after Judge Matt Fridy suffered a heart attack on Wednesday, April 16.

On April 16, Rep. Jim Hill, chairman of the Alabama House Judiciary Committee, announced that Fridy had suffered a heart attack and was in intensive care at Baptist Health Shelby Hospital.

“We talk about a lot of stuff here and I don’t mean that it’s not important… but when you have a massive heart attack and you’re in intensive care that trumps every single thing we’re doing in here this afternoon,” Hill said.

Before the committee handled business, Hill led those in attendance in a prayer on Fridy’s behalf.

“We ask you Lord to be with Matt,” Hill said. “We ask you to bring him his much-wanted health. We ask you to comfort him, his family, his wife, his five children as they’re gathered around (as) they also pray for Matt’s recovery. We ask that you would be with him, Lord.”

In 2014, Fridy was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives to represent District 74—which is comprised of Montevallo, Alabaster, Pelham and Helena. He was successfully reelected in 2018 but resigned from the House to serve on the Alabama Court of Appeals after being elected in 2020. Fridy is also a past chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party.

Fridy grew up in the Birmingham area and is a graduate of the University of Montevallo. He previously served as an adjunct professor of business law at UM and was appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey to the University of Montevallo Board of Trustees in 2023.

On Thursday, April 17, Kenneth Paschal, who serves as the state representative of the same district Fridy once did, took to Facebook to share a prayer on behalf of Fridy—expressing his belief in the power of prayer and hoping for Fridy’s recovery.

“We come before You with heavy but hope-filled hearts, lifting up our beloved brother in Christ, Matt Fridy,” Paschal said. “Lord, You are the Great Physician, the Healer of hearts—physically, emotionally and spiritually. We ask for Your healing power to fall upon Matt right now. After the massive heart attack he suffered yesterday, we pray for complete and miraculous recovery. Restore every cell, every artery, every function in his body. May Your breath of life flow through him anew.”

Former district attorney for St. Clair County Richard Minor also took to social media to offer his prayers for Friday as well as the Colbert County Republican Party and the Alabama Republican Party.

Further information on Fridy’s condition will be released as it becomes available.