Encouragement

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In February of 2003, I received a call from a friend who had become a sister. She had just received word that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer. This particular type had taken the life of her younger sister, Tina, at the age of 29 only 3 years earlier. Her Mom had beaten a different form of breast cancer only a year earlier. Her father had passed a year before her sister from lung cancer. This was not her first go around with cancer, she had beaten ovarian cancer six years prior.

Upon hearing the news of her diagnosis and prognosis, I immediately had her and her family added to several prayer chains. We all got to praying – hard.

She told me when the surgery was scheduled and gave me her cell number to call her Mom to check on her. The surgery day arrived and I received a phone call that evening. She had come through the surgery.

Her doctors had removed 23 lymph nodes along with the breast that had the cancer. Each of the nodes was cancerous. They also removed a mass in her abdominal cavity. Thankfully, that was not cancerous. She was released from the hospital a few days later.

A couple days after being released, her daughter found her doubled over in agonizing pain. Rushed to the hospital, she was taken into surgery immediately. It was discovered, in the process of removing the abdominal mass a week earlier, the surgeon had nicked her colon and she developed a severe infection. The prognosis was not good. The surgeons placed a temporary colostomy bag. After the surgery, her family was told to call in the family. Phone calls were made, family members arrived. Against all odds, she survived.

After she began her chemo regimen, her Mom called me. After speaking with her and hearing the anxiousness in her voice, I secured plane reservations and had my time off work approved. I left for Texas two weeks later.

When I arrived, I was welcomed as a member of the family as I always am. Susan had had chemotherapy the day before and was struggling with the side effects. She was very tired, nauseous, and fought to stay awake because I was there. She wasn’t eating, as everything had the taste of metal. She had lost a lot of weight since I had seen her last. She had lost her hair. Yet to me, she looked as beautiful as always.

Now sitting and talking with her, her determination was clear. She was going to beat this because she has two children she desperately did not want to leave. She was not going to let this take her life.

When her doctors prescribed her treatment regimen, they told her to get her affairs in order. They told her, this form of cancer rarely responds well to treatment. She told them that she had God on her side and He can work with any form of treatment.

She dumped the negative oncology doctor and found one that was willing to work with her in an optimistic fashion. While the odds were not in her favor, they would keep trying things until they found something that worked.

After months of chemo and months of radiation, it was time to go back in for an evaluation. Waiting for the news was excruciating. She called me shortly after she received the news. She was cancer free!

She asked me to thank all of the people I had praying for her. She asked that we lift prayers of thanksgiving for her miraculous healing.

She never once lost sight of our Father and she never once entertained a negative thought. She lived in the belief that God would answer her prayer. And He did.

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