Healing and Hope Mark a New Season in Austin — Winter 2019

2018 has been an extremely challenging time for my family and me. On March 23, 2018, I went to the ER for extreme abdominal pain and burning, a problem I’ve experienced for years.

After two days of testing and four blood transfusions, they discovered a mass blocking my intestine. I would need to undergo emergency surgery to remove the mass and have my gut reconstructed. This would be a very delicate surgery for the doctors to perform.

After a four-hour operation, and to the surprise of the surgeon, the surgery was a success. Later, though, my husband and I were informed that the mass was cancerous and had spread. They diagnosed me with Stage IV metastatic cancer.

I wanted to go into self-pity mode and shake my fist at God asking “WHY ME, haven’t I been faithful?” So many thoughts were running through my mind.

My husband faithfully prayed over me, reminding me that God was still in control and that we would get 4 through this trial. Our pastors Terry and Jody Wakefield came and laid hands on me while in the hospital.

My pastor spoke powerful words to me that would resonate in my spirit throughout my trial. He said; “It’s understandable you feel scared, but rest assured, God is already on the scene.” These words would become so real to me in the months to follow.

After a 10-day hospital stay, I was very weak, my blood count and iron levels still low.

I started seeing an oncologist to begin a treatment plan. She ordered a PET scan to pinpoint precisely where the cancer was. As I waited for the results, I prayed and told God, His will be done, not mine. I thanked Him for saving me so I could enjoy the past 14 years of my life, and for entrusting me with my husband, my children, and grandchildren.

My pastor, his wife, and our congregation were steadily lifting me up in prayer! When the results came in, the oncologist said that remaining cancer seemed to be fading away without any type of chemotherapy treatments! She told me that although the tumors were dissipating by themselves she was still going to start me on a mild form of chemotherapy. Although this was said to be a mild form of chemo, it was tough to endure, leaving me so weak and nauseous. On August 17, I would undergo another major surgery. Although the second surgery also was a success, the breathing tubes that were placed down my throat during the operation caused the left side of my vocal cords to become paralyzed. I could not speak any louder than a raspy whisper for the next two months. I was referred to an ENT and a speech therapist in hopes that speech therapy would stimulate my vocal cords. After a few sessions, we discovered that a few girls that attend our church used to work for the same office my speech therapist works at. These girls left an excellent testimony with my therapist and based on this, my therapist said she was going to “do me a favor” and refer me to one of her good friends who happens to be one of the few ENTs in the Austin area that do vocal cord injections to stimulate the cords.

After the injection, the ENT told me to allow five to seven days for my voice to restore. I left the clinic, disappointed, still unable to speak louder than a whisper. I wanted immediate results.

I sat in my car and asked God to please restore my voice. I told Him moving forward that every word out of my mouth would be only of edification to bring hope to the hopeless, and that I would witness and testify of His amazing love and all He has done for me. That my voice would be His tool to see souls saved.

Before I could make the 20-minute drive back home, I began to speak and noticed my voice was restored! It didn’t take me five to seven days, it took faith, prayer, and 20 minutes! God healed my vocal cords!

I called the ENT who had just done the injection and told him my voice was back. He said he had never seen immediate results like this before in all his years of practice.

On October 31st, my oncologist told me that she doesn’t get the opportunity to say this to many patients diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer, but she was happy to say I was now cancer free and would no longer have to do chemo!

As I look back now, it’s so evident to me that “God was indeed already on the scene!” He knew everything I would go through beforehand and was there with me every step of the way. He orchestrated everything.

I think about how God used Jody, my pastor’s wife, to plant a seed before all this even started. Jody called me a week or two before I went to the ER just to tell me that if my body doesn’t feel right, to go get myself checked by a doctor.

I think about my amazing church family lifting me up in prayer, prayers so powerful I could tangibly feel them as if their loving arms were physically wrapping around me lifting me up to God.

The favor God gave me with my job was another amazing factor in all of this! As the word spread of my diagnosis, so many co-workers began to donate their own hours of vacation time to me to make sure I would get paid for my time off in surgery, recovery, and chemo treatments. A total of 190 vacation hours were donated to me by my coworkers.

This definitely was the biggest fight of my life,but when I was weak, God was my strength!

God healed me just in time to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary to an amazing man of God. I could not have gotten through this without the care, love, support, and prayers my husband demonstrated during this trial. We celebrated our anniversary in October with a vow renewal at our church, and since have been blessed with a brand new granddaughter.

I know God is not done with us yet, we’re looking forward to all God has for our family!