Three ordinary Christian women, living their lives in usual ways. Married with children. Two of them with teen-aged children, one with grown married children and ten grandchildren. Seemingly out of nowhere each woman received a cancer diagnosis that would drastically alter their present lives and possibly bring undesired changes for their futures…

Stacey had noticed a lump on her neck near her collar bone. She watched it to see if it would go away. When it didn’t after several weeks, she went to the doctor. She was sent for an ultrasound and to another doctor for a biopsy. Finding the right diagnosis turned out to be a process. There was no doubt it was cancer, but the fact that it was in her lymph nodes could mean it had spread from somewhere else. 

Stacey refers to this now as the “unknown” time, during which she had moments of great fear when even her hands would shake. At these times, she would redirect her thoughts to the Lord and remind herself of His words spoken often to fearful people, “Do not be afraid.” When the final diagnosis came, it was Hodgin’s Lymphoma, stage two. Two masses were found in her rib cage and some smaller ones in her neck.

This diagnosis had determined that the cancer had not spread from any other places, which was a relief. Stacey was able to journal, “This has been such a sweet, hard, amazing, overwhelming time—meeting Jesus in such an amazing way. Experiencing His love and care in a way that I’m not sure I have before.”

Lori and her husband were missionaries in Cameroon. Home on a year-long furlough, Lori had reached the age for a standard colonoscopy. Having experienced no previous symptoms, she anticipated the results would be negative. Instead a tumor was spotted on her colon. The surgeon believed he had clean margins to remove it; but after surgery, cancer was discovered in her lymph nodes. One cancerous node among the 28 taken. It was stage 3a.

Lori was in shock. “I was numb,” she says. It was hard after a life of routine medical tests that always turned out normal to accept a cancer diagnosis. This was definitely going to impact the timeline for returning to the mission field among many other totally unknown factors. Eventually though, Lori resigned herself to moving forward and following through with the treatment plan. 

Marybeth felt like she was the healthiest of her siblings. She watched what she ate and she walked 10,000 steps every day. That’s why she was completely shocked when she got the results from a routine mammogram and was ultimately diagnosed with breast cancer stage 2b. However, her grandmother had died of breast cancer before she was born, and one of her sisters had also had it before Marybeth’s diagnosis. Marybeth’s tumor was pea-sized, but cancer had moved to one lymph node. Both were surgically and successfully removed. 

In accepting her diagnosis, Marybeth realized that her pride had led her to believe that she had the ability to maintain her own health. What followed was the knowledge that the Lord would be with her and was in control.  She was not fearful of what might happen. 

These women then began what would seem to each like a long and hard treatment plan. Although Stacey had a surgical biopsy while being diagnosed, she had no further surgical procedures. She was told by her treating physicians, “If you have to have cancer, the kind you have is the best kind to have.”

Her treatment plan was six months of chemotherapy which she received every 14 days. At the end of those six months, the cancer was in remission. Stacey remembers “God was so gracious all the time and provided just what I needed every day, every moment. I felt like I was under an umbrella of grace….My greatest comfort was truly God Himself.”

She recalls needed provisions occurring in so many various ways—meals, phone calls, strangers who sat next to her at chemo, texts, a verse, a song—all at just the right time. “It seemed so easy to see His hand in everything,” she says.

After Lori’s initial surgery to remove the tumor, she began a regimented treatment of receiving chemo therapy every two weeks for what was to have been six months or 12 rounds. She received the first dose of each treatment in person for three hours and then a portable pump was used for two successive days. One disappointing week, they postponed a treatment for another week because Lori’s blood counts were bad. But even with that set-back, her treatment ended after only six rounds—basically three months, half the expected time. All of this was occurring during Covid-19 however, which presented unusual obstacles.

No one could accompany her to the treatments because of Covid, and visitors at home weren’t encouraged. Every treatment made Lori sicker and sicker until she felt like barely a shell of who she really is. She couldn’t think clearly, couldn’t pray, couldn’t read, and couldn’t remember the answers her family gave her when she asked them questions. She asked them over and over, realizing she couldn’t remember answers, but desperately wanted to. “I had no energy,” she recalls. “It was awful.”

One friend stayed with Lori when she ran a high fever from the chemo, until her family could get her to the hospital. Lori’s husband, Chris, was her caregiver and she remembers that he did a good job and is still appreciative and thankful for all he did during those months. Now, three and a half years after her final treatment, Lori continues to have checkups every six months. All have been absent any trace of cancer. 

At five years, Lori will only have blood tests annually. “I know that God had me the whole time,” Lori says. “In fact, He still holds me. He was with me during all those times I was too weak to pray. The prayers of the Church helped to sustain me.”

Lori and Chris ultimately returned to Cameroon and continue to serve with Wycliffe. “Everyone’s cancer journey is different,” Lori says. “Not all are as hard as mine, and some are much harder.” Looking back, Lori does wish that counselling or some kind of support group had been available to her and her family to help them better understand what they were walking through. As was so often the case during Covid though, that was never an option. However, Lori would encourage anyone receiving a cancer diagnosis to pursue that avenue.

Lori says Philippians 4:8-9 was a most helpful passage to her during that time and has always been a verse to keep in mind at all times. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Marybeth, a resident of North Carolina had her surgery at Duke University Hospital and then returned to her local hospital for 12 rounds of chemo every two weeks, followed by 33 radiation treatments. This lasted from March to October of 2020. Marybeth is taking and will continue to take an estrogen blocker medication for a decade after her treatment. She is considered cancer free. 

She experienced no side effects from either the chemo or radiation treatments, except for losing her hair, which she describes as “horrible.” Otherwise she had the energy to do what she always did. By the time you read this, she will have had her four-year post cancer mammogram. Although this is creating a bit of anxiety right now in her, she trusts Jesus with the outcome.

Like Stacey and Lori, Marybeth says she felt the prayers of her church and Christian friends and family. She even received cards from people at her large church that she didn’t know, because she was on the church’s prayer list. All three women not only mention prayer support from their local churches, but also help with meals. Having meals provided for their families, was a God-send especially for the families with multiple teenagers at home.

Marybeth was able to draw from friends and a sister who had previously gone through breast cancer to form a breast cancer sisterhood, as she has named it. One of those women, diagnosed several months before Marybeth, was such an encouragement to her with almost daily texts. However, her friend’s cancer was very aggressive, and two years ago she lost her battle. Marybeth says it is hard to believe she is gone, and although there is no doubt in Marybeth’s mind that her sister/friend is with Jesus, it makes her sad when she sees her grandchildren at church.

Marybeth points out another blessing to her cancer healing—pet therapy! Her family’s long-time beloved golden retriever passed away suddenly just a few weeks prior to her cancer diagnosis. She was devastated and missed her doggie hugs. Those hugs do increase serotonin and dopamine levels which are most helpful, she says, especially in illnesses. She sadly thought her doggie mom days were over. She couldn’t handle a puppy but a neighbor recommended rescue. The wait was a couple years and a fenced-in yard was necessary, which her home didn’t have. “I explained that I walk six to ten miles a day, but even so, getting a dog quickly didn’t look promising.” Yet, it wasn’t long until Marybeth received a call. They told her they thought they had the perfect dog. Cooper arrived the day before Marybeth’s first chemo treatment, and in her eyes has been a miracle.

Marybeth points to two passages of Scripture that have become more meaningful since her cancer days. Psalm 91 is one, which begins with these strong and powerful words:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

The other, Isaiah 40:29-31, imparts much of the same language:

He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

For all three of these women, life is moving forward vibrantly. Cancer is behind them. Their children are finishing high school, attending college, settling into careers, marrying, and having children. 

Stacey sums up her experience by saying, “I do believe this cancer was a gift to me, to get to know God in a deeper way. Verses stood out to me that I had always known. But now they took on new meaning.”

Some of these were Isaiah 43:1-2:

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.

Another from Philippians 4:6-7 reads: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Stacey goes on. “What would I share with others who might be finding out they have cancer? God is faithful. Taste of His incredible love and goodness and mercy and grace.  It is strong and sure.  God will be there with you, wherever you are. In my journal that I kept through my cancer, I found these quotes from Nancy Demoss Wolgomuth. 

God is with you in the trial, even if the trial doesn't end.

Be thankful—it will change your perspective.  God is good and will be good, even in the trials.

Pray for grace to cling to God and just take one day at a time.  There is much grace for today!

God is good and you can trust Him to write your story of your life.