Cancer That Awful “C” Word & A Survivor Story

Cancer is an evil word, and even more so and evil and cruel disease that make loved ones leave us way to soon.

Some people are diagnosed early and go through their treatments, with no problem.

Some are blessed, and are able to get the best news that anyone facing the awful “C” word can hope for, that after undergoing surgery, all traces of the cancer are gone.

My Mom after having some issues with her stomach, trying medicine after medicine to treat the issue, was sent to do more tests.  Her Primary Care Physician went the extra mile to make sure everything was okay… Thank God she did!

Upon further tests, the doctor informed her that she had a 10lb tumor attached to one of her kidneys.  He said that it was indeed cancer, and that the type of Cancer she had was Renal Cell Carcinoma.  He informed my parents that they needed to go home and get their affairs in order.  This news devastated us. Completely devastated us.

My daughter was 1 about to turn 2, and I was so depressed that my Mom would not be around to see my sweet baby grow up. That my sweet loving Mom wouldn’t be there to help me raise my daughter, love on her, and do all the things that grandmothers do.  I am an only child, and my daughter is the only grandchild.  All I could do for the next couple of weeks was cry.  Looking at my sweet baby, I didn’t want to think about her growing up without her Nana.

Trying to be strong for my Mom and my Dad, I tried not to cry.  Normally not much makes me cry. But this is was my MOM we’re talking about.  I am blessed to have parents who are incredibly strong in faith.  They said from the get go, “We’re going to pray through this. God has never failed us yet, and we’re not giving up faith! He’ll get us through this too.”

Well, they were exactly right!  Our church family, family and friends rallied around us in the days that were coming ahead of us. Every step of the way.  In fact, when my Mom went to the hospital for her surgery, they’re was about 20-30 people there with us, rallying around us and praying for her and us the whole time she was in surgery.

She came out of surgery and the doctor came over and talked to my Dad and myself.  He said, that with removing her tumor and her kidney, that all signs of the cancer was gone. Yes GONE! He said that in all the cases that he had seen, it had always spread to the other kidney as well.  But with hers, it had just been on that 1 kidney.  He said that he couldn’t explain it, that she was lucky.  We told him, “Lucky yes, but she was BLESSED! She has the best physician working on her – God.  We prayed through this and knew that God was on her side.”

I am blessed to say, that my Mom has now been Cancer free for 4 years, and I thank God for that.  I thank him for never leaving her side.  I thank him for having his will and way done in my Mom’s life, and proving that doctor wrong! I thank him for all my many blessings, and that both my Mom and my Dad have been there to love my daughter, and myself, and my little family all this time.

Last year my parents started on a journey to become as healthy as they can. As of today, they have both lost 125 lbs each. Yes EACH! They are taking it one day at a time, and never giving up their faith.  I’m beyond proud of my amazing parents!

Don’t you ever give up on God! His timing is not always our timing, and he knows what’s best for us, and he especially knows what tomorrow holds for us.