Eccl 3:1There
is a time for everything,
And a season for
every activity under heaven:
A time to speak,
and a time to build,
A time to love
and a time to heal….
“F.R.I.E.N.D.S.”
Christian Cancer
Care was born in my heart on April 4, 2006 when I was diagnosed with Stage
3 breast cancer. All of my family, including my only daughter, Nicole, lived out
of town.
From the very
first moment of finding the cancerous lumps, my daughter and all my friends sacrificed
and prayed for me.
It included
many trips to the doctor’s office with me to confirm the findings, biopsies, several
surgeries, more doctor appointments, enduring radical chemo, radiation and hospital
stays in ICU. It also meant spending the night with me, grocery shopping for me,
etc. You name it; God surrounded me with “friends” to help carry me through when
I was too weak and sick to do it for myself alone.
My main hope
and faith has always been in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to heal me and bring
me through this terrifying trial. However, the love of God shown through my daughter,
family members, employer, and Pastor, co-workers plus the incredible care and excellence
of the doctors and their staff gave me a confidence I was among “friends.”
God gave me
a peace from the beginning that my course in this life was not finished.
It was my only
desire that I would bring honor to God during this cancer journey and take His hope
everywhere this trial would take me. God assured me through my inner peace and His
Word He was going to take this hard and challenging trial of cancer and make something
beautiful out of it. He certainly did!
On the very
first visit to my Oncologist, Dr. Morris S. Dees, III, my daughter and I soon found
out he was not your average doctor. Dr. Dees soon became not only my medical advisor,
for Nicole and I, Dr. Dees became a close spiritual friend.
Dr. Dees had
the exact same vision for healing through the power of Jesus Christ, and he acknowledged
that day, “I am just a vessel God uses and flows through, but God is the ultimate
Healer.”
We prayed together
and discussed that the vital need for overcoming and managing cancer was spiritual
well being; a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus,
“F.R.I.E.N.D.S.” was born! It was all my friends standing with me and helping
me that allowed me to concentrate on the goal and that was to get well.
It is the desire of Dr. Dees and me now to take the message to the medical community
and all those affected by cancer in the world that “working together for health
and healing through faith, hope, support and prayer” is relevant to healing the
whole man.
It is also medically proven that spiritual well-being is vital for overcoming and
managing cancer. Our “F.R.I.E.N.D.S.”
group is making this possible!