Missionary with cancer

[DaveW]

A missionary friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with cancer in his digestive tract. 

It also looks to have spread to other areas of the abdomen, but I don't know how far. Could still be localised and not throughout his system, but no real way of knowing yet.

10 or so years on the field, children to young adult age, growing church on the field.

Faithful man and serving family.

[Alan]

May the Lord give all concerned guidance, strength, and peace.

 

[*Light*]

I'll keep your missionary friend in my prayers. He should get better since he's laboring for the Lord.

[Rosie]

May God be merciful to them

[DaveW]

This missionary and his family recently returned to Australia for a short holiday and for further testing.

Testing has found cancer in several sites, and he has been advised that he needs 9 months of chemo and then the possibility of radical surgery.

He has already had major surgery to deal with the initial presentation, so I don't understand how he could now have more radical surgery - the first was fairly extreme anyway.....

My own musing (based on the description I was given) would indicate that the doctors cannot cure this and his days are now numbered.

The family are preparing to leave the field and return to Australia while my friend undergoes this treatment, but I feel as though they have accepted the idea of not returning to their field.

[Jim_Alaska]

I will be in prayer about this situation Bro. Dave. I have first hand experience dealing with cancer and its spread. The unfortunate truth is simply this, the doctors don't know everything. Chemo is, in most cases, death by degrees. It is supposed to kill cancer cells, which it does, but it also attacks the immune system, making the situation even worse because the body can no longer fight on its own.

Everyone has to make their own choices because only they know what their body is telling them. I lost my wife to cancer in 2007. She had chemo and radiation to reduce the size of the tumor, which it did and gave us much encouragement. 

This process was so that she could undergo surgery, which they said was the only cure for her type of cancer. Unfortunately, the morning of her admittance the doctor came out at the last minute and stated that he did not want to do the surgery because he could not be sure the cancer cells had not minutely metastasized, which would mean that the surgery would not get it all and it would be useless.

My wife fought this valiantly and only due to God's Grace for five long years before going home to be with Him. I watched as she held on to God with a tenacity that was nothing short of incredible. She never lost faith or hope because she knew her hope lay in Heaven. She never blamed God, but sincerely looked to God so that she might be of help to others, especial lost family members and friends.

[Alan]

Jim,

Thank you for your testimony of you wife and her cancer. God had given you a great wife who had her trust in the Lord even in an adverse personal situation. Heaven is sweeter with her presence and the joy that she is experiencing as we speak is indescribable. 

Alan

[DaveW]

This missionary friend is not presenting as bitter - he is in fact asking that the Lord could use even this for His glory and for His Gospel - he and his family are faithful servants.

I know the theory of chemo and radiation and it doesn't sit well with me personally. My sister is in fact involved in a very specifically targeted radiation delivery system which has huge success and very little side effects, but it is currently very limited in its application.

Personally, I can't see anything short of miraculous intervention by God stopping this from taking Him home.

[DaveW]

My friend has now moved his family back to Australia as the cancer has re-presented.

Recent testing has shown that it has spread further AND there is another cancer now which is not the same as the previous. This is a totally new and unrelated cancer.

An advisory panel of surgeons has recommended continuing chemo / radiotherapy, but no further surgery. He still has to talk to his own doctors and they do not have to follow the recommendations, but it doesn't sound good.