Jane is a friend I’ve been close to over the past 10 years. At present, she and her husband Jerry are raising two small grandsons while running two different businesses. She's a busy lady and we’re about the same age: nearing 60. She left a message on our phone asking after my welfare. "I've been thinking about you a lot," her voice said on our recorder. This morning, I returned her call. We talked for an hour and had a profound conversation that left lasting impressions and taught me several important things in regards to shaping a Health Recovery Plan for cancer.
Jane is a most remarkable lady for in her early 20's, she lost her right leg to synovial sarcoma. According to www.Cancer.gov, this is a cancer of "the muscles, fat, fibrous tissue, blood vessels or other supporting tissue of the body. Synovial tissue lines the cavities of joints, such as the knee or elbow, tendons (tissues that connect muscle to bone) and bursae (fluid-filled, cushioning sacs in the spaces between tendons, ligaments, and bones. It occurs mostly in young adults with the average age being 26 although 30% are under 20 years old. It occurs more in men than in women. Half of this type of cancer develops in the legs, especially the knees. The second most common location is the arms. It is common for synovial cancer to come back usually within the first two years after treatment. When it metastasizes, it spreads to either the lungs, lymph nodes, or bone marrow.”
The background on Jane's story is this: Thirty or more years ago, when Jane was about 26 years old, she was a mother of two small children. Jerry was not a member of our faith and he like to party. When her cancer was detected, the doctors performed all types of tests. Besides the tumor that could be felt high up on her leg, the leg was otherwise filled with undetectable cancer. However, no cancer was found in any other part of her body. Her cancer was rare: a combination of two types: bone and tissue. They advised amputation and chemotherapy which was done.
My questions to Jane were:
1. Did you ever explore other alternatives other than conventional medicine?
Ans: She never explored other options outside of amputation because she knew well in advance that it was meant to be that she would lose her leg. She had had a dream one night months previous to the diagnosis: she would have her choice of either losing an arm or a leg. Thinking through those options in her dream, she chose a leg.
2. If you had it to do all over again, would you change anything?
Ans: What she would changed would be to have foregone the chemotherapy. The reason she wasn't given radiation was that it was supposed to have been ineffective against battling her kind of cancer. The chemotherapy, in fact, was also supposedly ineffective. Why did they give it to her then? She figures it because they felt they had to do something. Had cancer been found in other parts of her body, the doctors would have simply amputated and given her nothing else because they figured that at that point, she would have had only months to live anyway. Without cancer being in evidence outside of her leg, however, they hoped to give her a better chance of survival.
The chemotherapy was to be given for a period spread over the next twelve months. She would spend one week in the hospital for treatments every month. Treatments were discontinued after only five months when Jane developed heart problems. In the intervening years, she's also developed lupus. This is a known possible side effect from the chemotherapy drugs she received.
3. Did you ever learn to what purpose having had cancer has served in your life?
4. Did you make a covenant with God when asking for a return to health?
Ans: God had given Jane to know - before the leg was taken - that her sacrifice would result in a remarkable blessing for the future well-being of her family. That's why she was at peace with what happened. It was her husband, Jerry, who made a covenant with God. If God would spare his wife's life, he would change his. When his request was granted, he made good on his promise: he joined the church and his family's well-being and happiness was preserved.
Jane helped me to see that cancer, though it is commonplace among our society today, is a very individual experience. What is or could be a solution for one, may not be for another. As we talked, I was impressed with the fact that when people find out about a life-threatening illness, etc., I can't help but think that they drop to their knees in prayer. They may be asking, "Why me, Lord?" but they are also asking, "Where do I go from here? What am I to do?" I believe that in our heart of hearts, the Lord comforts and answers us all on some level. That's why some people do the straight conventional medical therapy; some pray themselves whole; others go the alternative medical route and still others follow a complimentary approach combining all of these therapies.
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