Tag Archive - cancer

Here’s your permission to start dreaming new dreams

February 27, 2012 in Love with 0 Comments

What are you waiting for? Permission to chase a dream? To get all your ducks in a row before you do what you’ve always wanted to do?

Today, I give you permission to start living your dream. To do what you’ve always wanted to do. To start something new. To write a book – that’s what I did. To be happy. Now is the time to take a step towards making it happen.

You see time moves on. That’s what cancer taught me.

No matter what your struggle is, time moves on. We are one step closer to dying. Might sound depressing but it’s not. It’s the kick in the pants that can get you going.

But be careful: life is not about you, as the best-selling hardback book in history says in chapter one. It’s not about making money, climbing the career ladder, fashion, or looks.

Whenever I worry or get caught up in the things of this world, I ask myself: Would you care about this if you were sitting in a chair getting chemotherapy, feeling sick, or This isdying? Pain cuts through and clarifies.

So throw off all that hinders you so you can focus on what really matters: God stuff. People stuff.

When you look back on your life, like I did, you don’t want regrets. You want to say you fulfilled God’s purpose for your life.

So get started today. Dream. Go. Do it. You have my permission.

 

5 Things I Learned About Life After Facing Death

February 17, 2012 in Other with 0 Comments

One day at work, I got this weird, uncomfortable feeling in my lower back. It ramped up so fast I went into the bathroom so no one would see me grimace. Something was not right.

I immediately left, got in my car, and started heading home. But only a few minutes later, I didn’t think I was going to make it home. The pain was so bad I nearly stopped on the side of the road.

Foggy Church Graveyard

Somehow, I made it to my brother’s house only about two miles away. The pain was in full force now, and I paced back and forth in his room. What was going on? In the snap of your fingers, the pain was gone.

I had no idea what was happening, but I had finished chemotherapy only eight months ago and had started taking another drug to keep the cancer at bay so I wasn’t exactly surprised at any health issues big or small.

Later that night, out of the blue, the pain ramped up so bad it brought me to my knees. It was so bad I threw up. I had to go to the ER. Just before they were going to give me pain killer through an IV, the pain suddenly stopped.

While there, they gave me a CT scan. The first thing they said when they reviewed the results was that I had kidney stones. And an enlarged lymph node. That was not good.

Sure enough, a surgical biopsy revealed that the cancer was back. Even after six rounds of chemotherapy that put me in complete remission, the cancer was back. I was certain that I was going to die.

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Three Must Read Books for Cancer Fighters

February 12, 2012 in Other with 0 Comments

If you are fighting cancer, you must have three books. Get them immediately.

One is the Bible. It contains critical advice for you especially at this time in your life. For many, this book might seem hard to read or even archaic, but you wouldn’t be more wrong. This book holds the key to everything in life.

Anytime someone tells me they are fighting cancer, I tell them abou the Bible, then I immediately tell them about another book.

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I walked into a bookstore not looking for a book on cancer, but I stumbled across one and it changed my life. Dr. Servan-Shreiber’s book, “Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Living,” taught me about cancer and what I could do about it. I felt less of a victim. His life story is featured in a new documentary, and the trailer is posted above.

The book’s shortcoming for me as a Christian is the spiritual aspect. Dr. Servan-Shreiber does talk about the spiritual side of life, but he never talks about Christianity.

That’s why I wrote my book, “Five Stones for Christians in Crisis.”

This book will help you gain faith, understand God better, and show you concrete ways to make it through the cancer fight or any tough time in your life. I wrote it immediately after going into remission. I kept writing it after coming out of remission eight months after chemotherapy.

If you are fighting cancer or going through any tough time, get these three books!

Me and Andy Whitfield

September 13, 2011 in Faith, Other with 4 Comments

Andy Whitfield

We are close in age. Both men. Both fighting the same enemy.

He was famous for portraying Spartacus, a solider condemned to fight as a gladiator. We both fight the same opponent in real life: cancer (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma). He lost. I’m still in the ring.

Lots of news yesterday on the death of actor Andy Whitfield. I had never heard of him until reading the news stories. As a stage IV cancer survivor, when I read of someone dying of the same cancer I have, it jars me awake.

Andy Whitfield was diagnosed in the spring of last year. I was diagnosed in the spring of 2009. He came out of remission only two months after being declared cancer free. I came out of remission only eight months after being declared cancer free.

After surgery, I remain in remission 29 months after my diagnosis. Andy Whitfield made it only 18 months after diagnosis.

I live my life as a dead man walking. I know this cancer is still inside me. I fight it with all I have, through further treatments, eating right, exercising and managing stress.

But I have hope. It’s not just about living longer. It really comes down to my faith in God.

God says the hairs on my head are numbered. Still, I get a small wave of fear when I read how fast the cancer I have can overtake me. But, I soon get over it. I’ve been living with death for two years now.

God will keep me alive according to his perfect plan. In an amazing story in the Bible, Hezekiah was told that his number was up. He would die.

But he prayed that God would keep him alive. And God gave him 15 more years.

I read that story while undergoing chemotherapy in 2009 and it gives me hope. Hope that I can pray to live longer and maybe influence YOU. You who are reading this. Maybe you will realize that we all will die some day.

You have to make a choice now. Do you believe in God? Are you ready to face God when you die? Jesus offers a great choice: you may die but you can have eternal life. You will live forever.

I challenge you to buy a Bible today and read it. You might be surprised at what you find. That’s my challenge from this dead man walking!

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Here’s what pain is like. Here’s what fear is like. And hope.

September 1, 2011 in Faith with 0 Comments

Found this old email I wrote to my coworkers while in the middle of chemotherapy. It’s written in the fire of pain and maybe death approaching. It’s interesting to look back on it now, two years later. I still feel the same way. The same drive to not go back to normal. Maybe it will inspire you to go farther, too.

So I’m driving in with my brother yesterday to my fifth round of chemo. Halfway there, the tears come for a brief moment. I don’t know why. It’s not like I haven’t done this four times before. Guess I knew that I had to sink down in this funk for a week, which is hard when you’ve been feeling pretty good for the last week. But, I got back into a better mood quickly.

No problem getting the stick to set up for the IV. Then the CAT scan, which is no big deal. Then off to wait on the doc and get the scan results. And more waiting. And more waiting.

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