Prayer and Terminal Cancer

[Ginevra]

I'm asking out of curiosity. Have you personally known someone who had bona fide, terminal cancer, doctors-gave-'em-a-month-to-live-cancer, who did not eventually die of cancer. I'm not a big believer in those sort of miracles, but I also give the benefit of a doubt that they happen. So, I thought I'd see if anyone could verify that, yes, they witnessed a genuine miracle and their sister, best friend, husband, whomever was diagnosed with stage four cancer, given six months to live, but miraculously was completely healed and is perfectly well to this day, twelve years later. (Or some such story.) So, should I believe that this can happen? Or is that just rainbows and lollipops?

[Sputterduck]

No, but my own son had a depressed skull fracture that disappeared in a matter of minutes. Confused the ct scan team big time and his ped. I'm still in shock when talking about it. And I don't tell many people because I don't think they'll believe me. But it's all documented in his medical file.

 

 

eta: He was having the ct scan because they needed to evaluate for surgery to fix it.

[Garga]

The woman in my husband's bible study that he leads where he works at Frederick Community College in Maryland. Very rare cancer, advanced. She was totally healed. Xrays and such to prove that it just disappeared. It was about 2 years ago.

 

My pastor was dying on the table from a heart attack. He felt that God told him to pray that the machine stop beeping. (Whatever machine he was hooked up to was beeping to the racing of his heart.) So he prayed for the machine to slow down, and his heart immediately stopped racing. He lived another 10 or so years after that.

 

My friend came to dinner and nervously told us the following (I think she thought we'd think she was making it up) She was going in for surgery for a suspicious lump on her neck. Right before surgery her pastor prayed. In the moments before the anesthesiologist started giving her the anesthetic, they felt for the lump--gone. They didn't bother with the surgery. That one happened about 3 months ago.

Edited May 10, 2009 by Garga

[specialmama]

Yes. A friend's mother. Now, it's been, oh, 20 years and she's still going strong. Completely cured with no treatment. Mind you, she also clinically died, and saw Jesus. 7 minutes flatlined. She's a walking miracle and picture of God's mercy and grace.

[mcconnellboys]

Yes, my father's youngest sister. She had stage 4 breast cancer. It had spread to her bones. They had done all the chemo and radiation they could. The last hope they held out was for a bone marrow transplant, but they thought she would die from the surgery, due to her weakened condition. She thought and prayed long and hard about it. She didn't feel that she would survive the surgery, so she declined it. People all over the world were praying for her. She wanted to live to see her children grown and perhaps married and with children of their own.

 

She lived about 15 years longer, fulfilling all her desires.

 

And I know someone now who is going through an extremely serious, genetically transmitted form of cancer, but who is perservering, despite a recurrence after two years.

 

There is ALWAYS hope.

[keptwoman]

This is not really an answer to your question but I'll share a related experience.

 

My Dad died of terminal cancer. He lived a very long time with it but in the end it got him. For many years Mum and Dad prayed for healing for Dad. They prayed with their minister and alone. They prayed believing that God would heal Dad. In the end they decided to pray that Gods Will be done. It was very hard for them to accept that maybe it was Gods Will that Dad die but over time they came to accept that perhaps that was the truth of the matter.

 

They worked in ministry running a Christian camp where church groups came for the weekend and they ran childrens camps etc. Often folks would come and ask them if they could lay hands on Dad and pray for his healing. Over time this became harder and harder for Mum and Dad. Mum and Dad were moving slowly along the painful road of realising that perhaps Dad was to die. In the end they came to believe that Dad would receive the perfect healing of heaven.

 

Everytime someone requested this of them suggesting that God had told them to do so Mum and Dad would agree to let them but it would drag them back part way and it was very painful for them. They were told all sorts of hurtful things including that obviously Dad was sinning in some way for him to be ill like this or that they hadn't prayed hard enough. In the end Mum and Dad started asking people who requested to pray over Dad that they wait for verification from God in the form of someone else coming to them and asking that they do this together.

 

All this to say that I think sometimes those who feel compelled to pray over the sick should consider the effect of this on the sick person and their personal journey. Perhaps pray in private and seek extra clarification before making the request to the sick person.

In the end I believe that Dads death did a lot of good (much as I love and miss him) It gave Mum a new ministry as she started speaking to groups of ministers and carers about death and grief and ministering to those who are going through these things. She wrote magazine articles and touched many lives.

 

I have heard of healing. I have never personally known someone but I don't disbelieve in it. Much of the time though I think it is indeed rainbows and lollipops.

[Tree House Academy]

My ex step-dad's mom was diagnosed with oat cell lung cancer - inoperable. She went into remission and lived another 6 years. However, she never stopped smoking, so yes, it did come back. But the time she was in remission was amazing and a total miracle.

 

And of course, I do not know this person at all...but the thead on Joel Osteen reminded me of her. His mother, Dodie Osteen was healed of terminal liver cancer. I think she even wrote a book about her battle. She is alive and well to this day...more than 20 years later.

Edited May 10, 2009 by Tree House Academy

[eaglei]

Yes.

 

A former pastor's wife - alive today and doing well - approximately 8-9 years since diagnosis.

 

A 9-year-old boy with leukemia actually died, several minutes (all documented in his hospital record), talked with Jesus in heaven, given the option of staying in heaven (although he was told his work on earth wasn't completed yet) or returning to earth; he wanted to stay in heaven and knew that choice was completely acceptable, but by his own words, he wanted to be completely obedient to God (at 9-years-old!!!); he chose to return to earth. Went into remission and lived another 15 years. We attended the memorial service less than a year ago. Though there wasn't a dry eye in the packed, standing-room only room, there was still joy and peace for a life well-lived that was a blessing to all who met or knew him.

 

An early-20's young lady died in childbirth (their second baby, who lives). I hestitate to write this, but I guess I will . . . she had been raised to believe in Jesus, but didn't. In her death (many minutes and documented in her hospital records), she did not ascend upward but rather began a downward fall (which I won't describe), realized where she was headed, and realized it was too late for her mother's prayers to do her any good now, but cried out to God anyway. She returned to life, dedicated her life to Jesus and is now a 54-year-old mother of four, grandmother to several, recently ordained pastor, and three-year survivor of severe leukemia (don't recall specific name) that doctors said she should not be alive from it, one of the worse cases they've ever seen.

 

My family and I personally know all three families referred to here and can vouch for the integrity of their lives.

 

I don't wish to start a controversy by telling these true stories. As a friend of ours told us when his wife returned from death following a heart attack (and lived a number of years longer), people often don't believe these miracles happen (even when documented by doctors), so he was careful who he told. I think another poster said the same thing . . .

 

As another poster said, there is always hope!

[susie in tx]

I've got one yes and one no. Our neighbor was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer several years ago. He's still as grumpy as ever, but my heart sings just a tad bit every time I grumble about his grumpiness. I'm glad he's still here.

 

A lifelong family friend was given a year to live this last December and passed yesterday. But I still believe in miracles. :)

[Julpost]

I LOVE reading these stories. Especially where someone has seen Jesus. I just think...it's wonderfully amazing!

[LizzyBee]

My grandfather. The drs said that if they didn't remove half of his jaw, he would die. My grandmother wouldn't let them do it. He wasn't healed of cancer, but that happened before I was born, and he didn't die until I was in my early 20's. And he died of a stroke, not cancer.

 

When I was a teenager, the judge of the orphans court for my county was diagnosed with lung cancer, and from what I understood, it was pretty bad. They opened him up to do surgery, and there was no cancer.

[i.love.lucy]

We're praying for a miracle for a friend of ours right now. He has stage 4 metastatic melanoma. Unfortunately things are taking a turn for the worse and he is having to discontinue treatments. They are homeschoolers, parents of 4 and another on the way. He's 36.

 

My heart is breaking for them and I pray daily for them in the hopes that it's God's will for them to receive a miracle.

[Peela]

I'm asking out of curiosity. Have you personally known someone who had bona fide, terminal cancer, doctors-gave-'em-a-month-to-live-cancer, who did not eventually die of cancer. I'm not a big believer in those sort of miracles, but I also give the benefit of a doubt that they happen. So, I thought I'd see if anyone could verify that, yes, they witnessed a genuine miracle and their sister, best friend, husband, whomever was diagnosed with stage four cancer, given six months to live, but miraculously was completely healed and is perfectly well to this day, twelve years later. (Or some such story.) So, should I believe that this can happen? Or is that just rainbows and lollipops?

 

My uncle was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 54- given 3 months to live- when he started urinating blood and found he had a tumour on his kidney. The kidney was removed immediately and in the hospital he was busy reassuring everyone. He was a very loving man who had had some deep spiritual experiences in his life. He had been orphaned as a child and grew up in a group home. A unique man.

He was Buddhist. He had also had a near death experience many years before, and had no fear of death- he knew it wasnt the end. He knew the power of love and of meditation and prayer. He signed up for an experimental treatment that was soy related- he was a terminal patient and wanted to be of service, to make his death of use.

Meanwhile, he came and visited me on the other side of Australia, and phoned me every now and then just to stay in touch and tell me he loved me. I was his niece- he had a wife and adult children, and he stayed in touch with many, many people regularly, making sure we knew how much he loved us.

The cancer spread to his heart. But he lived 3 years more, after being given 3 months- and he was active, though tired- the whole time. He knew for many months that he could literally die at any minute, as a piece of the cancer broke up and entered his heart. When it eventually happened, he was holding my aunts hand and he just went, in the ambulance on the way to teh hospital. Uncle had wanted his body to be left alone for 3 days, as is common in Buddhism, and the ambulance officers agreed to take him home and put him in his bed!

It was truly an amazing thing to have known him. The stories I have heard of people recovering from terminal illness usually involve a life changing realisation, and complete change of heart. In his case, he just became selfless and loved as much as he could.

[Carrie12345]

I'm asking out of curiosity. Have you personally known someone who had bona fide, terminal cancer, doctors-gave-'em-a-month-to-live-cancer, who did not eventually die of cancer. I'm not a big believer in those sort of miracles, but I also give the benefit of a doubt that they happen. So, I thought I'd see if anyone could verify that, yes, they witnessed a genuine miracle and their sister, best friend, husband, whomever was diagnosed with stage four cancer, given six months to live, but miraculously was completely healed and is perfectly well to this day, twelve years later. (Or some such story.) So, should I believe that this can happen? Or is that just rainbows and lollipops?

 

My ex was 13 when his mother had "terminal" leukemia. He's now 33, and his mom is still driving us all crazy :D.

It still plays a part in her life (treatment for a staph infection a few years ago was complicated by her weakened immune system), but you wouldn't know it in normal circumstances.

 

It's the only positive anecdote I have in my cancer-experience-arsenal, but it's a big one!

[MamaT]

My dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer when I was 2. It took them forever to find out what was wrong with him (1965), and by the time they realized he had cancer of the bile duct he was 86 lbs. They only gave him a couple of months to live. He was not a Christian.

 

An old lady walked into his hospital room and told him that God sent her to tell he and my mom that if they would turn to God, my dad would be healed. They did and he was. His doctor called him his "miricle patient." He got better from that day on. He was 35 at the time and he lived to be 71 and did not die of cancer. There was never any sign of it after that.

 

I don't know why God heals some people and not others. I know that it happens, though. God is God and he knows what is best and we really never do. I simply trust the nature of God.

[The Girls' Mom]

Not a miracle cure, but a prayer answered none the less.

 

My step-dad was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer 2 years ago. He had many people praying for his healing. He wasn't healed, but I can see why it was God's will that he wasn't. So many lives were touched by this man, and the last two years saw many people in our family getting saved, and putting their lives right. All because of what my step-dad was going through, and his faith in God. He lingered on in severe pain the last few months. We went up to see him on Thanksgiving last year, and after seeing how much pain he was in, we began to pray that God would take him home quickly and painlessly. A few days later he passed away in his sleep, in a freak accident kind of way due to his medication. A prayer answered.

 

Many other good things have happened as a result of his death. So, although I miss him terribly, I see why God allowed him to die. And I'm looking forward to seeing him (and my mother) again.

[kewb]

I watched the sister of a close family friend battle ovarian cancer my entire childhood. They told her she would not live to see ehr children grow up. They were a baby and a toddler at the time of her diagnosis. Through sheer will alone she lived until her baby graduated from high school. She was an amazing woman.

 

The husband of this close family friend was given 3 months to live and he lived for another 3 years. I don't remember what kind of cancer he had.

 

My dh's grandfather survived 4 different primary cancers before dieing of a non cancer illness.

 

I wish my father could have been one of the miracle survivors. His miracle was that his demise from pancreatic cancer was quick and mostly pain free. I still remember when he was in the hospital and I was crying in the hallway a woman who was visiting someone else stopped to talk to me. She told me the story of the blue butterfly. At the time I did not really appreciate this woman taking the time to talk to me but afterwards I have been able to examine that conversation and take comfort in it.

 

Where there is life there is hope.

[Soph the vet]

My dh's uncle was diagnosed for the second time with an aggressive lymphoma and given two months to live. We prayed, we sent my "cancer soup" week after week while he was having chemo. He is still here three years later, no sign of cancer. He has shifted from atheist to agnostic in my estimation. I am still praying he will submit to God and give glory to Jesus for healing him.

[LindaOz]

 

My Dad died of terminal cancer. He lived a very long time with it but in the end it got him. For many years Mum and Dad prayed for healing for Dad. They prayed with their minister and alone. They prayed believing that God would heal Dad. In the end they decided to pray that Gods Will be done. It was very hard for them to accept that maybe it was Gods Will that Dad die but over time they came to accept that perhaps that was the truth of the matter.

 

They worked in ministry running a Christian camp where church groups came for the weekend and they ran childrens camps etc. Often folks would come and ask them if they could lay hands on Dad and pray for his healing. Over time this became harder and harder for Mum and Dad. Mum and Dad were moving slowly along the painful road of realising that perhaps Dad was to die. In the end they came to believe that Dad would receive the perfect healing of heaven.

 

Everytime someone requested this of them suggesting that God had told them to do so Mum and Dad would agree to let them but it would drag them back part way and it was very painful for them. They were told all sorts of hurtful things including that obviously Dad was sinning in some way for him to be ill like this or that they hadn't prayed hard enough. In the end Mum and Dad started asking people who requested to pray over Dad that they wait for verification from God in the form of someone else coming to them and asking that they do this together.

 

All this to say that I think sometimes those who feel compelled to pray over the sick should consider the effect of this on the sick person and their personal journey. Perhaps pray in private and seek extra clarification before making the request to the sick person.

In the end I believe that Dads death did a lot of good (much as I love and miss him) It gave Mum a new ministry as she started speaking to groups of ministers and carers about death and grief and ministering to those who are going through these things. She wrote magazine articles and touched many lives.

 

 

 

Hi Sandra,

 

I'm teary now! Your 'story' has a a lot of similarity to my Mum who died of cancer last year. I feel for you.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Edited May 10, 2009 by LindaOz

[Nakia]

Thank you to everyone who has shared these amazing stories! God is so good!!!

[ekarl2]

My mother was diagnosed with a rare cancer, Leiomyosarcoma, a year ago. Stage IV. Her primary tumor is in her thigh, and it has spread to her liver. Through, prayer and both holistic and alternative treatments her cancer is now completely stable and has been for 5 months or so. Docs said it wasn't possible without chemo and even then only a 30% chance that would work.

 

Her neighbor was diagnosed 10 years ago with ovarian/uterine cancer that spread everywhere. Did all the chemo, radiation, etc., and it almost killed her. She and her husband decided to stop conventional treatment and went organic, lots of ecinachea (sp) tea. She's been completely cancer free since then.

 

There is a man named Bill Peeples. His wife was diagnosed with rare sarcoma 12 years ago and given 5 months to live with no treatment options. He was an EMT/firefighter. He spent months doing research into anti-angiogenesis treatments and came up with an over-the-counter cocktail (now known as the Bill Peeples cocktail) that saved his wife. She is now cancer free and going strong.

 

What I have learned through my mom's cancer battle is that conventional treatments are not the only option. In fact, there are a few cancers that respond well to chemo but many more that don't. Overall cancer survival with chemo is only 2% higher than without. There is all sorts of work being done along different paths and I'm so grateful that we found those avenues in our treatment search.

 

Mom's cancer may take her to God someday but not any time soon. She's got more to do before she leaves this earth! Way more grammar and high school lit to teach!

[joannqn]

We went to a church for about 6 years. I don't know what stage cancer, but I know that the pastor's wife survived breast cancer. Then years later the pastor's son survived a different form of cancer. I know another mom in the same church that survived cancer as well. Again, I don't know what stage. There seemed, to me, to be a very high rate of cancer in this church. There were always several fighting cancer and may of them lived.

 

One person that stands out in memory, though, was a young lady that did not survive. She stands out because she was one of the most upbeat, happy, enthusiastic, optimistic people I've ever met. Her battle with cancer affected a lot of people because they saw how she lived and never lost faith even at the very end. She was on her death bed in the hospital, barely functioning, and still most of her energy went to assuring her visitors.

[Ginevra]

Thanks, everyone, for sharing those stories. I asked because this is one of those things that I often feel everybody's "heard" of, but nobody's experienced. Sort of the way urban legends go. Always a friend of a friend of a friend, but never someone who can be pointed out. So, it's nice to hear that more than a few of you do have someone they can point out, a real, concrete person in their lives, who apparently was healed.

[kah]

I can think of one off the top of my head. I don't know too many details, because I was young at the time, but it was a young person with a fairly advanced melanoma who wasn't expected to do well and lived quite a few years after that. (She may still be alive; I've never heard otherwise, but I didn't know her well.)