Frank awoke. The heartburn
which he had been having really was starting to get annoying. Finally,
he decided that it was time to see the doctor about the mysterious heartburn.
"Frank, we'd like to do some
tests to see what this could be from and until then, you can raise the
headboard on your bed. It might help being elevated."
Frank did as the doctor told
him and went to have his x-rays and blood tests. A few days after
that, Frank received a phone call, "Frank, we saw something on the
x-rays and we'd like you to come in."
"We saw a growth on your lung
and we think it might be malignant so we'd like to do a bronchoscopy and
a biopsy. For the bronchoscopy, we stick a miniature camera down
your esophagus in order to find the malignant area so we can do a biopsy,
which is when we take a sample of tissue from that area."
The doctor continued, "It
is an oat cell cancer which means that it is too small to do surgery on.
You are very lucky that we found the tumor before it became too big.
We can do chemotherapy for three days at three week intervals. We'll
probably do it for about six cycles. The percentage of people that
get cured from this is about 20%."
Frank had a granddaughter
who he lived with. Her name was Lucy. She was twelve at the
time. He really didn't know whether he should tell her or not.
He wouldn't want to get her worried or stressed out, so he decided not
to tell her about it. He did though, tell his sister and brother-in-law
and their church about what had happened and he was so touched by the prayers
that were sent up to Heaven by that church and also the support and prayers
from his own church.
One day after a huge snowfall,
Frank went out to shovel his driveway, which was covered with about a foot
of snow from the night before. The snow was so hard packed that probably
a car couldn't drive down the driveway. The job was really starting
to tire out Frank but he was too strong-willed to leave it until later,
so he finished the job. Afterwards, he went inside and said to Lucy, "I
think I should go to the hospital, Lucy. My chest is really hurting."
Frank quickly made a phone
call to his good friend Gordon, to see if he could give Frank a lift.
Gordon had always been a great friend to Frank and the second he got Frank's
phone call, he left to pick him up. Gordon was at Frank's house in
less than ten minutes and for some reason Lucy thought she might need her
new house keys, so she grabbed them and ran out of the house behind Gordon
and Frank.
At the hospital, the doctor
told Gordon and Lucy that if they wanted to wait around, that Frank would
be out of the hospital in approximately two hours. Lucy and Gordon
went and waited for the two hours at the hospital but after the hours of
worrisome waiting, the doctor came out and informed the two that it would
be about two days before Frank could come out of the hospital.
Gordon was very thoughtful
and he offered to take Lucy home with him. In fact, Lucy didn't mind
that one bit because Gordon had a daughter Lucy's age.
The next day, Gordon received
a phone call from the hospital, "It turned out that Frank had a heart attack
so we don't figure that he will be able to come home for about two weeks.
Meanwhile, Frank and Lucy
had their home up for sale because a friend in Winnipeg had told Frank
that it would be a good thing if he moved there in case anything happened
to him. Once a few months before, a Chinese woman had shown an interest
in the house but had never said anything further but while Frank was in
the hospital it finally happened; the same woman that had shown interest
months before finally put in an offer on the house. Now, Frank being
in the hospital, didn't respond to this offer. The woman just figured
that he didn't respond because her offer was too low so she raised it.
Frank was still in the hospital but when he got out, the woman raised her
offer even higher. It was now $10 000 more than her first offer.
So the house was sold but there was only one problem... the doctor had
told Frank that he couldn't drive for six weeks. Frank couldn't wait
any longer so he asked his doctor if it was okay for him to drive to Winnipeg
and the doctor said he could, but only if he was very careful and didn't
drive if he was tired.
Frank and Lucy made it to
Winnipeg and went to stay with their friends. One day when Frank
was sitting down, Lucy noticed something she had never seen before, "Grandpa,
you're hair is really starting to thin out!"
"Lucy, there is something
I think I should tell you." Lucy's 'Aunt' Joanne who had been in the room
to hear that, left quietly.
"Lucy, in October I got diagnosed
with cancer." Frank gave Lucy a hug and Lucy left the room in a daze,
trying her best not to burst into tears. She had read books where
people had died from cancer and she didn't want it to happen to her grandpa.
She went downstairs to try and find her friend. She found her friend
but she also found something she didn't need to see. Lucy's friend
had her arms around Lucy's 'Aunt' Joanne who was crying. Lucy inched
away and went to her room to cry.
It was the evening of Frank's
second day in the third cycle of his chemotherapy and he was strangely
short of breath, The next day at chemotherapy, he mentioned it to
the nurse and they rushed him in to have an electrocardiogram, which is
also known as an EKG, blood tests, and x-rays.
About two weeks past the time
of the tests and x-rays he received a call from one of the doctors, "Frank,
I'd like you to come in and see me."
At the hospital:
"Frank, do you remember those
x-rays we took a couple weeks ago?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, the x-rays we took
do not show any trace of the tumor in your left lung."
* * *
That story was not about a
man named Frank and his granddaughter Lucy, but about my grandpa John,
and me. Besides a few of the names in the story, every single bit
of the story was truth and I believe with all my heart that the mysterious
heartburn was the most awesome miracle that I have ever seen. It
made the doctors find the cancer before it really developed. There
was no chance that it was by coincidence but it was 100% from God.
I had always believed that
miracles were true ever since I was a young child but I had never understood
the full impact of miracles until the cancer miracle. I believe that
if a person believes in biblical miracles, there is no reason to doubt
miracles nowadays. Some people may find biblical miracles easier
to believe because Jesus was right there performing them but if a person
is a Christian, they should have no doubt that God is present and able
to anything as the Bible says.
I think that God performs
miracles for a reason. In this case, I believe that it was from all
the prayers and that there was a reason for the cancer to disappear.....me.
That is why I believe in miracles
100% and from having this experience it has taught me never to doubt God's
power.
Jesus answered, "I did tell you,
but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for
me, But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles,
that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the
Father."
John 10:25,38
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