We Need More Miracles

This invader into our lives...lung cancer...not only wreaks havoc in our bodies, but it also breaks our hearts.

As a longtime survivor, I have had the sacred privilege of knowing some of the finest people in the lung cancer community. There is a special bond - fast and strong - among people in this space.

Lung cancer brings us together

Dreadful as it is, lung cancer brings us together like kindred spirits. After all, we understand the stigma. We know the statistics. We experience scanxiety, not only for ourselves but for our friends. We cheer each other on with every good report.

But we also mourn. We lose so many good people. Mothers with young children especially break my heart. Others, of course, but those young mothers...

However, in the midst of loss after searing loss, sometimes we witness a miracle.

My friend asked our community for prayer

My friend was scheduled for her 4th brain surgery. She's been fighting stage IV lung cancer for several years. As a believer, she asked the lung cancer community for prayer.

We are instructed by Scripture to believe what we are praying for. Frankly, after so many deaths over the years, sometimes it is challenging to truly believe when praying for my lung cancer friends. After all, I have prayed - believing - yet they are gone.

But, when my friend asked for prayer, people responded, including me.

I knew she was scheduled to be in surgery at least 5 hours. So, when a call came through from my friend, only a couple of hours after her surgery was scheduled to begin, I thought it must be her husband giving me an update on the surgery.

I was shocked to hear her own voice. She told me the story.

An incredible treatment response story

She had been on the table being prepped for surgery. She had already signed the consent form and would soon be given anesthesia. But when the neurosurgeon reviewed her scans taken the day before, he canceled the surgery - or at least postponed it. He told her that in the 12 days since she increased her dose of targeted therapy, the lesions in her brain showed a dramatic response. The tumor to be operated on shrunk by 20 percent, and all the other untreated tumors shrunk, as well. He expected the drug to continue to shrink the tumors.

My friend got off the surgery table, checked out of the hospital, and went home to her children.

I think everyone was shocked to hear her report.

But for this day we celebrate

No one is claiming she is cured from cancer. But, for now, she will live to see another day with her husband and children. She will live another day to advocate for lung cancer research funding. Her miracle will inspire others that there is still hope.

“Lung cancer may kill me one day, but not today,” she told me.

She was elated. I was elated. Everyone who knows her was elated. It's a miracle.

Yes, one day our time will come, for everyone. But for this day we celebrate. One miracle. One mother goes home to her children.

We need her. Her children need her. For now, God has answered our prayers.