Did you know a diagnosis of “Stage 4” also comes with the knowledge that you will never officially hear the word “remission”? Most of the time a diagnosis of Stage 4 results in death before there is ever a chance at remission. If there is a season of healing, modern physicians will believe that there will be a relapse and thus are reluctant to ever mention true remission.
In November of 2014, my family and close friends, witnessed a miracle of a Stage 4 diagnosis coming as close to remission as possible after only 6 weeks.
Our second miracle was revealed in April 2016, when my brother and his wife delivered a healthy, chunky baby girl. My brother took to calling her the “chemo baby.”
Shortly after my niece’s birth, a routine PET scan showed that the cancer was back. Hence, the modern medicine reluctance to acknowledge remission after Stage 4 categorization.
My brother started a different course of treatment in Fall 2016. On my birthday in Feb 2017, he was admitted into isolation at the hospital in order to receive a very aggressive 1-week dose of chemo and then 2-3 weeks of stem cell and bone marrow transplants. This treatment completely wiped his immune system clean, as though he had never had a vaccine or illness in his entire life, which was why there was a requirement for him to be in isolation during this time.
Our family is now at 4-year anniversary of the initial doctors’ reports of cancer. My brother just completed all of his “well-baby” vaccines to reset his immune system. The doctors are seriously talking about removing his port that he’s had for the last 4 years. He is cancer free. As close to remission as one can get with this health issue.
It’s not enough to be in physical remission. One must be in remission with God in order to ensure salvation. God sent His only son to die on a cross for our sins. Why? Because our physical death is a phase that can lead to eternal life…or eternal death.
“…Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ~John 11:4
When a crisis, such as a cancer diagnosis, strikes there is an opportunity to testify to the glory of God. It’s a challenge to maintain one’s own faith, but it’s an amazing opportunity to witness to what God can do.
Our God healed my brother. He brought us a new baby. Then He healed my brother again.
That is worthy of declaring the glory of God’s hand in our daily lives.
If you are facing cancer, you are not alone. If your family is facing cancer, you are not alone. If your friends are facing cancer, you are not alone. I’m praying for you, for your family, for your friends. A physical death is not an eternal death if you have Christ in your heart. There is a place for miracle healings.
There is room in the cancer story to glorify God.
~Emily
36 years before a big sister would hear the little brother say, “Stage 4 Lymphoma.”
Iron Porch 