Shalom Grace George, daughter of George Thomas and Sheena George, relates her experience...
18 May 2010: I was on holiday at my home in Thrissur, Kerala. It was a semester break from my B.Sc. Food and Nutrition course at Women’s Christian College, Chennai. My weight loss made my parents consult our local family doctor. The test results indicated TB or Cancer. Shocked and unprepared to hear this, for a moment my mind went blank. I could not speak a word. Silence turned into tears.
20 May 2010: Admitted in Christian Medical College, Vellore for further investigations
24 May 2010: Biopsy and reports confirmed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. But this time I was at peace. Mom and I prayed. We called up Dad. He replied in a sober voice: ‘God is in control. He has a purpose’.
31 May 2010: Chemotherapy started. I filled my mind with Christian songs and sermons with a borrowed iPod. Nausea led to vomiting. I was too tired even to sit on the bed. The food from the Canteen was insipid. Home made Kangi (Rice Gruel) and Green Gram was to me like getting a three course dinner in a five star hotel. Weeks became months. ‘Considerable Reduction’ was the report after the 6th Chemo – which implied that we could probably stop with the 12th Chemo. Towards that hope I set my heart.
02 Nov.2010: 12th Chemo got over. I was excited about the prospects of leaving the hospital and returning to my college to continue my studies.
13 Dec 2010: PET Whole Body Scan was done at a diagnostic centre in Chennai to ascertain the activity and size of cancerous cells in my body. Activity was indicated by glows in the film – and I was aghast to see those glows all over the tracheal region. My shock turned into anger. My hopes of returning to college were dashed. My anger turned into asking ‘Why?’ My mom gently exhorted me to just praise God. We prayed.
15 Dec 2010: My birthday. Back at CMC, Vellore. Eighty percent of patients with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma were cured. But I seem to belong to that 20 % that did not. Three higher dose (96 hours) chemotherapy followed by Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) was proposed. Since it was an early relapse the success rate was only 50%. I had somehow managed to get through the 12 two-hour chemo with much difficulty and I could not even think of the prospects of going through the now proposed 96 hours chemo.
26 Dec 2010: I prayed all night for grace to go through the gruelling higher dose of chemotherapy.
27 Dec 2010. 4 am. Preparatory Intravenous Fluids were started. I vomited a tablet that cost Rs.1000 which was supposed to prevent vomiting. The nurse begged me not to vomit out such expensive tabs. A Centre line was fixed into me and the first of the 96 hours chemo commenced. My blood count dropped so low. I was asked to stay nearby CMC for any emergency admission even after the chemotherapy for fear of catching some secondary infections which may even lead to fatal consequences. By now I noticed that my trust had shifted from the treatment I received to the Lord who alone could heal me.
09 Jan 2011: I asked the Lord for a quick healing so that I may rejoin college in June 2011. I was reminded of a verse that my senior at college had sent me by sms some months ago: Habakkuk 2:3: ‘For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.’ I began to claim this as the promise of God to me that I would be able to return to my college for studies in June 2011. God further spoke to me from the following passages:
Isaiah 45: (2) I will go before you, and make hills level. I will break in pieces the bronze gates, and cut the iron bars in two. (3) And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I am Jehovah, who calls you by your name, the God of Israel. (9) Woe to him who fights with the One who formed him, a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to its former, what are you making? (19) I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain. I Jehovah speak righteousness; I declare things that are right.
Psalms 103: (1) Bless Jehovah, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. (2) Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; (3) who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; (4) who redeems your life from ruin; who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies; (5) who satisfies your mouth with good; your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Jeremiah 29: (11) For I know the purposes which I am purposing for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (12) Then you shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
01 March 2011: At the end of the 3rd 96 hour duration chemo, the doctors’ remarks on my file said: ‘Tolerated Chemo well’. Once again it gave me hope that my gruelling treatment was finally over. The Centre line was removed.
15 March 2011: Doctor further prescribed for PET SCAN to see the progress. As I lay on the Scan table, I was tense. The scan report would reveal the extent of cancerous cell activity in my body. I told the Lord: ‘I want healing right now’. In my inner being I deciphered His reply: ‘You are going to be healed very soon’. I asked the Lord: ‘How soon?’ Not in an audible voice, but yet with undeniable assurance I knew I could rejoin college in June 2011.
But the doctors report: ‘No reduction. Go in for BMT’. Moreover the chances of recovery of BMT were just 10 to 20 percent. BMT would involve lot of investigations including bone marrow test which is very painful procedure of inserting a large screw like syringe into my back bone. I was so fearful of BMT. For the next few days we shuttled from department to department getting clearance for BMT.
23 March 2011: I was to sign at the bottom of an undertaking that I was fully aware of the possible risks of BMT and its consequences. Because I found my mom tactfully trying to get my signature on it without allowing me to read all that was printed in small type, I decided to read that sheet from top to bottom. It read nothing less than a death warrant – but my moods were not shown on my face. I signed it.
24 March 2011: Just before the initial preparations for BMT were started, my nurse in charge was summoned by the doctor and asked to halt the process because the doctor had considered trying a new medicine for yet another course of Chemotherapy. I felt as if everything was working against me. I did not want my body to become an experimental piece. But the Lords word came to me from John 20:27: ‘Stop doubting, believe!’
25 March 2011: A bother in Christ who had come to accompany his father for treatment came to my room to talk and pray. During his conversation he said: ‘There is one medicine which has no side effects and yet full result – it is the Word of God’. These words encouraged me to claim the promise of God for my healing. When the brother prayed, he in fact thanked God for the healing that had been given to me. I felt a clear assurance that I have been healed by HIS stripes and would not require any further treatment and that I should not doubt God. I shared my assurance to my parents. But they were sceptical. Dad’s response was: If God has healed you, praise God; but let us therefore complete the treatment and then go. I chided them for their disbelief. They were the ones who had led me to believe in Jesus Christ, now why is it that they did not believe?
26 March 2011: My Mom went to the chapel to pray and meditate and was reminded from the Old Testament of David who had not underrated the threat of Goliath but choose to put his faith in God and of Gideon who was hesitant to take the risk but finally did – only after he got a sign from God in confirmation.
27 March 2011: My Dads regular Quiet Time portion was Mark 8. Gods’ word came powerfully to him as if it were a volley of shots from an AK 47 machine gun: Written in red letters were the words of Jesus Christ in Mark 8:12: ‘Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I say to you, No sign be given to this generation.’ This verse was followed by a barrage of nine questions from Jesus Christ challenging the unbelief of the disciples. As if that was not enough verses 22 to 26 were about the blind man whose healing was not instantaneous but progressive.
When I woke up I saw my Dad with a smile on his face and suggested for a talk with the doctor.
28 May 2011: Against all our expectations the doctor agreed to our proposal that all treatment could stop and we could go home. He even wrote in my file instructions to refund the advance of Rs.50, 000 that my Dad had paid for the proposed Chemotherapy.
29 May 2011: We gladly packed all our baggage and caught the train back to Thrissur. It was such a joyful journey. Peace and the provision of the Lord seemed to abound. It seemed as if we were being carried with angelic speed. We were reminded of the Psalmists words: “when the Lord brought the captives to Zion we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled laughter, our tongue with songs of joy” (Psalm 126:1).
Many of those who had received healing from the Lord Christ Jesus had to take a risk of putting their faith into action – and that is what we had done by the grace of God.
Post Script: As the Lord had promised, Shalom rejoined college on 15th June 2011 – a promise she had claimed in the Lord.
