Christ and cancer

My Story

An Unexpected Announcement 

​

“It could be lymphoma.” I won’t ever forget my doctor saying those words. He had just looked at my X-Ray and called me on the phone to tell me that I needed to get a CT Scan and then see a pulmonary specialist. The x-ray showed something in the area between my lungs. My first thought was, “I’m only 43 years old, it can’t be lymphoma.” It wasn’t long though before I knew that something was seriously wrong with my health. I was scheduled for a biopsy on a Monday morning a couple of weeks later but before I could even make it to that appointment I had started to cough up blood. Now, I’m no expert in medicine, but I know that is never a good sign. I even cried a bit at that point. I couldn’t help but wonder what my wife and children would do if I were to die. My wife was only 39 and my four children were all entering the first stages of adulthood. What would happen to them if I couldn’t be there for them? 

​

A Young Boy 

​

Some of my first memories are of singing in church. At the age of five, I was singing “Amazing Grace” as a “special” before the congregation. I can’t ever remember a time when I wasn’t going to church. My parents lived in Freeport TX and every Sunday and Wednesday evening my parents and three brother would all go to church… whether we wanted to or not. I enjoyed the Sunday School lessons and I enjoyed the singing, but like most young children, I thought the preaching was boring. Around the age of twelve, I even started to play the piano for our church. During all these years of my young life, I felt that something was missing. I would sometimes lay in my bed at night and fear the future. The lonely hours left me feeling hollow inside. Something was missing in my life but I didn’t know what it was. 

​

Beginning My Treatments 

​

About a week after my biopsy, it was confirmed that I did indeed have Lymphoma. I didn’t know it before hand, but there are many different types of Lymphoma. Officially, I was diagnosed with t-cell rich, histocyte rich large B-cell lymphoma. Bummer… I have the good fortune to live within an hour of a world renown cancer hospital, so I decided that if I had cancer, that is where I would go for my treatment. So, I looked up MD Anderson on the internet and found out that they have a lymphoma clinic. It wasn’t long after this when I had to spend a week in the hospital to begin my first-round of chemotherapy. I must say, that at this point my head was still spinning. I had just received my diagnosis and within a matter of days, there I was, stuck in a hospital room hooked up to an IV having toxic chemicals pumped into my body. After that first week, I was given two weeks off and then back to the hospital to begin my next round of week-long treatments. And so, it continued, one week of treatment followed by two weeks of rest. After the first week, I could come home with my IV instead of staying in the hospital, though that meant I had to drive back and forth to Houston every day for my chemo weeks. For the next five months, I was poked more times then I care to remember. You would think that for someone who has a blood cancer, taking so much blood from them wouldn’t be good for you; at least that is what I wondered. But, take it they did; at least twice a week for the duration of my treatments. After a round of chemotherapy, I would get this bone-weary tiredness. It felt like the weight of the world was pressing on my shoulders. It was a very trying time, and yet I consider myself blessed, for I saw, while receiving my treatments, many that suffered much worse than I did. One of the worst things about getting cancer is how it just consumes your life. Every waking moment is consumed with treatments, tests, doctors and trips to the hospital. 

​

A Changed Life 

​

From a young child, I had heard about sin, Jesus and salvation. I knew that I was a sinner and I was surrounded about doubts about my place before God. I remembered all the verses that I had learned as a child. 

​

• Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;” 

• Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

• John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

​​

I tried to convince myself that I was right with God, but I had never truly acknowledged my sinful condition before Him. I had never humbled myself before him. It was on a Tuesday evening during a week-long revival at our church that I read the following verses and they shook me to my core. 

Proverbs 1:24-27 “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you." 

How many times had the Lord drawn me to himself and I had refused him? I didn’t have forever to make things right with God. Eventually I would have to deal with the consequences of sin and then there would be no help from God, for I had continually resisted Him when he stretched out His hand. 

The next evening, the preacher spoke of sin and the need of salvation and it was at that point that I submitted to the call of God to be saved. I acknowledged my sinful state before Him and accepted Christ as my Savior. Immediately, the burden was lifted from my soul. It was like taking a pure satisfying breath of fresh air. It cleansed my soul and revived my mind and I have enjoyed the accepting, loving presence of God in my life ever since that day. 

​

Healed 

​

About six months after the diagnosis of my cancer, I completed my last chemotherapy treatment. When you complete your last treatment in the hospital, there is a bell you ring to signify that you’ve completed your journey. I can’t express the joy I felt when I was able to ring that bell. At last I was free from this nightmare. All the tests that the doctors conducted showed that I was free from the Cancer. My breathing was a whole lot better and I was feeling good. It’s been almost ten years now and there has been no sign of its return. Thank God! 

​

A Lesson Learned 

​

Cancer is an affliction of the body, but it has no power over the soul. I thank God that even during that most trying time, I felt His comfort. Hebrews 13:5 says, “…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” What a blessing it was to know that God was with me during those trying times. Although I came face to face with my own mortality and I had concerns about the people I might leave behind, by God’s grace I never truly feared the future. If I were to have passed from this world, I had the comfort of knowing that I would go to be with my Savior, Jesus. There is no trial or hardship in this life that is stronger than my God and the peace that he gives is beyond words. I thank God for that day as a fourteen-year-old boy, He saved my soul. He has been with me every step of the way since then and as I faced death, I knew that He would be with me to the very end.

​

My name is Jeremy McEntire, and this is MY story.