Thank God for Cancer

I know the tile of this post seems a little crazy and believe for the past 4 years it has made me furious to hear my dad make that statement. If I stop and look back over the past 4 years I cannot help but agree (for the first time ever) with that statement. As many of you know 4 years ago my father, Randy, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer with mets to the liver. The beginning of this journey was a true roller coaster of emotions. Initially the prognosis was not good, as most of you know pancreatic cancer is by no means what any family wants to hear. After further testing the oncologist informed us that his cancer was not the typical form of pancreatic cancer but a rare islet cell cancer. After researching and educating ourselves we learned that this was a much better scenario and prognosis...PTL. As I mentioned before this is a rare cancer, therefore treatment options were limited. My dad had an appointment to see a specialist at MD Anderson in Houston, TX in April of 2007. The Sunday before his appointment (Easter Sunday 07) our family was again hit with another obstacle. The islet cell cancer that metastasized to the liver was extremely aggressive in the liver tissue, leading to lesions to numerous to count, increase bilirubin and devastating prognosis. He immediately began chemotherapy treatment with the hopes that if it work we would experience another 4-6 months with my dad. In August of 2007 they decided to stop chemo in order to give his body a break and hoped to get 6 months without growth. Well we actually got 4 wonderful years! A few weeks ago after a CT scan we were told that there was mild growth and it was time to start chemo again. We are all very sad and upset for him to have to experience chemo again but God is good and so far he had done well with treatments! Please continue to pray for our family and my dad during the next few months of treatment. I want to share this verse that has been so helpful to our family and hopefully any of you that have been affected by cancer in some way can find God's peace in it as well. "The LORD will fight for you; you need only be still." Exodus 14:14

What I have learned from CANCER:
1. Trust God unconditionally
2. Love my family well
3. Live each day to serve God
4. Worry is NOT effective
5. GOD is so good
6. God uses trials to make us cling to him
7. God's grace is so amazing...
8. Be STILL
9. Serve others in their time of need
10. In the words of Randy...Enjoy the scenery along the detour!

LOVE you pops... you are a blessing to so many and have forever changed my life with your faith and courage during the past 4 years. You are truly a disciple of God's word!