Participants:
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201931S
|
00:25 >> Go do a loop and go up there
00:27 and come back. 00:33 >> How do you tell your child 00:34 "you have cancer", you know, do 00:36 you just say it? You know, that 00:37 kind of thing. And do you talk 00:38 about death? Do you not? 00:40 >> It was a big, big, big shock. 00:42 We'd always seen the world this 00:43 way and now this world of 00:46 childhood cancer was suddenly -- 00:47 >> Very real. 00:48 >> Very real. 00:51 His blood results kept coming 00:53 back normal which was really 00:55 baffling everyone. They have no 00:58 idea what causes childhood 00:59 cancer. It could be the 01:01 environment, it could be 01:02 genetics. It was not even on our 01:04 radar. 01:06 >> How is it possible that all 01:08 things could work together for 01:09 good to those who are called by 01:12 God and those who love Him? 01:24 >> Welcome and thank you for 01:25 joining us on It Is Written 01:26 Canada. You know I was reading in 01:29 the Bible this morning from 01:30 Romans chapter 8 verse 28 and 01:32 there's an incredible promise 01:34 there: "All things work together 01:37 for good to those who love God." 01:39 >> Yes, those words are very 01:41 encouraging especially when you 01:43 can see that all things are 01:45 working together for good. 01:46 >> Yeah, when all things are 01:47 working and you see that your 01:49 work is working out, you've got a 01:50 good job, you've got good health, 01:52 your kids have good health, and 01:54 they're doing well, and you have 01:57 enough money in the bank, but 01:58 what if things aren't working 02:00 well? What if you can't see that 02:02 it's working out well? 02:03 >> Today we are visiting in the 02:05 home of Nick and Mary Coursey 02:07 here in Lillooet, BC. They have 02:10 an amazing story of how their 02:12 faith was tested. Welcome, Nick 02:15 and Mary, and thank you for 02:16 joining us on It Is Written 02:17 Canada! 02:19 >> Thank you. 02:20 >> Nick and Mary, the way in 02:21 which you came to Canada, you 02:23 didn't always live in Lillooet, 02:24 British Columbia where we are 02:25 today. Can you tell us a little 02:26 bit about that? 02:27 >> Yeah, right before we came 02:30 here we had been living in 02:31 southeast Arizona in the little 02:34 town of Willcox working for a 02:35 family farm. We were very happy 02:37 there and then the farm decided 02:41 to close and so then we were left 02:44 wondering what God had in store 02:46 for us. 02:47 >> We were like not sure what to 02:50 do and got a call -- an 02:53 opportunity up in Lillooet, BC. We 02:55 loved the situation, it was 02:57 great, but our hearts were kind 03:00 of in going back east to Alabama 03:02 closer to family. A close family 03:04 friend gave us some advice and 03:07 guidance. The decision that we 03:09 ended up making was based off of 03:10 that was what's best? What's the 03:13 best environment for your 03:13 children? 03:14 >> Spiritually. 03:16 >> Yeah, physically, spiritually, 03:17 mentally. And so we chose to come 03:19 here with our hearts kind of not 03:21 in it, but knowing that this is 03:24 where God's leading us. 03:25 >> And so you're faith was 03:27 already being tested and you were 03:29 trusting the Lord, He was guiding 03:30 you. Nico is your firstborn. So 03:32 we've got Nico and V who's your 03:34 other little boy and little Nali 03:36 wasn't here at that time. 03:37 >> Nope. She was on the inside. 03:39 >> She was on her way out. 03:43 >> So that was in September of 03:44 2017 so we were here a few 03:47 months. 03:48 >> Just about a month. 03:49 >> And that's when we started 03:50 noticing Nico had a little bump 03:52 on his cheek and at first we 03:55 didn't pay much mind to it. He'd 03:56 never really been sick before. 03:59 >> We did take him in just as a 04:01 precaution, you know, and the 04:03 doctor -- our family doctor 04:04 thought it was just a sebaceous 04:06 cyst, it would dry up on its own. 04:08 So yeah, we kind of left it at 04:10 that, but it just kept growing. 04:15 >> So even your doctor, Dr. Hoff, 04:17 who was in town, he had measured 04:21 the cyst or what he thought was a 04:22 cyst on Nico's face to begin with 04:24 and he thought, "This isn't 04:26 really all that important." 04:26 Right? 04:27 >> Right. 04:28 >> It was just by providence that 04:30 he was even on campus. We didn't 04:32 go to the office, he was coming 04:33 to get carrots from the farm. The 04:35 Dixons, our friends, they said, 04:37 "Hey, you should go check out 04:38 Nico." And so he showed up at our 04:40 house and that triggered this 04:42 whole chain of events. 04:46 >> It was sometime about four 04:47 weeks before Christmas, we were 04:50 in dialog and obviously we were 04:52 friends with Nick and Mary and we 04:55 had been kind of going -- 04:57 following through this process of 04:58 knowing that this growth is 05:00 growing on Nico's face and we 05:04 knew that he had gone to the 05:06 local doctor, which is our doctor 05:08 as well, Dr. Hoff in Licton, he 05:10 had come up and bought carrots 05:11 and squash from Fountainview and 05:13 so there was an on-going 05:15 relationship there. Dr. Hoff, he 05:17 had initially seen Nico, but then 05:19 he was apparently out of the 05:20 office and they were trying to 05:22 get a follow-up visit with Nico 05:23 and they said, "Well, Dr. Hoff's 05:25 out for three or four weeks," 05:26 some long period of time. That 05:29 was quite concerning, especially 05:31 because this thing is getting 05:32 bigger on Nico's face. Well, one 05:34 day Dr. Hoff randomly stopped by 05:37 the farm here to buy some carrots 05:41 and I had gotten to talk with him 05:42 and I said, "Hey, would you 05:44 consider coming up to the house 05:46 and just taking a look?" And he 05:48 agreed to do that. And so he came 05:50 from the farm up to their house 05:53 and he took a look at Nico and 05:54 he's like, "Oh," you know, "it 05:56 doesn't look much worse." But, I 05:58 mean, you know, his mom, she sees 06:00 him every moment, and so she's 06:01 like, "No, it's definitely 06:02 getting bigger." And so he's 06:04 like, "Do you have a tape 06:05 measure?" So we found a tape 06:06 measure and he was able to pull 06:07 up his files from the doctor's 06:09 office and he realized that, yes, 06:11 it was growing and actually 06:12 growing quite fast, faster than 06:13 he had originally thought just by 06:14 looking at him. And he ordered a 06:17 stat or an emergency-, I guess 06:19 you could say, ultrasound, is 06:20 that correct? 06:21 >> I think so. 06:22 >> Yeah, and so then he said, 06:23 "You need to go in and have this 06:25 done right away." Looking back on 06:27 that situation, we saw that as 06:29 God leading for sure, an answer 06:32 to prayer because, I mean, it 06:34 could have been four weeks later, 06:35 five weeks later, it could have 06:36 just snowballed and taken much 06:39 longer to get him in and actually 06:39 seeing a doctor, but just 06:41 everything lined up, from our 06:44 perspective, lined up perfectly. 06:46 >> He consulted with a 06:48 pediatrician who suggested we 06:50 take him in to the ER to get an 06:53 ultrasound and we did that and at 06:57 that point a radiologist had said 06:59 it was not cancerous and that it 07:01 was just a different kind of 07:02 cyst, an epithelial cyst, and so 07:05 then we followed back up with our 07:07 family doctor who quickly 07:09 referred us to a plastic surgeon 07:12 and they got us in rather quickly 07:13 as well and he was able to be 07:16 seen on the plastic surgeon's 07:19 last day before his holiday on 07:22 December 21st. 07:24 >> And if you hadn't have had the 07:26 procedure on the 21st of 07:27 December, you would have had to 07:29 wait until the new year to even 07:30 do the procedure, right? 07:31 >> Yeah. 07:33 >> And just in that one month, 07:34 month and a half, it had -- I 07:36 mean, it's growing exponentially. 07:37 And it's becoming -- he's having 07:41 trouble with some of his vision 07:42 being able to see down and we 07:44 would have -- we don't know. Just 07:46 it was amazing looking back that 07:49 the chain of events transpired 07:50 that way. 07:51 >> You can see on the pictures 07:52 how quickly that had grown just 07:54 within a few days, few weeks and 07:57 so if he had not gotten in at 08:00 that specific time, then it could 08:01 have been at least about three 08:03 weeks later before he would have 08:04 seen someone who was a 08:05 specialist. A minimum of three 08:06 weeks later, yeah. 08:09 >> He didn't complain about any 08:11 pain or anything like that? 08:12 >> No. I mean, touch it, 08:14 whatever. It's not painful at 08:16 all. It was more just visible 08:18 than -- for him. 08:19 >> We're so thankful that it was 08:21 in such a visible area. With this 08:24 type of cancer it can be internal 08:27 and then you don't know. Some 08:30 families don't know that their 08:31 child has it until the tumour is 08:33 way bigger. 08:36 >> So you went in, saw the 08:37 plastic surgeon, the plastic 08:38 surgeon came out and said, "Hey, 08:39 I got rid of it, it's OK." 08:41 >> No, unfortunately for us and 08:43 the plastic surgeon who was 08:45 visibly upset, this was not his 08:48 area of expertise and so he came 08:51 out and met us in the post-op 08:52 area and proceeded to inform us 08:56 that it was not a cyst 08:58 as they had thought. 09:00 He told us that at that 09:01 point BC Children's Hospital 09:02 would be taking over care. 09:04 >> We spent two days at Kamloops 09:07 hospital until the pediatrician 09:09 convinced BC Children's that Nico 09:11 looked fine and that he should be 09:13 able to go home for Christmas. 09:15 >> His blood results kept coming 09:18 back normal which was really 09:21 baffling everyone. They had sent 09:23 the biopsy also down to Vancouver 09:26 to the Children's Hospital and so 09:28 that took a few days to get down 09:29 there because of the weather and 09:32 the holidays and so we didn't 09:34 actually get the full pathology, 09:38 the final one for a few weeks 09:40 afterwards. 09:42 >> And so they let us go home 09:44 with the promise that we'd show 09:45 up at BC Children's the day after 09:47 Christmas to do scans and tests 09:48 and everything and so at this 09:50 point we've been told by the 09:52 pediatrician at Kamloops that she 09:54 doesn't think it's what they 09:55 think it is. And so we're 09:57 thinking, naively, "Oh, it could 09:59 just be something innocent," you 10:00 know, and we're so hopeful and 10:04 confused and shocked even at this 10:07 point that, you know, we feel 10:09 like there's a chance that it's 10:10 something simple. And so we go 10:12 home, have Christmas, go to BC 10:15 Children's, they do -- 10:17 >> A PET scan. And we wouldn't 10:19 hear anything for another week or 10:20 so. 10:21 >> Yeah, and then I think it was 10:23 a Thursday they called us, the 10:24 4th, I think, of January to tell 10:27 us the plan is for us to come 10:29 down and he needs some treatment. 10:30 And at the time they hadn't 10:33 really told us the official 10:34 diagnosis. So we were a bit 10:36 confused, so I was like, "OK, 10:37 what is it?" And that's when she 10:39 officially told us the diagnosis. 10:41 >> It ended up being 10:42 rhabdomyosarcoma which is a 10:46 soft-tissue cancer. 10:48 >> So they said they'd get back 10:50 to us to tell us when they want 10:52 us to come down and so that next 10:54 Monday we got a call saying come 10:56 down today, plan to be here two 10:57 or three weeks. At the time they 10:59 were telling us that he would 11:01 need treatment every three weeks 11:04 and not much else. We were just 11:08 reeling trying to take in this 11:10 information. At the same time 11:11 they wanted to do more testing 11:12 which was frustrating to us 11:13 because they didn't want to tell 11:15 us everything until they were 11:16 sure what they knew from all the 11:18 testing. So they did a bone 11:20 marrow biopsy? 11:21 >> Mhmm. 11:22 >> And they put in a port which 11:25 is surgically implanted under the 11:25 skin. 11:26 >> Oh, that must have been hard 11:27 on him. 11:28 >> Yeah. So they sat us down 11:30 later that week after they had 11:31 their tumour board which is where 11:32 a bunch of doctors -- all the 11:33 specialists get together and 11:35 discuss him to determine what's 11:37 the best -- should they do the 11:38 three modalities: surgery, chemo, 11:40 and radiation or not? And kind of 11:44 gave us their report. They told 11:46 us, you know, this is what their 11:47 plan is: radiation and chemo. 11:50 Surgery they ruled out because it 11:52 would be disfiguring at this 11:53 point and that they wanted to 11:56 start the next day. 11:57 >> Wow. Do you remember Nico's 11:59 reaction? He's being prodded and 12:01 poked and cut and -- 12:03 >> He was terrified. 12:04 >> Yeah, he struggled, you know, 12:06 when they had to draw blood, 12:07 whenever they had to put in an 12:08 IV, I mean, it just -- he had 12:10 never really been to the doctor 12:11 other than just basic checkups, 12:13 he's never had to get blood 12:14 taken. It was very traumatic for 12:17 him. And for us as parents, 12:19 trying to know how we can help 12:22 him. And we just -- you know, how 12:25 to make it easier for him, he 12:26 doesn't understand really what's 12:27 going on even as much as -- you 12:29 know, we sat him down between 12:32 Christmas and the official talk 12:34 that we had with the doctor's and 12:36 told him, you know, we had done 12:38 some research; how do you tell 12:39 your child that they have cancer? 12:40 Do you just say it? You know, 12:42 that kind of thing and do you 12:43 talk about death? Do you not? And 12:45 so we had to have a serious 12:46 conversation with him and present 12:49 what we felt he could handle. And 12:51 you know, he's like -- and we're 12:53 like, "Do you have any 12:53 questions?" He's like, "No," and 12:54 he just went back to playing, you 12:55 know. For him it just didn't sink 12:58 in, you know, like it does for 12:59 us. And later he had questions 13:01 once he started seeing stuff, but 13:04 at the time, you know, it didn't 13:05 really phase him so we were 13:06 relieved about that, but in this 13:08 process we're grieving because 13:11 cancer -- 13:12 >> And shock. Shock and grieving. 13:14 >> Big shock and cancer is real 13:16 now, it's official, it's not a 13:18 mistake. We were hoping that 13:21 there was a chance it was 13:21 nothing. 13:22 >> And we were hoping that maybe 13:24 now that they've removed it it 13:25 would be gone, right? But we were 13:27 seeing it grow back. It was 13:30 growing back within just the few 13:32 weeks between that initial 13:35 surgery to when he started chemo 13:39 therapy. 13:40 >> Yeah, the plastic surgeon, 13:42 being that that's -- his 13:43 specialty is not anything to do 13:44 with cancer, just decided to cut 13:47 out what he could see from the 13:49 tumour and so he didn't get what 13:51 they call "clear margins" which 13:53 would eliminate all the cancer 13:56 cells and it just takes one for 13:58 it to grow back and you have to 13:59 have healthy tissue all the way 14:00 around and I don't know that he 14:02 could have at the time because it 14:04 would have been very disfiguring. 14:07 So it grew back in about three 14:08 weeks. We had to start accepting 14:12 it at that point. You know, we 14:14 had never thought about childhood 14:15 cancer. 14:17 >> We always thought that we were 14:19 giving our children the best 14:20 chance so it was not even on our 14:23 radar. We had made all of these 14:25 changes before we started having 14:28 kids and they had always been 14:29 plant-based and, you know, whole 14:32 foods and trying to live in the 14:34 country and get fresh air and 14:36 exercise and drink water and, you 14:38 know, all of those types of 14:39 things and so it was a big, big, 14:41 big shock. We'd always seen the 14:43 world this way and now this world 14:47 of childhood cancer was 14:49 suddenly -- 14:49 >> Very real. 14:50 >> Very real and understanding 14:53 that, you know, they have no idea 14:55 what causes childhood cancer. It 14:57 could be environment, it could be 14:58 genetics, it's not lifestyle. 15:03 Some babies are born with cancer 15:04 from the womb, you know, and so, 15:08 yeah, so then that was a big, 15:10 big, big shock. 15:16 >> You know, in the back of your 15:17 head, you think of someone 15:20 fighting cancer, right? In at 15:21 least my experience, very rarely 15:23 do you have someone that goes 15:25 through a cancer experience and 15:26 come out alive on the other end. 15:27 Most of the people, family 15:28 members or friends, that I saw 15:30 start to have cancer, they never 15:32 survived. I didn't really think 15:34 about it a lot, but in the back 15:36 of my mind I'm like, "You know 15:37 what? This could end the way I 15:39 have always pictured cancer 15:41 ending." Right? 15:42 >> There was a lot of tears. I 15:45 just remembered so often thinking 15:47 to myself that she was so strong 15:51 and recognizing that, for a lot 15:54 of parents, they were living the 15:57 worst thing that we often think 15:59 could happen to our children. And 16:01 just watching God carry them 16:03 through each day. Some days were 16:04 better days, some days were a lot 16:06 harder days, but regardless, God 16:08 was just sustaining them and for 16:10 me it just made me realize in a 16:14 tangible way how real God was. 16:18 >> So now, Nick and Mary, you're 16:22 living in the world of cancer; a 16:24 terrible place, dark place to go 16:25 into. What's it like? 16:27 >> You know, in general, we just 16:28 -- surviving day to day and what 16:31 do we need to get done today? 16:32 What do we need to plan? How to 16:33 we need to -- you know, we have a 16:35 dog; got to figure out who's 16:36 going to take care of our dog and 16:37 our cat and where we're going to 16:39 live, and we found out where we 16:41 were going to live. We had to, 16:44 you know, start the process. They 16:45 wanted to start treatment the 16:47 next day. We committed to the 16:49 process. You know, it was kind of 16:51 a bit of a whirlwind and so by 16:53 the time he even got the chemo, 16:56 you know, we were just going with 16:57 it. That first treatment went 16:59 pretty well. He didn't really 17:00 have much nausea. He had some arm 17:02 and leg pain. We were expecting 17:04 the baby in a couple months at 17:06 the time and so we just kind of 17:09 settled in and got into the cycle 17:10 of going to the hospital 17:12 depending on the treatment cycle. 17:13 It's three weeks of repeating 13 17:18 times, I think it was. And so the 17:20 first week is a more intensive 17:22 chemo treatment that would knock 17:24 out his immune system basically 17:25 and the next two weeks a lesser 17:27 type chemo that doesn't affect 17:30 the immune system allowing it to 17:32 recover for the next one, the 17:34 next round. So that first three 17:35 weeks went pretty smoothly. We 17:37 were like, "OK, we can handle 17:38 this." You know, his appetite 17:40 hadn't really dropped, his energy 17:42 level was still good. The fourth 17:46 week is a treatment of five days 17:48 in a row and that's where kind of 17:51 the wheels fell of the wagon for 17:52 us. By the time we got to week 17:55 four, his hair started coming out 17:58 a little bit. This treatment 18:00 causes diarrhea, is one of the 18:01 side effects. He started getting, 18:03 midweek, very nauseous. We tried 18:06 giving him his medicine in the 18:07 morning and he'd start throwing 18:08 it up. His weight went from 19.4 18:12 to 16.6 kilograms and he just 18:16 really was struggling. And so 18:19 they suggested at that point if 18:22 he'd get an NG tube put in, that 18:24 way we an feed him when he's 18:26 sleeping or whatever, and he can 18:28 get his medicine in without 18:29 having to take it orally. When he 18:30 got the NG tube, I think that was 18:32 really difficult for me because 18:34 it was just such a visual 18:36 reminder. We're already 18:38 struggling with the fact that, 18:40 you know he's six, doesn't have 18:43 much control over his life in 18:44 general as a six-year-old and 18:46 then they're pumping stuff into 18:48 him through his body and his 18:49 nose. He has no control of what's 18:51 happening to his body. 18:54 >> And it was really just 18:55 day-by-day. We didn't know, 18:56 especially during the harder 18:57 weeks, we didn't know how the day 18:59 would go and if he would be pukey 19:02 all day or if he would be fine 19:04 and so you just -- we learned 19:07 those first few months just to 19:10 take it -- what the day, just 19:12 take it by the day. 19:14 >> And in the meantime, because 19:16 he has a port, it's a bacterial 19:18 risk because it's exposure -- 19:20 your body's being exposed 19:21 somewhat to the outside world and 19:23 so any time he got a cold, he'd 19:27 usually get a fever and that's an 19:28 instant trip to the ER. They draw 19:31 blood from his port, draw blood 19:32 from his arm, that way they can 19:33 culture it. They have to stick 19:35 this swab way up in his nose 19:37 which he horribly hated, but 19:38 that's the way to determine what 19:39 type of virus it is. So while 19:42 constantly those weeks of not 19:44 knowing how he's going to handle 19:45 the chemo, it was also "When's he 19:47 going to get sick?" And so you 19:49 can't really plan your life 19:50 beyond three weeks of treatment, 19:53 and then if he gets sick then 19:55 it's day-to-day. It was 19:58 paralyzing is the word that I 20:00 could think of because you know, 20:02 people say, "Well," you know, 20:03 "What do you guys do?" I don't 20:04 remember. 20:05 >> "What do you do all day?" 20:06 >> We just try to survive, you 20:07 know. You try to live for those 20:10 off weeks, try to make it fun, do 20:12 exciting, fun things and so we'd 20:13 go to, you know, indoor bounce 20:15 places when we felt like he had 20:17 the -- able to do that and -- 20:19 >> Just try to do normal things, 20:21 right? Like take him out to ride 20:23 his bike or -- yeah. 20:26 >> So in the midst of all this 20:29 now you're expecting Nali. What 20:32 does that look like? I mean, 20:34 there's a lot going on. The 20:36 emotions must be pretty high. 20:38 >> Yeah. Yeah. We didn't know 20:41 when she would be coming and then 20:44 we didn't know how that would 20:46 correspond to where Nico would be 20:48 in treatment at that time. So 20:50 then it was such a blessing to be 20:52 able to have support from the 20:55 midwives and having the 20:56 flexibility to either give birth 20:59 in Abbotsford where we were 21:01 living at the time or in 21:05 Vancouver at BC Children's if 21:06 that's where Nico ended up being 21:08 at that time as well. We came to 21:11 the point in Nico's treatment 21:12 where he needed to be inpatient 21:14 so then we decided that all of 21:16 us, my mom and my sister were 21:19 here already at that point. She 21:21 was about a week late so that was 21:23 not what we were expecting 21:25 because my other pregnancies had 21:27 been early or right on time. That 21:28 kind of threw us off a little 21:30 bit, but we decided when he went 21:32 inpatient we would all go to 21:34 Vancouver and then stay overnight 21:36 just in case anything happened. 21:38 So he had his inpatient treatment 21:40 and then he has to stay overnight 21:42 so they can monitor and do 21:44 hydration and flushing and I went 21:48 into labour early that next 21:51 morning. And so by like 7:00 I 21:56 had called the midwife in 21:57 Vancouver letting her know about 21:59 my contractions and she said 22:00 she'd meet me at the hospital in 22:02 about 30 minutes so then we 22:05 headed over there and thankfully 22:09 it was a shuffling -- it was a 22:11 very well choreographed shuffling 22:14 of people. My sister, my mom, and 22:18 V, and my nephew, we all drove 22:22 there and my sister dropped my 22:25 mom and I off at the hospital at 22:28 the women's labour and delivery 22:30 entrance and so we went in and 22:34 she went with the boys to park 22:36 and then go upstairs on the 8th 22:39 floor where Nick and Nico were 22:40 and so then she stayed with the 22:43 boys and Nico and so Nick could 22:46 come down to where I was with my 22:48 mom and then be there for the 22:50 labour and so it was quite a day, 22:53 quite a day. So then she was born 22:58 a few hours later and then later 23:01 that day Nico was discharged and 23:05 yeah. And so everything went 23:07 well, praise the Lord. And who 23:10 would have thought that we'd be 23:13 at the -- you know, Nico would be 23:15 getting treatment and his sister 23:16 would be born right just a few 23:19 floors away from each other so it 23:21 was a crazy -- we have a crazy 23:22 story to tell about her arrival. 23:25 >> Yeah, so that is good news. 23:28 >> Yes. 23:29 >> She was born and everything 23:31 went well there. So everything 23:34 was going well, it was working 23:36 out well and the chemo was 23:38 starting to settle down and you 23:40 were starting to get used to that 23:40 starting to settle down and you 23:41 >> Right. 23:42 >> What was the next thing? 23:42 >> Right. 23:45 kind of got into the new routine, 23:47 had the baby at home, luckily the 23:48 family was there to help and I 23:51 think we did one or two more two- 23:52 or three-day stays at the 23:54 hospital for fevers and those 23:55 kind of things, but then we found 23:58 out the plan when we -- for 24:01 radiation. We talked to the 24:04 radiologist at BC Children's and 24:06 initially she thought they'd be 24:08 able to do radiation here in 24:10 British Columbia, but that they 24:13 always check with the States that 24:17 has proton radiation, they always 24:19 double check that that might not 24:20 be a better option and it all 24:22 depends on location, type of 24:25 cancer, all these different 24:26 variables and so 24:28 she met with the people that she 24:30 could connect with in British 24:31 Columbia and then in our 24:35 discussions we asked, "Where 24:36 would we go if we went to the 24:38 US?" And she said, "Seattle's the 24:39 closest place that has proton 24:40 radiation." So we asked, being 24:42 that we're from Arizona, if all 24:45 things were equal could we go to 24:46 Mayo Clinic in Arizona since 24:48 that's where we moved from? My 24:49 mom lives there, we could stay 24:50 with her. We have friends and -- 24:52 very familiar." 24:53 >> So your fear with radiation 24:55 was? 24:57 >> Well, from our conversation 24:59 with her, before we knew it was 25:02 going to be proton, was very 25:06 serious secondary side effect -- 25:08 you know, the treatment area was 25:11 equal for all radiations, but the 25:15 collateral damage so to speak, or 25:16 the secondary effected areas that 25:18 don't have cancer, she went over 25:20 that list of -- 25:22 >> Long-term side effects. 25:24 >> Long-term issues, you know, 25:25 could lose an eye, definitely 25:27 dissymmetry in the face, his 25:31 adult teeth are in that area and, 25:35 you know, in the end she said, 25:36 "The good news is," you know, 25:37 "there's going to be no cognitive 25:40 damage." 25:41 >> Loss. Yeah. 25:42 >> And we're like, "Uhh," you 25:43 know. 25:45 >> Like, we didn't even -- oh, 25:46 that's the good news! 25:51 >> You're expecting to see 25:54 decrease in health. You expect to 25:56 see significant decline in 25:58 health, but it was such a neat 26:00 experience. Yes, Nico had his 26:03 battles. Yes, he had significant 26:05 challenges along the way. The 26:07 Lord sustained him every step of 26:08 the way. 26:10 >> I just remember just feeling 26:14 so many emotions, but being -- 26:16 feeling just peace. Just seeing 26:18 what He was doing in their life 26:20 and knowing that He promises to 26:21 do that in all of our lives. 26:25 >> Friends, if you are currently 26:28 experiencing suffering and you're 26:30 wondering how is it possible that 26:32 all things could work together 26:33 for good to those who are called 26:36 by God and those who love Him? I 26:38 just want to encourage you with 26:40 these words from the written word 26:41 of God. They're found in 26:44 Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 26:46 and 7 where it says, "Be anxious 26:47 for nothing, but by prayer and 26:50 supplication with thanksgiving 26:52 let your requests be made known 26:53 to God. And the peace of God 26:56 which surpasses all understanding 26:57 will guard your hearts and minds 26:59 in Christ Jesus." Let's pray. 27:02 Heavenly Father, we thank You 27:05 that this kind of pain and 27:06 suffering that was caused by 27:08 cancer is not a part of Your 27:10 perfect plan and that we can turn 27:13 to You and that You will guard 27:15 our hearts and minds in Christ 27:17 Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray, 27:20 amen. So thank you for joining us 27:23 on It Is Written Canada. I just 27:25 want to remind you of the words 27:27 of Jesus where He said, "It is 27:30 written, man shall not live by 27:31 bread alone, but by every word 27:34 that proceeds out of the mouth of 27:36 God." 27:41 >> When somebody is ill, 27:43 especially if it's a child. I 27:46 mean it's just so devastating to 27:48 hear about it, but then the first 27:50 thing you say is, "Oh, we've got 27:51 to do something!" 27:53 >> I was just trying to think of 27:55 ways that I could help and since 27:58 they were so far away, prayer was 27:59 what came to mind. 28:00 >> We were in shock and we went 28:05 through a grieving process. 28:07 Thankfully we had an 28:09 understanding of His character in 28:12 the sense that He is love and He 28:15 is not the author of pain and 28:18 suffering. We live in a sinful 28:19 world. 28:21 >> He was in church and the 28:22 pastor said, "Is anyone 28:23 suffering?" 28:24 >> And Nico looked at me and he 28:27 said, "Not anymore." Not anymore. 28:30 Praise the Lord. |
Revised 2020-05-13