Dear Friends, I have been remiss in writing.  Most of all, I have been remiss in praising God by giving testimony to His continued miracles in my life and the lives of those around me.

We may often wonder how and if God is working.  In my case, He blessed me through people and circumstances that only God could coordinate.

It happened this way:  Although my husband David had missed much of our church’s 12-week men’s study, he felt he needed to go one Sunday evening.  At his table was a new man named Roger, and they began to chat.  Roger just happened to be a retired pharmacology expert.  When David explained my liver deficiencies which resulted in my being unable to metabolize most drugs, Roger offered to help.  He connected us with a research pharmacologist at the University of Houston College of Pharmacology.  She not only understood and was able to help us navigate my liver deficiency and various chemotherapy drug options, she also told us that she did research with the leading doctor in my type of breast cancer diagnosis.  Within days, I was his newest patient.  Amazing!  Only God could have orchestrated this series of events.

My new doctor prescribed an Oncotype DX test on the tumor they removed from me.  This test determines how the cancer will respond to various treatments.  My results were so low that it was determined chemotherapy would actually be detrimental to my recovery, even if I didn’t have a liver deficiency.  Not having to take chemotherapy was life saving in itself.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

With relief and gratitude, I returned to my normal life and gave an occasional testimony, but I failed to update this blog.  Sometimes the velocity of life can take our breath away.  As a result, we often spend our lives putting out little fires rather than focusing on what matters most.  It certainly was true for me.  Now it is time to turn back to this message and focus on what God has done, is doing, and will do.

So what happened in the interim?  In addition to a variety of normal life events, five days after my treatment ended, my brother-in-law Paul sat at our kitchen table.  After four years of remission, his cancer had returned.  And it had returned with a vengeance.  For the next six months, he briefly lived with us and then downtown so he could be closer to MD Anderson,  enduring his second stem cell transplant.

At the end of six months, Paul returned home to Oklahoma.  He came back to us every month at first for checkups.  Then it became every two months.  Now he visits quarterly.  I am delighted to tell you that Paul is doing well, indeed.  He is in complete remission, although he still suffers lingering issues from the stem cell transplant.

Doctors call Paul a walking miracle.  They have told him that he is a “one percenter.”  Only one percent of those enduring his treatment would have survived it.  On Easter morning, I plan to post Paul’s testimony.  Please stay tuned!

Psalm 50:15  “Call to me in times of trouble. I will save you, and you will honor me.”