Henry's story: discovering the cancer My name is Henry and I'm 74 years old and I'm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I'm married. I've been married to Sandy for 51 years, and I discovered I had cancer in 1982 and I discovered it myself washing my neck and I felt this little, it's like a little mole or a little rising on the side of my neck. And I let it go for a while and I went back to the doctor where I had to go to get my blood pressure checked every few months, and I felt it was getting larger and I mentioned it to him. I went back again and it was larger. So they decided to take a look at it and I ended up with thyroid cancer. Finding strength in God I had a throat operation in 1982. They had told me it was sort of tedious because it was down near my vocal cord and they were not sure I'd be able to speak afterwards. But I was determined that I was going to make it through, and when I had my operation, I prayed that God would come in the operating room and guide the surgeon in my operation that I would be able to talk. As it turned out, I was able to talk and I also made a prayer when I was on the table that for God to be there and guide his hand and lead him and by me being healed. To me I owed something to the doctors in the hospital, not that you could pay for things with money all the time, sometimes you have to give of yourself. So I started going to the hospital and talking to and checking on cancer patients. And I find out in the procedure that I was going through, being there with someone else going through the same thing, it helped to make me stronger. And it also made me aware that you could be all right today or a month from now, and then when you're put on your back and you have no place to go and no one to turn to, prayer and faith is the only thing you have left. Your family will be there, but it's having the faith that you're gonna get through it and beat it, and I think when you do that, you should share with other people your experience and your feeling. Overcoming the fear Because so many people are frightened today and today people are very ignorant of cancer and Alzheimer. They seem to be frightened of it and no one wants to speak about it. But in life we're all, I don't care how wealthy you are, in life you're gonna go through pain, you're gonna go through hurt. There'll be good times. All this is life, and all this you have to take it and learn how to grow with it. And there's something there that you have to learn. And you have to be able to accept. You can't get bitter about it, but you have to help someone else who hasn't been through it, because they're frightened and the doctor can't explain to them what to expect because he hasn't been there. And they have to talk to someone who's been through the same experience, because there's a relationship there like a family connection. And this way it doesn't frighten the family and you can have someone you can talk to when you get frightened. I don't know what else to tell you, but this is the idea and having your family understand. And instead of fainting when someone tells you you have cancer, you're not gonna die from it. You have to make up in your mind that you're gonna beat it, and you have to fight it every step of the way. And when you do, than the Lord that you got through it and try to be there for someone else, because we're living on this planet and we're not down here by ourselves. We have to commit and help one another. All I can say is just have faith and be there for someone else. |
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