I am a stay at home mother of four children from ages 9 to 16. I was born in Yorkshire, United Kingdom and moved to Indiana with my husband in 1989. We moved toGeorgia in 1998 and loved our new home town of Pine mountain. There we became members of Pine mountain methodist church,whose members quickly became an extended part of our family. The following year Ibecame pregnant with our fourth child and soon found out that I had leukemia. I refused to have an abortion. The same night I found out about the cancer, I stayed up all night and prayed. I handed my illness over to Jesus after confessing my sins, and felt the peace of the Holy spirit within me. I knew to the heart of my being that both myself and my unborn baby would come through this. After being told about the various drugs that would put me into remission, I asked the doctor what the cure was. He told me it would be a bone marrow transplant but most people die from the procedure. I told him that remission was not an option and that I would go for the cure. I was told that the odds would be low of one of my only two siblings, who happened to be both male, could be a match,. Thanks be to GOD, my oldest brother who lived back in England was a perfect match. My brother came over and donated his bone marrow and it was frozen and kept waiting for me to transplant.. Ten short weeks later I gave birth to our beautiful girl Abigail,then I went into hospital. I had planned of being out for 3 months but it turned into 1 and a half years of being in the hospital. Another six months were spent at home giving my own i.v treatments. I was very ill and the doctors told my family that I would probably not make it on numerous ocasions. During my stay in the hospital, I saw my family once a week as they lived one and a half hours drive away. Everyday I would keep Jesus in my mmind. I imagined we would walk together in silence and then rest in a shaded place where I would lay my head on His shoulder. He was such a comfort to me during those lonely days. The spirit of God was with me at all times and I managed to keep a sense of humor through out this ordeal. Finally I seemed to be on the mend. After getting down to a low eighty pounds, I manaaged to get to a full one hundred and six pounds. I was off i.v meds and started driving again. That was short lived. Just two weeks after celebrating our baby's second birthday, I suddenly lost my vision. I thought it was medicine related and didn't take it seriosly. Like the cancer, I should have immediatley handed myself to Jesus but instead gave it to the doctor's to take care of. They had no answer and no hope. I was on my own. This was more heart wrenching than the cancer. The thought of never seeing my beautiful children's faces again, after having been away from them for the last two years was truly hard to bear. I couldn't seem to regain the over whelming faith that I had felt before
It has been a tough struggle for my family and has been a toll on our marriage. There are other stories of faith within this story that I could speak of but it would take too long.. It will soon be ten years since my transplant and nearly eight since losing most of my vision. My husband and I, are still together, our children are growing up, I am healthy and my faith is stronger than ever. I do know, that without the hurdles that I had to overcome, my relationship with GOD would not be as strong as it is now.
A Prayer for Hope When You’re Discouraged and Drained - Your Daily Prayer - April 23
Whether you’re currently weighed down by responsibility or expectations or you’re drained due to disappointment and discouragement, I’d like to encourage you to take one step with God.