By Pastor Richard Mayes
Grace Student and Ambassador // Senior Pastor of Champion Community Baptist Church

Until two years ago I had always taken my health for granted. I had never really been seriously ill until October 2012. For almost sixty-three years of my life, my longest stay in the hospital had been the week that I was hospitalized because of an eye injury at age 11. I was almost addicted to junk food. I hated to take medication, especially if I thought that it was not needed. I had only recently begun to admit that I was not as strong and fast as I used to be. In short, I simply forgot that my health was a blessing from God and that my life was in his hands.

After refusing to take my blood pressure and cholesterol medication for an extended period of time, I began to feel strange, causing me to reconsider my actions. I decided to at least resume the blood pressure medication. It required a doctor’s visit, so I made an appointment and planned to just get the prescription and be on my way. That visit and the subsequent visit (a month later) changed my life, my attitude, and my awareness of just how blessed I am.

After the second visit on a Sunday Morning, my primary care physician called. It was not unnatural for him to call, but on Sunday morning, it was out of the ordinary. He told me to stop taking the prescribed cholesterol medication immediately because my lab report indicated that my liver enzymes were elevated. In view of the fact that this was the second time and there was a history of cancer in my family, he suspected that I had cancer. He immediately referred me to a specialist in the network for treatment.

After having an MRI, it was confirmed that there was an inflamed area in my bile duct and it was determined that I would need an (ERCP) Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography (a test that requires the physician to look inside of the bile duct with a camera) to make a proper diagnosis. He indicated that he strongly suspected that it was malignant. First attempt was unsuccessful and because of the location of the tumor, I was referred to a specialist outside of the network.

I became very ill while waiting to be treated by the second specialist. I lost thirty pounds because I only ate soup. Solid foods, especially meats had become difficult to digest. After the second ERCP, the physician told my wife that he did not like what he saw. He corrected the problem as best he could and told her that he had to wait for the area to heal before he could take a biopsy. After the biopsy, the prognosis worsened. I was in recovery both times and did not hear what was said, but my wife was visibly shaken. I was sent back to the referring specialist.

The referring specialist scheduled a consultation. Because of the prognosis, my wife had two of my children come with us. In the meeting I was told something similar to this: “I hate to give you bad news, but you have cancer. Because of the location, it is inoperable. We can give you chemotherapy, but you know that chemo is not a cure. There is really nothing else we can do.” He then referred me to an oncologist.

I had to have a port implanted for the chemo, so I was referred to a surgeon. The surgery started a new chapter in this whole ordeal. The nurse who prepared me for surgery was a Christian and a former cancer patient. There was a family in the waiting area (who had a relative going through the same procedure) that took my wife into their prayer circle when they saw her crying. Two friends who were also cancer survivors (one who is still a patient) sent me cards and called often. The nurse that administered my chemo was very friendly, and the people that came for chemo every Tuesday became a second family.

I certainly don’t want to make light of my situation. The treatment that I was given had dangerous side effects. I was hospitalized twice (both times life-threatening) for things related to my treatment. I had to remain on antibiotics for six months to prevent a subsequent hospitalization, but I was by no means the most severely ill person in the room. One woman I met had been taking treatments for 20 years; another person had to come every week (I at least had every third week off.). A good friend, who is in another network, had eight-hour treatments on alternate weeks (I only had four-hour treatments). I know that this might not seem important to some, but the treatments take your energy, make you ill and damage other vital organs.

The good thing about the whole ordeal is that we became family, like soldiers on a battle front. Someone would always come in and find the energy to cheer everybody else up. We became uneasy when someone didn’t show up for treatment. The women seemed to have more energy than I so I had to clean up my act (I couldn’t be outdone by the women). Hair was the exception and not the rule, so nobody was embarrassed to be bald. The only problem was that one older lady had a special seat. We needed to avoid sitting there at all costs (smile).

When I took my final treatment, I could not wait for it to be over. I heard that there was a bell that I was supposed to ring when I finished. I couldn’t find it, but I was delighted nonetheless. My last two treatments were changed because of my work schedule, so I met some new people. One lady shared that her illness was systemic and she would have to take treatments for the rest of her life. Remembering what I had just gone through, I immediately responded with “I couldn’t do it.” She replied, “What choice do I have?” I had no response.

At this writing things are going well. My last ERCP was encouraging. My last MRI did not show any increase in tumor size, and my lab report was normal. My oncologist said jokingly, “Did you pay somebody to give me a report like this?” Continuing, he said, “This is a blessing.” I know that the fight is not over, but I’m still in it. There are two things that I can take away from this experience. First, I have been saved by the grace of God. Few people in our family have survived any kind of cancer. God chose to extend my time. Secondly, as difficult as my experience was, it was much less difficult than some of the people that I came in contact with. I have been blessed.