Good News from Cancer Survivor

Proverbs 25:25 says “As Cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country” New King James Version). I am delighted to tell the good news in brief/detail of God’s goodness and mercy which has followed me from birth till today. I have many pieces of good news to publish, but I will concentrate on one of them.

I am the last child of my mother, born after my parents had lost seven children who either died at birth or in childhood. God secured my life and death could not claim me. My parents did not know God, but God picked me up form pagan background to Christianity when I was about eight years old. The Spirit of God was so much on me that even in my days as a nominal Christian; I was ignorantly zealous in the things of God. As a girl, I prayed on the farm when I was alone, and asked God to help me to be educated. God answered hat prayer in a miraculous way.

At the age of seventeen while I was in the secondary school, I heard the truth of the gospel and received Christ as my Lord and Saviour. In the first four years after my conversation, the devil tried to prevent me from committing myself fully to the Lord and from knowing my right in the Lord, but the Lord overtook him, set me free, and sanctified me. From then till date, I have been enjoying serving the Lord and my intimate relationship with the Him.

In July 2008, I received a letter from the Breast Screening Clinic of Luton & Dunstable Hospital inviting me to come for routine screening. This is a service rendered to every woman above the age of fifty years in the United Kingdom. Before then, I was experiencing a weird feeling in my right breast. I had thought of going to report this feeling to my GP. I was grateful to God for the invitation because I saw it as the best time to check out whatever I was experiencing or feeling.

About 25 June 2008, I went to the Clinic for the screening. I was told to expect the result in the post within 2-3 weeks. To my greatest surprise, I received another letter just after one week of the screening, inviting me to come back for a re-screen. This second letter stated, “Most breast screening is repeated. It could be normal but if you need support, you can come with a friend.” With this suggestion of coming with a friend for support, I was suspicious it may not be good news for me. However, I went alone. I went through another extensive agonizing mammogram plus ultrasound and needle biopsy of the right breast. After the whole procedure, I was told to all after one week to know the result. Honestly, I was afraid and suspicious as to what the result would be; hence I refused to call them on the said date (15 July 2008). In the morning of 17 July 2008 I was on duty when I was phoned from the Breast Screening Clinic. The caller requested if she could come to tell me the result herself. I accepted her suggestion. Within a short time, she came and broke the news that cancer was found in my right breast. The news was so devastating that I broke down right there and start sobbing.

I was sent home from work in the company of a supporting colleague. All alone at home, I wept until I fell asleep. In my sleep, I saw two men whose faces were identical with my late father’s face standing opposite each other as if they were watching over me from both sides of the bed. With my state of mind, I interpreted the picture I saw as the spirits of death coming to cut short my life. The good news here is that I was no afraid of death. I found myself addressing these beings in prayer as follows: “You spirit of death, wait till after I have concluded my mother’s funeral, then I will be ready for you.”

I said this because my mother had passed on just a month before I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The decision to have a mastectomy was not an easy one. Many thought s flew through my mind following the diagnosis. I remembered a Christian brother who passed on to glory after diagnosis and treatment for cancer, and another sister who is battling under treatment for another form of cancer. With these thoughts, I kept praying for God’s mercy and deliverance so that we will not all die and give opportunity for people to ask, “Where is their God?” However, with the support of my Christian friends and the Church, I boldly took the decision. The surgery was done on 31 July 2008. After the surgery, I was given another week before I could know the result of the laboratory analysis done on the breast tissues that were removed.

God’s Word in Isaiah 43:2 was very real to me: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.” One day after the surgery, while I was still in hospital, God spoke to me in the rest room and said, “Remember that when Herod killed James, the Jews were very happy, and they stretched forth their hands to kill Peter also. But while Peter was in prison, the angel of the Lord came and his chains were broken, and the angel told him to follow him. The first and second iron gates opened on their own accord, and while on the street, the angel left him. Peter went to the place where the women were praying ……..” To me, this indicated that my illness was not unto death, which also was good news.

 Four days after the surgery, I was praying with a Christian sister who came to spend the night with me, and God interpreted the picture of the two men I saw two weeks earlier, who had faces that were identical with my father’s face. God said, “You called the picture you saw the spirit of death; it is your heavenly father who bore the face of you late father so that you will not be scared.” That gave me a great consolation.

With the confidence that God was with me and in control of all that was happening, I went to see the surgeon on my first post surgery appointment. There the surgeon said, “The good news for you is that the cancer has not spread to anywhere, it was still localized in the duct, tissue edges are free, so you don’t need any follow-up treatment.” What a piece of good news! And true, I am now a cancer survivor, enjoying good health, serving the Lord, doing my job, and going about my normal life. “God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1 New King James). To God be all the glory!

Sister Blessing Gbirigbe