Healing is the Children's Bread Round One The Giant Tumor in my Chest

I have been very negligent in publishing this information. It is my hope that someone’s faith to trust God for healing will be escalated. It is also my desire that the saints of God will know that Jesus uses many resources to bless us. I often hear people negate the importance of medical science, but I would like to thank the great physician and the physicians he used to help me. The Lord was the first practicing surgeon and anesthesiologist. He put Adam to sleep and removed a rib to make a woman. Jesus extended my life

And I owe him a great deal of gratitude for giving me a miracle. Sixteen years have passed since I had my surgery. Since that time I have had immense struggles and challenges, but that does not lessen the testimony of the true and living God, who is able to do all things? This is my story and I hope that it blesses you.

In December of 1999 I began to experience a severe shortness of breath. It was unusual because I was not very overweight .I had lost a great deal of weight within a short period of time. I did not think that the weight loss was strange because I was going through a very depressing time in my life and was not eating much. I was invited to preach at a Christmas luncheon. I accepted the invitation. That Saturday in December 1999 as I began to minister I felt such heaviness in my chest. I could only speak for about 15 minutes. I asked my cousin to take me to the clinic. I thought maybe I had some type of flu or cold.

When I arrived at the clinic, I told the doctors my symptoms. The doctor ordered a series of tests along with a chest x-ray. The chest x-ray revealed that I had 60% pleural effusion of my right lung. The doctor told me to go to the hospital immediately. I went to the hospital as ordered. When the physician at the hospital saw my x-ray, he asked me how did I get to the hospital. He thought that I had arrived in an ambulance. I told him that I had walked in. I did not realize the severity of the condition. I was admitted to the hospital. After many tests and scans the doctors determined that I had a tumor in my chest. They told me that it was huge and that it could be malignant. They wanted me to have surgery right way, but I would not do it because I was afraid and I also believed that the Lord would shrink it.

The type of surgery I required was called cardiothoracic. They wanted to do a surgical biopsy and bronchoscope to determine what type of growth it was. They told me that if I had the surgery that my recovery would be extensive and that I might lose my lung all or half of it. I did not believe that this was happening to me. I received my initial diagnosis in January of 2000. I was approaching my 49^th birthday. I felt tormented because my mother had died at the age of 48 years old from a coronary aneurysm. The devil talked to me all of the time. I couldn’t walk 2 feet without stopping to catch my breath. I felt weak all of the time. I didn’t want to die then. I wanted to see my daughters complete their degrees, get married and have children. I did not want to miss the things that my mother missed by dying young.

It was difficult for me to believe that this was true. The doctors were so frantic. I was rejecting their diagnosis and their help. I was in denial. I asked my Pastor to pray for me. He told me that he was going to ask the Lord if I needed this operation. I told him "you tell me what He says". He told me am going to ask Him to tell you what to do." I went to several physicians and the answer was the same. We don’t really know what this is and we must do this surgery.

I felt so lonely during this time. My daughters were in college and had just been through the ordeal of my losing a home that my father had left us. My father had died 3 years earlier from prostate cancer. My family was back on the East Coast and my cousin who I lived with was going through her own personal crisis. The enemy bombarded my mind with thoughts of death. At times I was paralyzed with the possibility of being in intensive care, and being on a respirator. I did not even want my daughters to know that I was ill. I did not want their grades to drop. My youngest daughter was in her last semester of college. I did not want them to worry. I called every prayer line, requested the prayers of the saints and prayed myself that this thing would shrink up. It kept growing.

I didn’t have a job. Thank God that I was able to get state subsidized Medical care. My hospital bills were expensive over $200,000 total. The doctors had drained the fluid off of my lung, but it kept coming back. Nothing was going as I planned, what was wrong with my supernatural faith? I was struggling with this trial. Where was the God who had always come through for me?

In April of 2000 I decided to have the surgery. Biopsy after biopsy and test after test confirmed that the tumor was still growing. I had seen a scan of the tumor. It was rapidly growing and pushing my heart more to the left side of my body. The doctors told me that if it weren’t removed that it would strangle my heart. I finally made the decision to have the surgery. I told the doctor that I would have the surgery after I attended my daughter’s graduation from college.

I flew home for her graduation the first week in May; the doctors scheduled the surgery for Friday, June 2, 2000. Some of my friends and family wanted me to stay on the East Coast but everything had been arranged. I was going to trust the lord to be with me in the operating room. I returned to Los Angeles early Thursday morning, June the 1, 2000 and checked in to the surgical ward. That night the doctors came in for the pre op consult. They told me that I would be taken into surgery at 12:00 noon on the 2^nd. They told me that I would be in intensive care for 3 to 4 days and that I would be on a respirator me with my breathing. The surgeon Dr. Azziz told me that the tumor was massive. It covered my whole right lung.

The tumor was attached to the pericardium of my heart and my diaphragm. They told me that the biopsy revealed that the tumor had spindle cells, which was not good. They called the tumor a mediastinal tumor.

He told me that he might have to take out my entire lung or half of it. I told him that the saints were praying and that I needed my lung to preach and praise the Lord. I told him that I believed that he would get the tumor out without me losing the lung. There was a resident doctor who accompanied him. When he heard me say this, his eyebrow shot up. When they left the room. I told the woman who was visiting me that I was going to speak to that tumor. I did and I told it that when the doctors came to get it that it had to go all of it.

The next day the doctor’s came to get me at 5:00 am in order to prep me for surgery. I was the first on the schedule. They had changed the time. They rolled me into the operating room and began to give me the anesthesia. I heard them playing music and then I was out. When I woke up the nurse was rolling my bed into recovery. There were so many tubes and monitors. I was very groggy initially, but the nurse was so excited. She said "we got the entire tumor, you didn’t lose your lung and you don’t have to be on a respirator." As they rolled me into the hall I saw my cousin who is an intensive care nurse and another saint who had supported me and prayed for me during this ordeal. I began to talk to them. My voice was strong and I was I was now very alert. They were amazed. It was 1 o’clock and I had only been out of surgery for an hour. I was taken to cardiac intensive care. My friends were astounded at my progress. The nurse made them leave so that I would not ire myself out. The lung doctor came to see me. He told me how they removed the huge tumor. It weighed 1800 grams approximately 5 lb. It was the size of a six-month fetus. The resident told me that it looked like a shriveled up prune and it was as big as my lung. They told me that my lung started breathing on its own. They were all in awe at the power of God. I was able to eat a full tray of solid food several hours after the surgery. I had chicken, greens, corn, and salad, milk bread and dessert. The staff couldn’t believe it because most people are nauseated after this type of operation. I was hooked up to two chest tubes, a catheter, a heart monitor, an IV, blood pressure, and oxygen monitors. I was able to wash myself up the next morning and sit up for about 10 hours. My daughter laughed when she saw me with makeup, jewelry and a wig on. She called everyone back home and told him or her that I was doing fine.

All of the doctors came to see me. One of them asked me to pray for him because he knew he had witnessed the power of the living God in action. After three days, the doctors took out all of the tubes and monitors and moved me to a regular room. My recovery was so miraculous; that the nurse asked me why I was in the hospital. I had to lift up my robe and show her the huge incision that extended from the side of my right breast to the middle of my back. When I showed it to her she remarked, "you look better than me1’

The doctors wanted to release me from the hospital 5 days after the surgery, but I asked to stay a week to gain a little more strength in order to be able to fly home unaccompanied. I was released on Friday, June 9, 2000. I walked out of the hospital. They didn’t give a wheel chair. Two weeks after my release. I was flying home, the Holy Ghost and me. I returned six weeks later to have my bandage removes and my scars analyzed. To my surprise where the chest tubes were inserted the scars looked like two little crosses. The Physicians told me later that they had to remove one of my ribs and I have a scar on my back. I believe that the Lord guided the hands of the surgeons. I have a stripe, the crosses and remember Adam lost a rib in the first surgery. 

Trials haven’t stopped coming since I had the surgery, as a matter of fact they seemed to intensify, but one thing I can tell you, Jesus is the Lord of Resurrection power. He can speak life to anything. When I went back for one of my check ups, the receptionist told me that they were so concerned for me. That I was in a life or death situation. I am so glad that the Lord sent the Word to me through a good friend, Evelyn Staten. She told me you would live and not die and declare the Word of the Lord. There is so much more to this testimony, so many people to thank for standing with me, I hope that they are not offended by me not mentioning their names. I won’t take credit for having great faith, because it was like mustard seed this time. The surgeons were a blessing because God used them, but there is only one healer. I thank Him for His compassion. He heard the cry of a servant who wanted to live and He granted my request. Thank you Jesus!

Lord you gave me my life back!