Tribute: Fighting cancer

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10 

Suffered, she did. Into Christ Glory we pray.

She showed up at the gate of our house. Her daughter desperate. They unveiled the hole in her face and I knew, sick as it sounds, this will be our "perfect palliative care case."  The family, bless them, had done all that they could. Utilized the entire health care system that was available to them. And, within that, they had done the best with the resources they had. But, when they use the word cancer here in Mozambique, that usually means the health care system is done. They have little knowledge and more than anything, no resources. So then, the family, in their desperate desire to do something, had hired a community nurse. This typically means a lot money was spent and things may have been ingested, injected and infected with any number of harmful substances. Someone got rich and some one's still dying.

We had the pleasure of visiting her for many months. Sometimes she just made us laugh-- her understanding of cancer was zip, nada, NONE. And, her educational background to give her some understanding, 3rd grade at best? She believed there was a fish bone or chicken foot growing under her skin and, perhaps the witch doctor could bite it out. (Yes, you read that right, that's a belief and people pay to have it done. Black magic does exist.) Thankfully she never tried this and, to the best of our ability we kept her clean, comfortable and encouraged.  It was a difficult situation (at best), a nightmare in the end. She prayed and begged for months for Jesus to take her home because she was just NOT getting better. With her son and his multiple wives caring for her, there was grace enough for each day and you have to be amazingly strong to live with cancer. Finally the "God of all grace" called her into "glory in Christ" and she was "restored, confirmed, strengthened and established." In the end, it ends well. What a  joy to bring this hope.