My wife’s journey toward health

This letter is first to all who have made Marilyn’s Journey a much sweeter one. Every note sent with your share was very much valued and appreciated. We especially want to thank you, who took the time to write from the heart your prayers, Scriptures, and even some of your own journey. We have experienced the Body of Christ in a way that only happens in dire circumstances.

My wife, Marilyn, and I have pastored Trinity Church in Beaumont, Texas, for 32 years. In our marriage of 36 years we have been blessed with excellent health. Until this event, none of our family has ever been in the hospital except to have babies. As you can see, this large need was, for us, unprecedented. We were taken completely by surprise.

Marilyn’s symptoms were minor, mostly involving her left ear and some numbness on that side of her face, which was attributed to “probably, something like Bell’s palsy.” We were not prepared for the diagnosis and prognosis when it finally came—a malignant tumor near her brain. The doctors at MD Anderson gave her prognosis as, “Five years with treatment, Terminal.”

As I stated before, we have walked in health for all of our married life. We have done so by standing on the finished work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Early on, we received revelation of our healing on His cross when He became our sin and sickness (Isaiah 53 4-5).

I have never been more proud of my wife, Marilyn. She took the deadly news with a perfect calm and peace. No tears, no depression, no emotional breakdown, much to the chagrin, it seemed, of the doctors. On our way home she said what I was also thinking, ‘’This doesn’t change the report of the Lord.” Marilyn began to seek the Lord about this report of man. His report, ‘’You will have to walk this one out, daughter.”

Marilyn researched this new name that had come into our lives: adenoid cystic carcinoma. What she discovered was that it is so rare that one doctor called it an “orphan disease.” Her prayer and study led her to seek proton radiation therapy. MD Anderson offered this and is only 90 miles from our home.

Never having been in the hospital, except to have children or to visit sick folks, we did not know what to expect. At MD Anderson she was examined by more than a dozen doctors and finally given the prognosis. Their prescribed treatment included chemotherapy with Cisplatin, a 50-year-old drug. None of the doctors had ever treated a tumor like the one they found in Marilyn, but they were sure that they knew how to treat it. What they did not expect was that there was a higher Physician directing her treatment than themselves.

The Holy Spirit was adamant regarding the use of chemotherapy—don’t. They refused to treat her with proton therapy alone. We left. Our journey, hers actually (I was just the driver), took us to the Burzynski Clinic in Houston, which had a wonderful track record with tumors in the brain area. An MRI taken after a month of treatment was incorrectly read and resulted in an emergency call instructing Marilyn to go immediately to the MD Anderson Emergency Room as the tumor was bleeding into her brain.

When the call came (they tracked us down), we were at our doctor’s clinic where she had been chelating the MRI dye out of Marilyn’s system. After asking a few questions, our doctor advised us not to panic but to go home and sleep on it. We took his advice, went home, and spent an extended time in prayer.

The faithful Spirit of God gave us no warnings or emergency instructions except to lead us to call Oasis of Hope, another cancer treatment center that is “not approved” by our American medical system.

Oasis of Hope has been successfully treating cancer patients for more than 50 years in Tijuana, Mexico. I remember hearing of them first when they treated Steve McQueen in the 70s. They immediately accepted Marilyn and we were in the clinic the next day. Oasis of Hope became our ER.

Dr. Contreras evaluated Marilyn’s MRI’s and other records while starting her on their regimen of alternative treatment which includes vitamin B7, also known as laetrile.

Dr. Contreras, whose training is oncology strongly recommended that Marilyn consider proton radiation therapy as it was imperative that the tumor be diminished due to the danger of its location near the brain stem. We explained that that was what she desired in the beginning and related our MD Anderson experience. He informed us that there was another hospital offering this treatment only 90 miles away, in California.

Dr. Contreras referred her and we travelled to Loma Linda and met with Dr. Laredo, the head of the unit. Without any further testing she explained to Marilyn thatproton radiation was her very best option and that chemotherapy was definitely not an option, but would have been very destructive. Praise the Lord for the Holy Spirit.

To condense this account, suffice to say that Marilyn took 40 treatments at the Loma Linda University Medical Center proton radiation unit and finished in late July.

A word about Loma Linda. This is a Christian hospital, truly it is. Located on the campus of Loma Linda University which is a Seventh-day Adventist school. Their mission is healing. The main hallway is decorated with the great I AM Scriptures from John’s gospel. I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life, I AM the Bread, etc. The campus is decorated with beautiful statues depicting Jesus’ ministry. The city of Loma Linda’s motto is “Serving man.”

I am still so very impressed by our experience there. The care and concern for the individual was evident everywhere. MD Anderson, in my opinion, is about money. Loma Linda is about healing. MD Anderson is a machine more than a hospital. My desire is not to criticize but to contrast the difference we discovered at this wonderful city and hospital.

I did not mention that proton radiation therapy was discovered by a Christian doctor at Loma Linda University named John Statler. He was a physicist and PhD in the 1970s when he sensed the Lord’s leading to go to medical school. On completion he decided to specialize in radiation and went back to school again. He is since credited with making X-ray much safer and the development and implementation of proton radiation. The proton radiation unit at Loma Linda was the first in the nation. Today there are 12.

This type of radiation is so much safer and more accurate than conventional radiation. That was Marilyn’s only option. They have a 90 percent success rate in treating prostate cancer. Ninety percent! (Allow me to refer you to a very short video explaining the difference.)

At Dr. Laredo’s instruction we waited 90 days following treatment before having an MRI done to see the results of the treatment. The MRI has shown significant shrinkage of the tumor. Dr. Laredo explained that we will see the results of the treatment for up to one year, as it has a cumulative effect.

When Marilyn began this journey she was experiencing a loss of hearing in her left ear, numbness and other sensations on the left side of her face, weight loss, energy loss, double vision, and vertigo. Today, Marilyn has returned to a normal life, driving, teaching in church, and doing all that she did before. Some symptoms still remain, but we expect those to continue to disappear as well. The ear, nose, and throat specialist has remarked that her hearing has not grown worse, but (to his absolute amazement), improved.

All my praise and wonder and worship goes to our Lord and King, Jesus for leading us by His Spirit to a secret little place, a hiding place, a pavilion of healing, in southern California. His leadership kept us from giving in to the will of man and protected her from the debilitating and destructive treatment of chemotherapy.

The Lord is the Healer, not man. It takes more faith to put your trust in doctors than in the Lord Jesus to heal. Man is prone to failure. Doctors are just “practicing.” Jesus heals. Pray and follow His leadership and be healed and healthy and whole.