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Beth’s Amazing Journey #1

by ‎01-15-2016 02:58 PM - edited ‎01-25-2016 03:00 PM

My life changed drastically on October 19, 2012 when one of my wife’s doctors thought she might have cancer. I remember driving home from the Q that day trying to make sense of it all. I spent the next several hours just holding Beth and assuring her everything would be ok. The weekend was extremely difficult as we awaited the results of the biopsy. 

 

The following Wednesday we got the news confirming it was malignant.  And so we began a three- year battle against stage IV endometrial cancer. Immediately after receiving the news, we began consulting friends, family and medical professionals to decide our course of action. We ended up meeting with the head of the gynecological oncology department at the University of Penn Hospital in Philadelphia. That day he scheduled surgery for November 14, 2012. I will never forget that day.

 

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Beth, our daughter, Kirstyn and I were on the road for UPenn Hospital before 6a.m. We felt like we were all “prayed up” for the surgery and were confident the surgeon would get the cancer by performing a total hysterectomy. Kirstyn and I kissed Beth and told her how much we loved her as they rolled her away on the gurney. We then retreated to a large waiting room that reminded me of a terminal at a large airport. 

 

There were computer screens on the walls that tracked the progress of each patient who was having surgery. After several hours of waiting and praying we received a call from the surgeon. I picked up the phone and remember him saying, “we did the hysterectomy but, unfortunately, the cancer is more aggressive than we thought and it got outside of her uterus and spread throughout her abdomen.“ It was like a bomb went off inside my brain.  Kirstyn, who is a nurse, grabbed the phone and started asking a series of medical questions. She was told the chemotherapy was our only option, because the tumors were covering many vital organs. After she hung up we went into a back room and held each other and cried for a long time. After calling all of our relatives to break the news and ask for prayer, we went up to be with Beth. They brought her into her room and we hoped she wouldn’t ask how it went, but she eventually looked at me and asked if they got it all.  I told her there was still some in her tummy so she would need to do some chemotherapy.  She said ok and fell asleep. 

 

I crawled into bed around 11p.m. that night and set my alarm for 3a.m. to make the hour long drive to the hospital. I wanted to be with Beth when the doctor came by on his rounds the next morning and I was told he made them early. I remember I cried and prayed the entire way. Beth was surprised to see me sitting next to her bed when she woke up around 5:30a.m. We didn’t know what we were going to face in the days, weeks, months and years to come but we knew we were going to face it together. We also knew he Lord would be with us.

 

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As a small boy, almost 50 years earlier, I was walking through the woods on the way to my cabin at a church camp in Bridgman, Michigan during the summer of 1963. It was a clear night and the stars were shining brightly. I looked up into the sky and told God I knew He was there and I would follow Him for the rest of my life. I knew He heard me and I knew He loved me. Life was wonderful and pretty simple back then. However, I have never doubted what I felt that night and I have always known He has walked by my side.  That childlike faith sustained me through the many storms my family was about to face during the next three years.

 

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You will read about the many miracles I witnessed that let me know God was with us in the midst of all of these storms. In the weeks ahead, I will write about this difficult but amazing journey. I will try to publish a new blog every Friday since that is the day Beth left this earth for heaven. 

 

I want to share with you the lessons I learned and the many miracles I saw along the way in hopes that it will help you when you face life’s difficult times. I know many of you reading this have walked through the valley of the shadow of death with a loved one. Maybe something I say will help you. 

 

I miss Beth every single minute of every day. Not one day has gone by during the last two and a half months that I haven’t cried. While I know where she is, I sure wish they had visiting hours in heaven. Thank God I know I will see Beth again one day.

 

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So many of you have reached out to me with messages of love, hope and encouragement. From the bottom of my heart I thank you. The QVC family is large and mighty and I am so grateful for all of you. 

 

God bless,

Dan