A personal word about a major prayer need:
Yesterday I wrote a somewhat general piece on suffering, cancer, and Christian hope. Given how so many people are impacted by cancer, this is something we all can relate to. In the piece I sought to bring some biblical and theological truths to bear on this dreaded reality: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/03/05/suffering-cancer-god-and-hope/
In it I promised that a much more personal article would soon follow. Well, here it is. And can I say that I feel a little bit funny about using my website for this sort of thing. But I guess I can use my own site for various purposes! Apologies if this seems to be a bit out of place here.
But desperate times call for desperate measures I guess. So thanks for putting up with me here. If I have seemed a bit moody or morose or despondent of late – even more than usual! – it is because of some personal issues. As I often say, the sad state of the world, and the sad state of the church, weigh heavily on me daily. That is a burden that never leaves me.
I often think of the Apostle Paul who lists all of his many hardships, sufferings, persecutions, and trials, only to conclude with these words: “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28).
But let me get to the point, sorry! Here is my specific prayer request. If you can join me in prayer as we ask our heavenly Father for his grace, that would be so much appreciated thanks:
Important! Prayers are VERY much needed thanks. My wife just learned she has quite aggressive and spreading breast cancer. Five months of chemo and then surgery begin immediately. Four specific prayer requests:
-Obviously pray for God’s healing hand on her life, and grace to the whole family.
-A new immunotherapy treatment found to be fairly successful in the US is now available here. It would supplement the chemo. But so far there is no subsidy for it, so we would have to pay for it out of our own pockets. It is massively expensive! Chemo starts on Wednesday and we need to decide before then if we add this supplementary treatment. So please pray for wisdom here: do we agree to it and trust God to somehow come up with all the funds, or do we just stick to the standard chemo?
-I have cancelled all my speaking engagements for the foreseeable future. Pray that those who invited me can find alternative speakers.
-I am still unjabbed however. Pray that I can be with my wife as she does all her various stints in hospital. (So far over the past two years I have been able to get into clinics and hospitals without any problems.)
Thank you so much for your prayers.
And yes I know: millions of people the world over are going through this very thing right now as well. So there is nothing unique about our situation. But when it hits so close to home you sure do feel it a whole lot more. Many thanks for putting up with me here on this rather different sort of article.
Your friendship and support and prayers are so very much cherished. You may never know how much they mean to us, and just how effective they are. Bless you! And given that nearly 48 hours ago I posted the above prayer request on my Facebook page, and I have now had around 350 reactions to it (out of some 900 FB friends) and around 250 comments posted underneath it, that is an example of this sort of support in action. Thanks so much for all that encouragement, support and prayer.
Immunotherapy
There are several main types of breast cancer. My wife has triple-negative breast cancer. One website puts it this way:
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for about 10-15% of all breast cancers. . . . Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered an aggressive cancer because it grows quickly, is more likely to have spread at the time it’s found, and is more likely to come back after treatment than other types of breast cancer. The outlook is generally not as good as it is for other types of breast cancer. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/about/types-of-breast-cancer/triple-negative.html
The special treatment that I mentioned above does sound promising. One site says this about it:
Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that helps your immune system fight cancer. The immune system helps your body fight infections and other diseases. It is made up of white blood cells and organs and tissues of the lymph system. Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy. Biological therapy is a type of treatment that uses substances made from living organisms to treat cancer. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/immunotherapy
Another site says this:
While chemotherapy works to kill cancer cells, immunotherapy aims to boost the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Checkpoint immunotherapy is currently available in Australia for some types of cancer. . . . There are different kinds of immunotherapy and they work in different ways. Immunotherapy can boost the immune system to work better against cancer or remove barriers to the immune system attacking the cancer. https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/treatment/immunotherapy
And one gal kindly sent this message to me on the social media:
Hi Bill, I’m so sorry to hear about your wife. I have walked down that shocking path, it’s very painful and difficult. I have heard great things about immunotherapy, really great things. I’ll be praying for you both to get through this well. May God carry you both. If you wanted an ear, I’d be happy to listen at any time.
Right now there is no government subsidy for this treatment of breast cancer in Australia. For those who are wondering, our oncologist said the ‘discounted’ course of immunotherapy treatment comes to $60,000 for the duration of the initial treatment! Someone has offered to do a crowd funding page for us to help cover these costs. We may well make use of such a site. If we do, we will let you know ASAP.
We all suffer
Everyone suffers in one way or another. Cancer is one major example of this. I just looked this up: “Cancer is a leading cause of death in Australia – almost 50,000 deaths from cancer were estimated for 2019.” Of course that is not telling us the whole story: the biggest killer in Australia and the world is abortion. But still this is a major cause of death.
And since this is a rather personal piece, some of you might know that I too have cancer – but a much smaller and less aggressive prostate cancer which has already been treated, and the medicos continue to monitor. So I guess I would appreciate your prayers for my own health as well!
And other types of suffering abound. Those who are cricket fans are mourning the recent loss of Shane Warne right now. We of course still have the terrible Russian invasion of Ukraine continuing, including the targeting of Europe’s largest nuclear plant. Floods continue to take lives and property in Australia. Horrific persecution of Christians in China, North Korea and so many other places continues as we speak.
In light of such horrible suffering all around the globe, our situation seems to be not as important. But all suffering is important, and God cares about suffering immensely. Indeed, he knows all about suffering. Our Lord is even referred to as the “suffering servant” (Isaiah 53).
So we all suffer, and we all have to learn how to cope with suffering. Undoubtedly in the days ahead I will write a whole lot more on this journey that my wife and I are taking together. Just one brief anecdote that can be shared so far:
As we were leaving the oncologist late Friday afternoon having just learned the full extent of the rather bad news, I put my arm around my wife and said, “Well, look on the bright side.” “Yeah?” she asked. I said we only had to pay $3.50 for our parking ticket! A bit of humour is one element of how we get through these difficult times.
In sum, we would greatly appreciate your prayers. And please pray for others as well who are suffering. As we read in 1 Samuel 12:23: “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you.”
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