Chad Cancer Update
November 18, 2021
Treatment Details:
In addition to dietary adjustments, continued exercise, detox, prayer and meditation and receiving the love and support of others, all of which are part of the healing plan I believe God has led me to, on Monday, November 15, I began 5 ½ weeks of radiation and chemotherapy pills. I will take the chemo pills twice a day every day that I receive radiation. I receive radiation Monday through Friday at St. Elizabeth Hospital at 2 PM, with Wednesdays being followed up by lab work and a doctor visit. My care team agrees that I should be able to drive myself to and from treatment and they encourage me to stay as active as possible, which I plan to do. My goal is to keep taking my morning prayer walk everyday and to keep showing up for ministry daily. If I have to take a break, I will, but I believe it is in my best interest to carry on as best I can so that my body, mind and spirit knows that I have a purpose to fulfill so I must keep going!
If all goes as anticipated my last treatment will be on December 23 (Merry Christmas to me! 😊). The goal of this treatment will be to shrink the tumor so that it retreats from the interior walls of my rectum allowing for the removal of the tumor with no permanent negative side effects. The surgery will take place 4-6 weeks after treatment is complete (no date has been set at this time). This will be the last update I plan to share until I have a surgery date.
Thank you:
I want you to know that the way you have prayed for and demonstrated love toward me and my family is deeply valued. I truly believe that your acts of love are being used by God to help me stay focused on the good and is even contributing to my healing. Words really cannot convey adequately my appreciation for your prayers, cards, text messages, phone calls, emails, showing up for Stroll’n for the Colon to raise money for those in need, gifts to help us with gas and expenses and even some gifts that simply made me laugh (i.e., a plush pillow shaped like a crab. Those crabs just keep coming back to haunt me. This is an inside CrossPoint joke 😊)! I especially and publicly want to thank my wife, Kimberly. She is going the extra mile to help me figure out this new way of eating and walking with me every step of the way.
Personal Journey
I have to say that while I would not want anyone to be diagnosed with cancer and while I would have preferred not to be diagnosed with it myself, I can honestly say that I am grateful for what God is doing in me and revealing to me through this struggle with my unwelcomed rectum guest, Teddy (I love that I can talk about my rectum and anus so freely now…insert a cringe from Kimberly and my kids here). If you are interested, please feel free to keep reading and if not, that is OK as well because I feel the real value in the following is for me to put to print some of what he is showing me so that I will not forget.
Thank you for listening. I hope this gives you a picture of where things are medically and where I am with it all at this time. Our Guardians voted this week to officially begin Austin Berry’s Role as acting staff lead since, I will be out a few hours every day. And to be honest, I need Austin’s help right now and appreciate his willingness to take on extra responsibilities. If you need to contact him he can be reached at aberry@crosspointonline.net or 606-375-6732.
In addition to dietary adjustments, continued exercise, detox, prayer and meditation and receiving the love and support of others, all of which are part of the healing plan I believe God has led me to, on Monday, November 15, I began 5 ½ weeks of radiation and chemotherapy pills. I will take the chemo pills twice a day every day that I receive radiation. I receive radiation Monday through Friday at St. Elizabeth Hospital at 2 PM, with Wednesdays being followed up by lab work and a doctor visit. My care team agrees that I should be able to drive myself to and from treatment and they encourage me to stay as active as possible, which I plan to do. My goal is to keep taking my morning prayer walk everyday and to keep showing up for ministry daily. If I have to take a break, I will, but I believe it is in my best interest to carry on as best I can so that my body, mind and spirit knows that I have a purpose to fulfill so I must keep going!
If all goes as anticipated my last treatment will be on December 23 (Merry Christmas to me! 😊). The goal of this treatment will be to shrink the tumor so that it retreats from the interior walls of my rectum allowing for the removal of the tumor with no permanent negative side effects. The surgery will take place 4-6 weeks after treatment is complete (no date has been set at this time). This will be the last update I plan to share until I have a surgery date.
Thank you:
I want you to know that the way you have prayed for and demonstrated love toward me and my family is deeply valued. I truly believe that your acts of love are being used by God to help me stay focused on the good and is even contributing to my healing. Words really cannot convey adequately my appreciation for your prayers, cards, text messages, phone calls, emails, showing up for Stroll’n for the Colon to raise money for those in need, gifts to help us with gas and expenses and even some gifts that simply made me laugh (i.e., a plush pillow shaped like a crab. Those crabs just keep coming back to haunt me. This is an inside CrossPoint joke 😊)! I especially and publicly want to thank my wife, Kimberly. She is going the extra mile to help me figure out this new way of eating and walking with me every step of the way.
Personal Journey
I have to say that while I would not want anyone to be diagnosed with cancer and while I would have preferred not to be diagnosed with it myself, I can honestly say that I am grateful for what God is doing in me and revealing to me through this struggle with my unwelcomed rectum guest, Teddy (I love that I can talk about my rectum and anus so freely now…insert a cringe from Kimberly and my kids here). If you are interested, please feel free to keep reading and if not, that is OK as well because I feel the real value in the following is for me to put to print some of what he is showing me so that I will not forget.
- He is growing me in receiving love. I have always struggled to love myself and it is difficult to truly fulfill the Great Commandment with that struggle. Loving God and loving your neighbor assumes you have received God’s love to the point that you love yourself. This is something he has been growing me in for some time, but this situation has allowed me to open up the place of resistance in me more fully to him so he can deal with it once and for all.
- And that has required me to be more open to feeling emotions that I got really good at suppressing over the years. I learned early on in life and then it was confirmed in ministry how to shut down my feelings, which was helpful at times. However, when we depend on something other than God to protect us, that which we have used for protection can come to be the very thing that harms us. It not only kept me from feeling negative feelings, but kept me from feeling good feelings. God is using this situation to depend on him rather than my own ability to emotionally shut down to deal with what comes my way and it is allowing me to feel more deeply for Jesus, Kimberly, Anna, Seth and you.
- And this situation has confirmed that it really is possible to do what I have preached and said I believed for years. It is possible in the face of something like cancer to put your trust not in it and what might be the worst-case scenario but rather in God’s goodness. Because of this I can press ahead with his plans for my life, family and church. I can also embrace that the Bible says a “Cheerful heart is good medicine.” Yes, this situation itself sucks, but I do not have to lay down and make it suck more by focusing on how much it sucks. Instead, I can, through Christ, focus on how good God is and how he works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So, in the moments when I feel down, I acknowledge it to him and look forward to the good he has promised.
- Finally, this situation has confirmed that my calling as a pastor is to rally people to fight for the underdog even when it is not popular with Church people. Pastor Mike Slaughter said it years ago and it still resonates with me, “I am called to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” For years, I have felt the need to apologize for or defend that calling, but cancer quickly helps you realize that life is too short to do anything but embrace your calling because you only have so much time to live it. May God help me to live it like I never have before and let the chips fall where they may! CrossPoint thank you for you for giving me permission to do so. I love you and thank God for you.
Thank you for listening. I hope this gives you a picture of where things are medically and where I am with it all at this time. Our Guardians voted this week to officially begin Austin Berry’s Role as acting staff lead since, I will be out a few hours every day. And to be honest, I need Austin’s help right now and appreciate his willingness to take on extra responsibilities. If you need to contact him he can be reached at aberry@crosspointonline.net or 606-375-6732.