Slaying the Cancer Giant with the Word of God: An Autobiography of a Cancer Survivor

The Autobiography Begins: Unexpected Life Challenges

There comes a time in every individual’s life when an unexpected challenge is placed in his or her path. During these times, it really feels like someone deliberately pitched you a curve ball. For the purpose of this book, I will refer to these times as curve-of-life experiences. If you know anything about baseball, you know that a fast curve ball can throw a batter off balance. Likewise, a curve-of-life experience causes you to swerve off the ordinary progression of life. At these crucial times, you find out who you are as a person, and your faith in God is tested. If you live long enough, you will have such an experience in your life journey. To live your life believing that every day will be free of problems and disappointments is to live life unrealistically. My faith and trust in God, my internal will, and my personal stamina were all tested. Yes, life threw me one of those unexpected curves. It was at a time when I was making good health decisions. I was exercising four to five times a week, and I was eating healthy foods. I felt better than I had for years, and I was very active.

I had set a goal to complete the Mother’s Day breast cancer 3K walk in downtown Chicago. I had been walking five miles a day and felt that I was in tip-top condition. I knew I could do it! The idea to participate in the event had entered my mind many times before. However, I had never made any effort to register and participate. This time I was determined to follow through, and I did. I succeeded in getting the support of numerous financial donors. Everything was set, and I was ready to go! Mentally, I was happy. Emotionally, I was strong. Spiritually, I was alive. You could really say the world was my oyster!

The Breast Cancer Y-Me Mother’s Day Walk

The Y-Me 3K Breast Cancer Walk is held in May on Mother’s Day. It was a commitment I felt would really honor my mother, who died of breast cancer in January 1986. I felt prepared for the task that day. I walked with my daughter-in-law and her family, so it made the day a very pleasant one filled with laughter and fun. Because there was such a large crowd, numbering in the thousands, it took the five of us approximately an hour and fifty minutes to complete the walk. And then we went our separate ways.

After the walk, I felt a sense of accomplishment, knowing I had finally put my words into action. I had no doubt that this was the time that God wanted me to do this. When I reflect back over the years that had passed, when I was unable or unwilling to make the effort, I can’t really say why it took me so long. I believe God already knew that the year 2006 was the perfect year to stop the procrastination! God always has that perfect timing that lets us know He knows what He is doing and why. In the life of a Christian, it’s called the fullness of time. You’ll soon see why this was the fullness of time for me! It was time for the talk to end with action.

As life and time would have it, events following that wonderful day quickly turned for the worse. My diagnosis of breast cancer came just two weeks after I had completed the walk. I cannot describe the shock of this devastating news. This news would begin my nine-month journey and bout with an awful, life-threatening, and debilitating disease. Yes, I was thrown this unexpected curve-of-life experience! You talk about fate; what a bummer! It was through God’s grace that I was able to endure a very difficult, debilitating, and overwhelming time in my life. With that said, I began to watch for and recognize the hand of God in this journey. I clung to the Bible’s truths of His faithfulness and loving kindness throughout the entire experience. It was these truths that helped me to get through the whole ordeal.

A Telephone Conversation that Changed My Life

The unsettling words I was to receive that would change my life came by way of the telephone. I heard the doctor on the phone saying, Mrs. Fields, you have a malignant breast tumor. You have breast cancer. To my own amazement, I received the words calmly. In fact, I was so calm the doctor on the other end of the phone asked me if I understood the implications of this news. I calmly told him, Yes. Thus, I stood motionless, dazed, yet in control.

My mind was weighing the gravity of the news. Inside my head, I could hear the words, Diana, you have breast cancer! My heart was pounding a beat every millisecond, but my mind, struggling to stay in control, was asking, Is this going to be the end for you, or will you be able to press on toward victory over your situation and take control of your medical path? My mind and my heart told me that I had to keep pressing forward just because of who God is in my life. I had always proclaimed Him as Jehovah Jireh, the Lord my provider, and now I would be proclaiming Him even more as Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth.

At that very moment, I made the decision to press on with the help of God through much prayer. I was convinced that effectual, fervent prayer, excellent doctors, medical breakthroughs, along with my strong faith in God, would get me through this ordeal. I understood that it was going to be a difficult journey and the road would be rough, but I couldn’t allow myself to forget that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). So I began to cast my cares upon the Lord and let Him direct my path.

I have learned a few things in my sixty-six years of life, and one important thing that I have learned for certain is that God never takes you to something difficult that He won’t go through with you. Yes, He was right there with me every rough step of the way. These unexpected curves in life are tests of faith and learning experiences to make you the person God intended you to be. Without these tests there would be no testimonies! I knew then that this was to be one of my tests.

During that phone call, my husband stood nearby, watching the reaction on my face and discerning that something was wrong; he quickly embraced me to help me keep my balance. I simply stood looking dazed and feeling weak in the knees. I did understand all too well the implications, because some twenty-plus years before, I had seen my mother battle the breast cancer giant. Although I knew there was a real possibility that I might someday get cancer, I had never spoken the possibility aloud.

Let me explain how this telephone conversation came about. Shortly after I had completed the 3K walk for breast cancer, I was notified by my local hospital that it was time for my yearly mammography. So I scheduled an appointment to have it done. The appointment began as a normal and uneventful screening. Once the screening was completed, the technician took the screening a step further and asked me if I had any complaints or problems concerning my breasts.

That question changed that routine annual screening into an unexpected event. I actually did have some concerns, and when I conveyed them to the technician, I ended up having two mammographies done that day. The second mammography was a more diagnostic screening than the first. I went in with confidence that all would be well. I wasn’t expecting the screening to have changed from the year before. However, since we don’t know what’s going to happen from one minute to the next, we are sometimes thrown a curve in life that catches us totally off guard. This appointment was one of those moments. As a result of the second test I took that day, I found out that I had breast cancer. I was very glad that I had taken the time and the initiative years earlier to begin mammography screening. I believe this saved my life!

Keeping Track of Your Health

Keeping track of my physical health was something I believed in doing. Since cancer was in my family history, I started very early having the yearly screenings. I chose to keep a close track of what was happening with me. For me there was no other option. Cancer had already struck twice in my family. My mom died of breast cancer, and later my maternal grandmother died of leukemia. Needless to say, I certainly understood the importance of my diligence after I was diagnosed with cancer. I don’t want to imagine what my prognosis might have been if I had not begun this process years before. So now, I make the plea to all women who are too afraid to make that first phone call to use me as an example. As scary as it might seem, you couldn’t make a more important call as the one that might save your life. Schedule your mammogram. Start to keep track of your health. It is imperative that you