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Dr. Ellen's Testament to the Power of Prayer
I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991. I had to have a mastectomy followed by chemotherapy. Then in 1995 I had a recurrence. My doctor felt that my best chance of survival was to undergo a bone marrow transplant. Every time someone asked what they could do for me, I would say, "Pray for me." I had hundreds of people do that and was put on many prayer group lists. While I lay there in the hospital with no hair, no eyelashes and no fingernails, I too prayed everyday, asking God to let me live. I promised Him that if I would survive this transplant, I would devote even more of my life to preventing divorces and saving marriages. Since I am still here, there is not a day that has gone by that I don't think about that promise. I end every day with the same prayer, "Please God, let me be of most benefit to as many people as I can tomorrow."
Then in August of 2005, a CAT scan, followed by a needle biopsy revealed that there was a small malignant nodule on my left lung. I had to take a whole body PET scan, brain scan, bone scan, and CT stomach scan to make sure it had not spread to other areas of my body. I was so grateful that it had not.
In 1999, the FDA approved a drug to treat advanced, metastatic breast cancer in post-menopausal women. Many breast cancer cells depend on estrogen to grow and fortunately my type of cancer does. So, I have been taking a tiny pill (Aromasin) at dinner time, which is supposed to get rid of all my estrogen and "starve" the cancer cells.
After 10 years of being cancer free, as you can imagine, it was once again an emotional roller coaster ride for me and my entire family. However after all the tears, there was nothing to do but wait and see if the pill was working.
It was at that time that I had asked all of my subscribers to pray for me. I received so many emails, from not only every part of the United States, but from countries all over the world. People from every religious denomination wanted me to know that they were including me on a prayer list at their place of worship and in addition would be personally praying for me.
This was the only time in my life that I can remember feeling speechless. There were no words to express the love and the deep connection I felt with people I had never met. After telling my son about all the emails that were coming in, he suggested I cut them out and paste them in a book. I went to the book store, bought a beautiful, empty bound book and then proceeded, as he had suggested, to print out each and every email that I received. It didn't matter whether it was one line or an entire page. Everyone's email was pasted in my book.
Every single day I would place that book on my chest, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day. I put it on my chest for a few minutes before going to sleep and put it on my chest before getting out of bed in the morning. Along with the book on my chest, I asked God to help me shrink the tumor and eventually rid me of the cancer.
In November of 2005, 2 ½ months later, I received Great News!! The tumor had shrunk by 35-40%. That meant the pill was working. My doctor then wanted to have it surgically removed from my lung so that he would know the complete makeup of the tumor for future therapies, should I need it. On November 11th I had that surgery and they found and removed the tumor.
So once again I feel that I am cancer free because of prayer. Although my oncologist was concerned that the pill might not work and the surgeon was concerned that the tumor was so small he might not find it, I knew that God was really the one in charge of the outcome.
On Tuesday, December 6th four weeks after surgery, I had a follow-up office visit with my Oncologist. He told me that this is as good as it gets. I am completely cancer free once again.
It is my hope that this part of my website will make you feel less alone in your pain. Through the prayers of others, you will feel connected to something larger than yourself. There are thousands of people who are extending their arms and are waiting to pray for you.
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