It went from there’s only like a 10% chance it’s cancer to-oh it is cancer-to there’s a small spot on your spine- to its in like 20 lymph nodes- to we found 4 more spots on your spine-to after chemo scarring we saw there was also a spot on your hip and femoral bone-to God completely healed me!
Hello! My name is Emily Gay. I have been married to my awesome husband Brent for 24 years and we have 5 kids. I am a Stage 4 breast cancer survivor!
I had always heard that you are suppose to have a baseline mammogram done by the time you’re 40. So, like a good little girl, I did. It came back fine -as I had expected it to since I have no family history of breast cancer.
The next spring I went on the Spring Break trip to northern Arkansas with our youth. We were hiking up a mountain when a stick 3 feet long centered itself through my shoestring. I started tripping and kept tripping for at least 10 feet before I finally fell and landed on a rock. A few months later I still had a knot where I had fallen. I decided to wait a couple more weeks until my annual checkup and just have it checked out then.
In the mean time I went to kids camp and I learned about UNSEEN STRENGTH. Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in times of trouble. I learned about UNSEEN TRUTH. We can only speak the truth about Jesus if we know who He is-His character. “Bad things don’t happen because of God. He is here so we don’t have to go through them alone.” The next day I learned about UNSEEN PEACE. Phillipians 4:7 God’s peace which goes beyond anything we can imagine, Will guard our thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus. The last day we talked about living a VISIBLE FAITH in EVERY situation.
2 weeks later I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The day I woke up and was getting ready to get the results of my 1st PET scan, I started freaking out! I told God there was no way I could do this on my own. I told Him I really needed something from Him so I would know- could literally feel His arms around me and know He was with me and that I could deal with whatever news we got. He told me plain as day “read Psalm 139”. I was like really God? Is that you? He said “read Psalm 139, my child.” The whole chapter was like a literal hug from God but v5-You are all around me-in front of me and in back of me. You lay your hand on me. Wow. We found out that day that the cancer had spread to my spine but we didn’t totally freak out. We knew God was in control.
We knew we were headed to MD Anderson at this point but had no idea what the next steps were. I called my cousin who is a neurologist at Texas Children’s in Houston and asked if she knew someone who might know someone I should see at MDA. Turns out God was working things out months ahead of me. There was a guy who had a kid in her kid’s class at school who had fallen off his bike and got a concussion. He sought out my cousin and she took time to explain things and reassure him. When I contacted her she said she thought she knew someone who did something over there. She would reach out to him and see if he knew somebody. Turns out he is one of the best radiation oncologists in the world. He the one writing the textbooks to teach others. He was happy to help my cousin and had already become familiar with my medical records and met with the other guy God picked out as my primary oncologist before I ever got down there. That was another God moment-after doing all their tests at MDA they determined I had a rare aggressive form called Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). The doctor he discussed my case with before I left Ruston, when I googled IBC, he was the first guy who came up-once again the leading guy in the world on my cancer. God continued to show His love and work miracles through the next year of my treatment.
It went from there’s only like a 10% chance it’s cancer to-oh it is cancer-to there’s a small spot on your spine- to its in like 20 lymph nodes- to we found 4 more spots on your spine-to after chemo scarring we saw there was also a spot on your hip and femoral bone-to God completely healed me! 3 years cancer free! God is the great physician and He is still doing miracles!
I learned that peace in the midst of your storm is possible. It’s not just a cliche or a song. It is REAL. When you feel miserable after chemo, when you are laying in a preop room, when you are separated from your 5 kids for 7 weeks during radiation, when any normal person would be freaking out but you find yourself at perfect peace -I learned what peace that passes understanding really feels like.
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