Suzanne's battle against Stage IV cancer

“In order to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the stress of the storm.”

- Corrie Ten Boom.

My sweet Mama, Suzanne Knoch, has felt the stress of the storm. And it’s with deep thankfulness that I can also stand witness to her grasp of the anchor.

As her oldest daughter, I watched her raise and homeschool six children, brave country life (rough transition for a city girl!) and survive being married to my risk-taking, entrepreneurial father. It was a full, colourful and challenging life. A significant turn came with the diagnosis of cancer in the spring of 2021. The doctors originally thought Mom was suffering from diverticulitis, as she’d frequented the emergency room with extreme abdominal pain throughout the previous winter. A subsequent colonoscopy revealed a golf ball sized tumour in her colon. In June, the surgeons removed 20 inches of her colon and 65 lymph nodes. No other conventional therapies were pursued as there was no evidence of cancer on a follow-up CT scan. It was in June of 2022 that we learned the cancer had metastasized to her liver. Three months later, she underwent a second surgery to remove a grapefruit-sized tumour in the left lobe, as well as her entire gall bladder.


Due to the metastatic nature of the cancer, chemotherapy was recommended in December of 2022. She discontinued this therapy after five cycles, once a CT scan showed no developing cancer. Significant diet changes began in 2021 following the initial colon diagnosis — and have been augmented throughout the journey with a number of health supplements/therapies.

Throughout the ups and downs of this journey, I’ve been amazed to witness the steadfast determination with which my mother has faced each successive struggle. She knows her life is in the hands of a loving Heavenly Father who knows the number of her days. However, never once has she accepted cancer as a death sentence and continues to be filled with faith and vision for the future. She longs to continue caring for her elderly parents, meet her grandchildren (a fact of which my siblings and I are reminded regularly…) and continue to share life and love with her husband. She’s also excited to leverage the knowledge and experience gained through her journey as a way to help and bless others going through similar health struggles.

We’d hoped that the liver resection was the end of Mom’s cancer journey - but in Dec 2023 a CT/PET scan showed a second metastasis from the original cancer diagnosis in the right lobe of her lung. After consulting with a thoracic surgeon in Calgary, she recently underwent a surgery on January 23, 2023 and had the growth removed.

Having encountered cancer in three different organs, the plan of attack is aimed at making her body inhospitable to further cancer growth. Since her cancer has metastasized twice, there is a high probability of circulating cancer cells in her body, undetectable through scans or bloodwork. As a result, her integrative oncologist is recommending treatment strategies that will target her specific type of cancer, due to the need for a comprehensive and aggressive response to the metastases, (more difficult to deal with than primary cancer.) The alternate health therapies being recommended come at a cost which, up until now, have been possible with savings and some monetary gifts. However, the savings are nearly depleted and we are not as near the end of this journey as we’d hoped.

In summary, we are humbly asking for help to continue fighting. This road isn’t one any of us would’ve chosen for our mother to walk. However, we choose to thank God for all He has done through this valley. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Throughout this journey, I’ve had the privilege of watching Mom undergo a beautiful transformation. In her weakness, His strength has become magnified. As she has decreased, He has increased. Her life speaks to the incredible reality of a loving and faithful Shepherd, who never leaves or forsakes. Though we may never fully understand, we put our trust in the One who never fails and holds the past, present and future.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea.” Psalm 46:1-2

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all of you for your love, support and prayers along this journey. May God bless and be with each of you!

Naomi, for all the Knochs.