Medical Bill Support

Kathy Church, (mom to me,) is an inspiration to so many people. I sometimes look through old photos and think of the many many people she has had in her life who she has had an impact on. Everywhere I go today, I always have people asking how she is doing. Her life is an amazing testimony to what it means to have faith. Her story starts out being diagnosed at 15 years old with osteogenicsarcoma. Through some advances in technology, the doctors were able to save her leg, but it meant rods and pins would be put in where her femur was. This was great, however it also created many problems as the pins would come loose every so often and she would have to go in for another major surgery to have them repaired. After about ten major surgeries over the course of twenty years, in 2001, she decided it was time to have the leg amputated. Figuring that the technology in prosthetics at that point were advancing so much, that it would be easier for her. Well she was hit with disappointment after having her leg amputated and there being nerve damage to the point where she couldnt wear her prosthesis. This was a difficult time as now she had to learn how to live on crutches and one leg, but boy, did she do it. This woman was amazing. She carried cups of hot tea and cookies to the living room all by herself, she carried full laundry baskets up our steep basement stairs. She wasn't going to let that stop her. Many times we would offer to help, but she wouldn't want the help. She wanted to figure out how to do things on her own. She was a fighter. She never gave up and never backed down from her challenges! Then 2009 hit when she decided to go have a mammogram done which she had been putting off because of the fear of finding cancer. She had the mammogram done and I remember to this day, sitting at the dining room table and receiving the phone call from the doctor stating that she had breast cancer. We all sat there quietly in disbelief for what felt like eternity. Just unbelievable. Two different kinds of cancers? I will never forget the look of fear on my moms face when I could see her flashing back to the chemotherapy of old. That sudden thought of, "I cant do that again," creeping in. The look of fear on my dads face. The look of just utter disbelief. I think as a family, we all felt tested at that point. I had many people keep telling me, that if we would just have faith, she would be healed. And it was damaging to me. Because I knew God could heal her. I knew God had the power to do it, but why wasnt He? The faith was there, but why wasnt he healing her? These were questions I continued to ask over the next couple months and the were questions that I know laid heavy on my mom's and dad's heart too. We know you have the power to heal, so why arent you? The cancer ended up being stage 0 breast cancer where there was no chemo involved and she would go up for radiation treatments and in no time, the cancer was gone. We were all so happy and celebrating the fact that she has no defeated cancer two times. Wow. What a warrior. She was unstoppable in my mind. She was invincible. Then it happened. She found a lump in her neck, had some testing done, and in June 2015, she was diagnosed with incurable stage 4 lung cancer. That phone call stuck in my mind forever. That feeling of my whole world crashing down. How could a loving God let this happen? How could a loving God allow his own child to have cancer three times in one lifetime? Why let her get this far and win so many battles, just to be struck with incurable lung cancer. It has taken me a very long time to answer that question. It has taken me a long time of getting over being so angry with God. He showed me that He was hurting just as much as we were. He never meant for the world to be like this. He created this perfect world where there was no death, there was no sin, there was no hurt or pain, but we were the ones who screwed it up. We were the ones who chose to have sin on this earth. And here is the kicker. Who would I get mad at? Adam and Eve for screwing it up in the garden? Nope. Why? Because if they didnt screw it up, I would have. I would have been the one to disobey God. I couldnt be angry with God. At that point, all I could be angry with was sin. I was angry with fighting the effects of sin and death. Why do bad things happen to good people? Sin. Why is the world not fair and balanced all the time? Sin. I hate sin. I hate the damage it has caused my family, I hate the affects it has on people and the world surrounding us. We didnt think mom would be here through Christmas. But here we are, almost three years later, and she is still here. God is good. She may never be healed from the cancer, and it may eventually take her life, but I know, that it wasn't God's fault. God knew this would happen if we chose to disobey God in the garden. And we did. He gives us the power to choose Him or sin in this world, and I know for a fact that mom has chosen Him. I see it in the way she lives her life. The way she doesnt just give up. The way she knows that her testimony will affect other people. She knows that God works all things together for good, for those who love Him and live according to His purpose, and she has done that. She has lived according to HIS purpose, always having peace in the fact that no matter what she goes through, she will always fight knowing that God is going to use that experience for good, even if it means just one person being pointed towards God. This is a woman of faith. This is a woman I want my son to grow up to know so that he can grow up knowing what it looks like to live like her. I dont know many people who can show that example quite like my mom can. I love you mom.We appreciate you financial support as we are going through this time!