Hi, I’m Teresa Johnson and this is my testimony and the story of my journey with breast cancer. I’m writing this in the hope that if you do not know our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ that you will come to know and accept Him. And when you have difficult times in your life, please know that He’ll be there for you if you seek Him. I don’t know how I could have survived this without Him.

2 Samuel 22:2-4 (KJV)

2 And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in May, 2014. I later found out that is was stage 3C. I had a large tumor that was 6 cm and 12 out of 18 lymph nodes tested on my left side contained cancer.

I found the lump in my left breast in December, 2013. And me being me, I decided not to tell anyone. I thought it was probably nothing. I had too many things to do. Or I should say too many things that I thought I needed to do. So, I waited until my next scheduled doctor’s appointment in April, 2014 before getting it checked. Of course now, looking back I know that wasn’t the best decision. But you could turn into a pillar of salt if you look back, right? So, it’s best to just move forward.

The doctor sent me for several procedures and tests all of which came back abnormal. So, I was sent to see a surgeon. Again thinking that it wasn’t a good idea to worry my family and friends, I told very few people about what was going on. Still somewhat in denial, I was not expecting the surgeon to tell me how worried he was. And I sure wasn’t expecting to have a biopsy preformed in his office that day. Things weren’t going well and my main thought was that I didn’t have enough prayer cover!

James 5:15-16 (KJV)

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The surgeon called me to let me know that it was indeed cancer. I learned over the next few months that it was never good news when he called me personally. But, my reaction to the news was just to say “Ok, what do I need to do?” God was already calming me and blessing me with His peace.

Psalm 29:11(KJV)

11 The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.

I was sent for a MRI, so they could see exactly what they were dealing with. The MRI is a horror all its own. It’s a 45 minute test. You are face down on the table and need to remain perfectly still the whole time. Your head is toward the opening of the tube they slide you into. I told myself I could crawl out of that thing if I absolutely had to! Most of my time in the tube was spent praying, the remainder was spent wondering who came up with the idea for that procedure?! The upside to the MRI was that the doctor reviewed the results with me directly following the procedure. My results were that I had a large 6 cm tumor that was too close to the breast wall. It would require chemo to shrink it before they could do surgery.

There are some things in your life that you just know. I knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy fix. And I also knew that this was a journey that I had to make.

The next step was surgery to put in the chemo port. My oncologist said we’re going to “hit it hard”. I had eight rounds of chemo, going in for a treatment every two weeks. The first four treatments were cytoxan and adriamycin aka “red devil”. These made my hair fall out and caused some bad nausea. The last four treatments were taxol, which caused excruciating neuropathy.

Before my first chemo treatment, I was driving home from work thinking about how my first treatment was scheduled for Friday the 13th. Having doubt and fear opens a door for satan to torment and attack. So, then a black cat runs across the road in front of me. And I just started screaming at satan, “That’s right just bring it on! Just come at me, just bring it on!”

My good friend, Claudia gave me a treat bag before every chemo treatment. She didn’t realize it, but in the first bag was a message for me from God! In that bag, was a card that had a picture on the front of a white cat (of all things) and she signed the card “Love, Gracie.” Claudia and I worked together for years. And when we traveled, we called ourselves Winnie and Gracie as a joke, because they were two old ladies who didn’t drive so well. Funny that Claudia signed this card “Gracie”, except that by God’s grace all things are possible!! God was telling me, “I’ve got this!”

Mark 10:27 (KJV)

27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

That card was the beginning of a “prayer wall” in my living room. Every get well card and letter went on the wall. Before long the wall was full. And when I felt discouraged, I’d look at the wall and think that even if only some of the people who sent all those cards were praying for me, I was getting a lot of prayers!

God showed me a lot of things in that chemo room. He showed me the strength and courage of my moma, who has a servant’s heart and went with me to almost all of my chemo treatments and a lot of my doctor’s appointments. He showed me the compassion of the nurses and others who came to visit the patients. He showed me the strength and hope in the patients themselves. And God never left me. He gave me the most amazing peace in my heart. And my blood work stayed good for all those weeks.

Following the chemo, I had another MRI. The chemo had done its job. The doctor said that if he didn’t know my history, he’d have called it a clear MRI. We found out later it had shrunk the tumor by about half, but it was very much still there.

I then had surgery to biopsy my sentinel lymph nodes. And another call from the doctor told me that there was cancer in all of the lymph nodes removed from the left side. I asked the doctor what that meant. He said that means “we’ll grab a few more”.

God never stopped reminding me that I’m not alone and that I’m loved. Whenever, I felt down or got bad news, God would send his children to do something nice for me, cards, letters, emails, phone calls, texts, gifts, flowers, food and most importantly, prayers. For example, almost in the very hour following the news about the lymph nodes, some friends stopped by with food.

I had a double mastectomy in December, 2014. They put in the expanders to start the reconstruction at the same time. They removed more lymph nodes on the left side that also came back cancerous. So, the doctors said I would need to have radiation therapy.

I had several weeks at home and I wasn’t allowed to do much of anything. No moving my arms, everything needed to be still so it could heal. My son, Evan put a dramatized King James Version of the Bible on a MP3 player for me. And I spent literally hours listening to the Word. Those hours were some of the most spiritually uplifting time that I’ve ever had in my life. It is true that all things work for good if you love God.

John 1 (KJV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Following my surgery, I was slow to heal and it took a while before I got all of my drains removed. Then, I had a weak spot that had to be surgically repaired before the radiation could begin. I was scheduled for 28 radiation treatments, which were every day Monday – Friday. The first about 20 treatments mainly just made me tired. The final eight were hard to endure. My skin had started to shrink and finally totally broke down. But, God got me through all 28 of the treatments. And I am so thankful, because you can’t stop the treatments and continue back when things get better. If you stop, you have to start all over again.

So I finished the treatments, but my left side was in really bad shape. The original surgical incision on that side broke open and got infected. I had to have another surgery to remove the expander and to clean out the infection. I lost a lot of skin in the process. After this surgery, my doctor gave me a six month break to heal before doing anything more on the reconstruction. During the healing period the expander on the right side collapsed.

I had a PET scan in December, 2015, which was a year since my mastectomy. My PET scan came back clear and my blood work was all good. I showed the results of my blood work to my son Evan, who is a med tech. He said, “Mom, it doesn’t get much better than this.” I’m a one year survivor! God is so good! J

In January, 2016, I had surgery to replace both expanders and restart the reconstruction. I again had several weeks in which I couldn’t do anything with my arms. And again, I was slow to heal and slow to get the drain removed. I continued listening to God’s Word on my MP3 player, which has been such a blessing!

I’m pretty much healed from my last surgery now. But, the doctor is telling me that there isn’t enough skin on the left side. He wants to use skin and muscle from my back to fix it. This is another 3 ½ hour surgery with an overnight hospital stay. And I’m sure it will take several more weeks of recovery time. Plus, he said I’d need 3 or 4 more surgeries after this one before we were finished.

I was thinking about all of this and asking God, “Why has this reconstruction been so difficult and why haven’t you helped me with this?” And in an instant the Holy Spirit answered, “Because you haven’t asked.” I was emotionally overwhelmed; it was true. I have asked for so many things, but I had never asked for help with this. So, I talked it over with my family and asked them to pray with me.

Philippians 4:6 (KJV)

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

I don’t know yet what the outcome will be. I know I’ll have to have a t least one more surgery. But, there is a point when you have to say, “I’m done.” And I know that whatever happens, God will do what is best for me and He will give me peace with it.

God has brought me through this storm. I’m weaker physically, but spiritually stronger than I’ve ever been. I’m NOT AT ALL saying that I’m glad I had cancer. But my journey with cancer has brought me closer to God and has made me a stronger and better person. Lifting others up in prayer is the best way to forget your own problems. And it is my prayer that during your difficult times that you will have the peace in your heart that comes from knowing the living God.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (KJV)

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in w

eakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

#God #testimony #Jesus #cancer