10 Practices to Combat Cancer

Monday, April 25th, 2022     by Lisa Larsen Hill     Start the Conversation

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageousB. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9.

My husband received a call from his doctor after his annual exam explaining his uranalysis showed an abnormality and he needed to see a specialist. Two and a half months of more tests led to an exploratory surgery for bladder cancer. The result was the best bad news we could have. His cancer was at stage 0 but with fast-growing cells. I am so grateful for the 0 stage; I didn’t know that could even be a stage, yet I was concerned about the treatment he would need to adhere to for the next several years.

Strand Life Sciences says, “A quick estimate suggests that by the year 2030, every person will know of another person suffering from cancer or would have lost someone to the disease.”

Family and friends of the cancer patient experience the stress, the waiting, and the anxious comprehending of this thing called cancer. I certainly did. I clung to my faith and prayed, asking God to forgive my doubts and worries which seemed to surround me.

My husband took the news stoically and showed me how he took one step after another through the maze of learning a new language of cancer and treatments, a language no one wants to gain. He instilled in me respect and grace for his approach. He is braver and more positive than I think I would have been, and again I thanked God for this lesson.

We were so fortunate that our GP suggested going to a specialist and then that the radiologist found the polyp, which was so small; the urologist said it surprised him they caught it. My husband felt nothing, there were no symptoms, only through getting an annual exam was it found. I wrote a letter to the radiologist thanking him for his thorough analysis, thanking him for saving my best friend.

We realize the causes and risk factors and changing habits to lesson this outcome, but in my husband’s case, he was never a smoker. Former smokers are twice as likely to develop the disease as those who never smoked; current smokers are four times more likely. You and your loved one may be very busy; you may say you don’t have time for an exam, but catching cancer early can save your life.

There is so much written on the internet about how to face cancer, but I found ten practices that are helpful:

  • Cling to your faith
  • Keep a positive attitude
  • Be honest with family, friends, and doctors
  • Let friends and family help you
  • Get the rest you need
  • Boost nutrition
  • Keep exercising
  • Be in nature
  • Keep planning the future
  • Do what you love and be gentle with yourself, as perhaps it may need some adjustments.

For those facing uncertainty, waiting for results, or getting them and feel scared, we are not alone. Our Lord will go with us wherever we are wherever we go. Sink into His arms and find peace.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:7-12 NIV

May it be so.

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