Witness to a Miracle

Our God is a healer.

Over the past two and a half weeks I have had the amazing opportunity to witness a miracle. Three weeks ago one of my co-workers, Shantelle, was diagnosed with cancer. She had a tumor on her spine. Three days later she had two new tumors in her brain. Very dangerous. The cancer she has is obviously a very very agressive cancer. In fact by Wednesday night (two and a half weeks ago, only five days after initial diagnosis) the doctors were suggesting she likely would not make it through the night. The doctors had Shantelle and her family sign a Do Not Resusitate order, basically telling her there is no hope.

This is where I had the privilige of coming in. One of the VP's at our school came around late the Wednesday afternoon. He gathered a team to go into the hospital. Our goal was to pray, but primarily to be there for Shantelle's husband Joe. Upon arriving at the hospital you could tell that the mood was very grim. A number of people from their church, and the team from our school gathered around each other to pray. We prayed and we prayed. After about 5 hours of being there with the family - both visiting and praying, everything changed. I belive this was the start of the miracles that God has done in Shantelle's life. In this case God used a doctor. The doctor called in and asked for the the DNR order to be removed. The doctor had been communicating online with other doctors and had came up with an idea.

From there hope started to return. The saints returned to their prayers with renewed energy. Shantelle needed to fight hard to make it through the next couple of nights. It took the doctors another five days before they were ready, but Shantelle held on and eventually they were able to perform surgery on the tumors in her brain. Shantelle could not have held on for so long without God. God gave her continued strength to fight for those five days.

The surgery was another miracle. God allowed for a very successful surgery, and for a recovery from surgery that astounded all of the medical professionals. Shantelle has gotten stronger and stronger each day, and a week and a half after after surgery Shantelle was released from the hospital. Yesterday she even came back to work for a visit. Shantelle still has the cancer on her spine and also a tumor on her shoulder. She is waiting for treatment to start on this, but she will be starting with signficant strength, both physically and spiritually.

So yesterday I was priviliged to be with a group that had lunch with Shantelle. Two weeks and two days from when she was supposed to die. WOW! God is so good. The doctors said she would not make it through the night but through God's power we were able to celebrate. There is still much to pray for. Shantelle still has a fight ahead. We still need to pray. If you want to read more about this miracle from Shantelle's own words, feel free to visit her blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/prairierascal/

Prasie to God!
Danny