stage three cancer
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I was diagnosed with cancer over the phone.
And not just any cancer. Stage 3 cancer.
There was no “Can you come in so we can talk?” No scheduled appointment. No face to face conversation. Just a phone call.
A phone call I had waited 11 agonizing days for.
Eleven days of barely sleeping. Eleven days of struggling to eat. Eleven days of living on pins and needles, waiting for answers. Waiting for someone to tell me what was happening inside my own body.
The hardest part is that two radiologists had already told me they were 99.9% sure it was cancer. But even then, I held onto hope. I prayed. I believed. I asked God for a miracle. I clung to every possibility that the diagnosis could be different.
Then the phone rang.
And just like that, my world changed.
To hear the words “You have Stage 3 cancer” through a phone call felt incredibly impersonal. It felt cold. It felt rushed. It felt like one of the most life altering conversations of my life was reduced to a task on someone’s checklist.
I know healthcare workers carry enormous responsibilities. I know they deliver difficult news every day. This post is not written out of anger toward any individual. But I do believe we can do better.
When someone receives a diagnosis that will change the course of their life, they deserve compassion. They deserve presence. They deserve a safe place to ask questions, process emotions, and take the first breath after hearing devastating news.
A diagnosis is more than information. It’s a moment that a person will remember forever.
For those in healthcare, thank you for the countless ways you care for people. Thank you for the long hours, the sacrifices, and the compassion you show every day. My hope is simply that we continue finding ways to make these difficult moments feel a little more human. Because less face it we’re not just a number. We’re all just people. And People matter.
And for anyone walking through a hard diagnosis today, I want you to know this: your story is not over.
One of the verses I held onto through this season was Isaiah 41:10:
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Cancer was not the end of my story.
God was with me in the waiting.
God was with me when the phone rang.
God was with me in every appointment, every tear, every fear, and every victory that followed.
The diagnosis may have come through a phone call.
But my hope never came from that phone call.
My hope came from Jesus.
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