After death of husband and daughter, member faces youngest daughter’s cancer diagnosis, Judy Nolley, McKinney, Texas

*Editor’s note: This information was published in the September2021 issue of Heartfelt Magazine, CHM’s monthly magazine that provides CHM membership-related tips and tricks, medical advice from doctors, testimonies from CHM members, and more. Please refer to the CHM Guidelines and applicable web pages for the most up-to-date information regarding CHM membership, sharing eligibility, and ministry news.*

My youngest daughter, Alicia, was 16 and a junior in high school when she found a lump in her throat during a voice lesson. She’d been sick a lot the previous year with respiratory infections, sometimes running a fever, but no other symptoms.

Getting a diagnosis was a journey. We started by visiting her pediatrician, who ordered a CT scan. These results required her to see an endocrinologist who performed a biopsy. Those results were undeterminable, so he referred her to a surgeon for a partial thyroidectomy. Those results came back as thyroid cancer.

This was an especially hard diagnosis for us.

My husband, Stan, died suddenly in 2008 after surgery complications. Just a year later, my oldest daughter, Olivia, was diagnosed with brain cancer and also passed away.

Even in the most difficult times and in the darkest days of our lives, God was there to carry us through. I never thought my life or Alicia’s life would take these turns, or that we would be able to bear them—but God provided strength and comfort that cannot be explained.

Alicia had a second surgery to remove the rest of her thyroid. Her scan after surgery showed remaining cancer cells, so she underwent a treatment of radioactive iodine to kill the cells that were left.

It’s clear that God led me to CHM. An employee touched us deeply, getting to know us. God put on her heart to know more and led her to find the story of Stan and Olivia.

I still remember the day she called me to explain that Alicia’s bills would be eligible for sharing on the Prayer Page. I was parked at Walmart. After we hung up, I cried there in the parking lot and thanked the Lord for His provision.

As a single mom caring for a child with cancer, it was a huge relief from the financial burden. Many members sent cards and lifted us up in prayer through it all. It’s a blessing knowing that there’s a network of Christians praying for you during a health crisis.

I recently saw a quote by an unknown author that said, “God doesn’t give the hardest battles to his toughest soldiers, he creates the toughest soldiers through life’s hardest battles.” I know He is creating a tough soldier in my daughter so she may walk through this life covered with His armor.

Today, Alicia is doing great. Her one-year checkup showed the cancer was in remission. We praise God for His healing, and for the way He provides through His people.

Editor’s note: Learn more about sharing for eligible pre-existing conditions at chministries.org/preexistingconditions.