A MIRACLE OF HEALING - APRIL 2010 - by Talmadge McCannon

The first part of December 2009, my wife and I noticed a swelling on Timothy (pictured left before the cancer), our 8 yr old son’s temple and we took him to his pediatrician to get this checked out. We were sent from there to have an MRI and CAT scan done. After a couple of scans they told us that they were not experts at reading the scans but they certainly didn’t see anything to be worried about. After a short while they were told to do more scans from different angles and they were nice enough to show me how the machine worked. The CAT scan they were performing showed something they didn’t see at first. I will never forget the look on the young lady's face as she scrolled the mouse cursor back and forth over the mass showing the other tech without saying anything. I felt something was going on but did not want to admit that there was even a possibility that something bad was happening.

Our pediatrician was scheduled to call us the next day after the scans were read. It seemed like he would never call, so my wife started calling the doctor after lunch to see what was going on. He finally called with the worst news a parent could ever receive. He related to us the words of the radiologist: “it looked like malignant cancer the way the mass was attached to the muscle”. I was at work when my wife Deane called to tell me this. She was upset like any mother would be and to be honest, I really don’t know how I made it home. Being the man of the house, you feel that you are supposed to be the strong one in these kinds of situations. This type of news could not have come at a worse time. I felt that I was at an all time spiritual low. I would love to tell you that my faith was never tested or that I never had a doubt that we were going to get through this, but I am human and felt the normal fears that any parent would feel.

We then had to go to the Scottish Rite Hospital for more testing. By now I was thinking that this was all a mistake and was hoping that these doctors would find this out and everything would get back to normal. This did not happen because these specialists saw the same results as did the doctors in Athens. The next step was to have a biopsy done to determine exactly what type of cancer it was and what types of treatment where available. By this time, it had been about two weeks and our son Timothy still did not know what’s going on. He just thought that he was going to see more doctors about the bump on his head. On the day of the biopsy, the Bishop from our home church, Rev. Douglas Hammond was in the room with my wife, Deanne and I. When they brought Timothy back to the recovery room, the doctor came in a few minutes later to tell us that he had gotten enough tissue for them to determine that it was not malignant but definitely cancer. This was not what I wanted to hear and was upset. I remember hearing Bishop Hammond say “don’t let the devil trick you, son”. Those few words may not mean a whole lot to you but they were exactly what I needed to hear at that time.

The time was drawing near that we were going to have to tell Timothy (pictured left with doctor) what was going on. I didn’t know how I was going to tell my little young man that he had cancer. It was just recently that we both had committed to fifteen minutes of prayer each night. In our experience, we had prayed for a lot of people with cancer. God had healed some yet others had passed on. I still worried about how was I going to tell him? Just a couple of days later, we were to meet with his doctor at the Scottish Rite Hospital to schedule his treatments. As we arrived at the clinic and were getting off on the fourth floor the elevator doors opened up, we saw a big sign that said “AFLAC Cancer Center for Children”. This was just one more thing that I did not want to see or hear, the dreaded word “cancer”. Timothy still didn’t say anything about the sign! He had to use the restroom so we both went through a hallway looking for it. As we came out of the restroom, there were pictures of kids battling cancer on the wall. These huge pictures were placed about every ten feet down the hallways. Most of the kids in the pictures had no hair due to the treatments. Suddenly, my son stopped to look at one and I could see the look on his face as he pointed at this one particular child. His look was one of asking me, “Daddy why am I here?” I will never forget this as long as I live. I didn’t know what to say because there was this hurt inside of me that I can’t explain. I think God spoke to him as he saw the hurt in me and he knew his Dad didn’t have words to say anything. He then started smiling as he continued to pointing at the picture and he said, “Look Daddy, you can’t even tell if this is a boy or girl with no hair can you?” as we both laughed and walked back to the waiting room.

Later on that day, the doctors came in and told us that he should be fine after about three and a half years of treatments. Timothy found out on this particular day that he had cancer and he never looked worried. He told us that God was going to take care of him. As we were praying that night, I heard him asking God to remove the cancer from his body and to please touch all the people that were praying for him. I thought that this action was very mature of him. For him to still be thinking of others after finding out that day he had cancer, amazed me. I know that he has a lot of faith when he prays. With recent scans showing that the cancer was not only on his temple, but in his ribs, throat, and liver, the treatments were to start on December 29th of 2009. This was just two days after he turned nine years old. (See picture left: Timothy with Miss Georgia and with Tennessee Vols football players)

All of the treatments have gone very well with very little or no sickness from the chemo treatments. A couple of weeks ago when he went for his second PET scan at Egleston Hospital, this scan showed no sign of cancer, PRAISE GOD!! I am so thankful to be a part of a praying church that is being led by such a wonderful Pastor, Tim Hammond (pictured right with family). I don’t know what I would have done if I had not been in a good church. We have such a loving church at New Life in Watkinsville and everybody has shown so much love and support through this ordeal. I am much closer to God than ever before. Please don’t wait for something like this to turn you around or wake you up. Be prayed up and ready because as the word says it “rains on the just and the unjust”. We never thought we would be going through a trial such as this but we are going through it with the help of Jesus Christ. We are going to be a lot stronger and closer as a family when we get on the other side of this test. Please continue to pray for Timothy. I continue to believe and know that God is good all the time! He always has been there and always will be, no matter what we go through!

God Bless You All,

Talmadge & Deane McCannon (pictured below)

Union Point, Georgia