I lay perfectly still on the hospital scanning machine table with my arms and legs strapped down. Heaviness surrounded my heart like a shroud, but I purposely didn’t cry because I couldn’t wipe away the tears.
My doctor had ordered a thyrogen scan to detect thyroid cancer. As I waited for it to begin, many questions raced through my mind: Did the radioactive iodine treatment work? Had the cancer reappeared and spread? Would I need surgery? After 23 years in remission, my bloodwork had shown a possible recurrence of thyroid cancer. Over the next year and a half, I endured numerous medical procedures, tests, injections, and special diets.
During the ordeal, other members of my family experienced health issues as well. My mom received the diagnosis of recurrent lymphoma. My older brother Brian underwent chemotherapy, also for lymphoma. Most heartbreaking of all, my twin brother David became ill and died of the HIV virus.
The burden of afflictions in my family felt unbearable. Lying there on the table, I began praying the words from Isaiah 53:4 (ESV): “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”
As I finished praying those words, the atmosphere of the room changed. I can’t explain it except to say I was in the presence of two angel-like beings. One stood tall on my left with arms folded across his chest, as if he was guarding me. The other stood very close on my right.
“What are you doing here?”
“We’ve come to comfort you,” the angel on my right said.
“That’s so nice,” I said.
As incredible as that may sound, my anxieties left, and I felt deep peace. “We’ve come to dry your tears, just as you dried your brother’s tears when he was dying.” The angel on my right reached over and touched my cheek, as a father would do for his crying child.
“I’m not crying,” I said.
“Your soul is crying.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Just as you once ministered to your brother David,” the angelic being said, “now it’s time to minister to your mother.”
I knew exactly what the angel meant. “Yes, I’ll do that,” I said. “Your scan will be clear and you will be made well,” the being on my right said.
As suddenly as the angels had appeared, they left. Then my tears began to fall and roll down the side of my face. I couldn’t wipe them away, and that was all right because they were tears of joy. What I had seen were strong, male like figures with light shining from behind and around them. They resembled holograms and were the color of pewter like flowing mercury. Ezekiel 8:2 (ESV) describes heavenly beings as having “. . . the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.”
When the scan was over, I walked out of the room and into my doctor’s office, grinning. I had gone from deep despair to pure joy. The doctor told me that even though my scan was clear, “You’ll have to wait for the results of your final blood test.” (His nurse had earlier drawn the blood.) I told my family and a few friends about the angels’ visitation. “I don’t know what it all means,” I said, “but I know I’m going to be all right.”
The following week, I received the news that my blood tests showed thyroid cancer “somewhere,” and my doctor ordered a PET scan to determine if I needed surgery. I cried and cried, asking the Lord to help me understand.
“Trust me.” I didn’t hear those words out loud, but they echoed through my heart and gave me peace. I completed the scan and felt confident that the Lord would bring healing; however, I assumed that I’d have to go through much suffering to be made well. As I waited for the results, pondering all that had happened, I realized the angels had visited me after the nurse had taken my blood. Once more, I felt hopeful, wondering if I had been healed after the blood tests were done. Lord, please let it be true.
The next week, I woke up on Tuesday morning and a voice within said these words to me, “Before you hear the news from your doctor. I want you to rejoice that you’re healed.” With renewed joy in my heart, I spent a delightful day at the zoo with my son Nick.
That evening at 7:30, my doctor called me at home. I was visibly shaking and burst out with the question, “Is it good news or bad news?”
“I’ve been poring over your PET scan results,” he said, “and I can’t find cancer cells anywhere in your body. According to your blood work, we should have found something, but you are totally clear.”
“Do you think it’s possible that I was healed sometime between my bloodwork and my thyrogen scan?”
“It’s certainly a possibility,” he said. He talked for several minutes before he finished with these wonderful words: “I don’t need to see you for a year. No surgery. No more radiation—just relax and have a good summer.”
Today, six years later, my follow-up exams continue to show no cancer. My fear of death is gone. I’m assured that when it’s time, God will send angels to escort me home. God has been so gracious to me, and I am humbled by His mercy. The Lord did it all, and God always does all things well.
