November 22, 2020
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16
Dear family and friends,
Thank you so much for your continued prayers & encouragement. God has blessed me with so many people who love and care for me and my family.
This past Monday I finished up my fourth and final round of chemotherapy treatments. I will have scans done in a couple of weeks to see how my body is responding to treatment and to determine next steps. Please continue to pray that the medication will continue to do what it was created to do.
It was brought to my attention that some of you faithful friends do not know how I was first diagnosed with cancer. It was that at the end of 2018 I started noticing some weakness and stiffness in my left hip which I thought was probably some arthritis. In January of 2019 on a trip to the jungle areas of Peru I noticed even more how my hip was not working well as we were climbing in and out of boats. In April of 2019 I decided to go for some physical therapy. After a few weeks of PT my therapist felt that I was not responding to therapy and suggested seeing a hip specialist. After some procrastination I made an appointment, was sent for an MRI, and got the results of metastatic cancer in both hips. I didn’t believe the diagnosis and thought they probably made a mistake as I felt fine except for the hip.
I was then told to get a body scan to determine where the primary tumor was located. The scan revealed that I had a tumor in my lung and I was instructed to follow up with a lung specialist. The lung specialist did a lung biopsy and found that I had Carcinoid cancer, which is a rare and slow growing type of cancer. From there we interviewed a few oncologists and ended up at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance with Dr. Martins.
More scans and tests confirmed that the main tumor was in my right lung but that I had cancer lesions on my hips, shoulders and liver with a couple of lymph nodes involved and a couple of cancer spots on my spine. Almost from the first diagnosis of cancer I started on an organic, whole foods, mostly vegetarian, no sugar diet. My first treatment in the fall of 2019 was an oral chemotherapy which the cancer did not respond to. In early 2020 I was then put on a targeted therapy which was considered a very good option for me but once again the cancer did not respond to treatment as the doctors had hoped. In the meantime, the cancer had spread to my pancreas and one of my adrenal glands.
The third round of treatment started in the summer was a chemotherapy treatment. Half way through the treatment scans showed that finally my body was responding with shrinkage in the two tumors (lung and pancreas) showed no observable changes in the lesions and spots. Praise the Lord! So now the next steps – – as mentioned earlier – – are to get more scans, to evaluate progress and to determine what comes next.
One big thing I have learned on this cancer journey is to trust God to lead and guide ME. Many well-meaning people tell what worked for them or for their friend or for their family member. But most of the time what works for one person does not work for the next. Cancer is a very tricky disease and one has to be in tune with God and your own body & walk accordingly to the way God leads and guides.
So in all this, thank you for your continued prayers for healing, for next steps and for our family dynamics as sometimes it gets very hard. One area that is difficult is that I (Debbie) am able to do less and less physically. My hip instability forces me to walk with a cane and a walker and just recently I started to have some undiagnosed pain in my ribs when bending or twisting so there are a lot of household chores I can not do. This is humbling but also very frustrating and Patrick, Sarah and Kathryn are doing more and more for me.
Closing for now, Love to each one of you & thank you for your part in being a blessing in the journey. Happy Thanksgiving (to my American readers) & holiday blessings to you and your family.
Love to you,
Debbie and (Patrick:-), too.
Debbie O'Connor's Journey 
I love you my dear dear friend, you are an amazing woman, I cry for you my sweet sweet friend and sister. May the Lord bring healing to your body and peace to your soul. Garthur & I continually pray for you daily. I tell you my friend, his heart really goes out to you, he has so much love & empathy for you. God is so good, you’re in His hands, the best place to be😇😇🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
LikeLike
Thank you sweet sister and thank you to Garth!
LikeLike
Thank you, Debbie, for the story of your journey. We’re continuing to pray for you and Patrick. Changes are so hard but you’re a trooper! Thanks for your example of bringing Christ into every area of your life. I hope I can follow in your footsteps!
LikeLike
Thank you for your encouragement Joan.
LikeLike
Thank you for sharing Debbie. God is good and He is in control of everything. May God keep blessing you and family. Gibe the peace, joy and strenght that we can only have through Him. Praise be His name. Looking forward to keep recieving your updates.
LikeLike
Thanks Jenny. We love and appreciate you. Thank you for your encouragement.
LikeLike
Dear Debbie & Patrick, Thank you again for updating us on this “Journey” as you trust the Lord for both His guidance and mercy! It was so helpful for you to recap the story from the beginning, and emphasizing how important it is to follow His lead, and listening to Him! You all have been such an encouragement to those who may have cancer and to those who just need to understand more!
We will continue to pray for you and your whole family as they come along side. Recently I was shoveling snow, and wrenched my knee so that I could hardly put any pressure on that leg. Jim had to step into the kitchen and take “Foreign” responsibilities. One day he told me my kitchen was really anxious to have me back! 🙂 So Patrick we also appreciate the changes in your roles and how hard it is when your regular life seems so disrupted. But we are a team and together we face the challenges before us with God’s grace, needing big doses of His patience as well!
Warmly, with love & prayers,
Jim & Becky
LikeLike
Thanks Beckie, I appreciate your sympathetic ear. Blessings to you and Jim.
LikeLike
Continuing to pray in faith believing to the Glory of God as you are on your healing path. Much love over you my friend. You remain a light to my path and I bless you. Rosie
LikeLike
This is what I too am believing God for. This is why I wanted to share where the cancer is because I am believing God for a big miracle here!
On Sun, Nov 22, 2020 at 2:02 PM Debbie O'Connor's Journey wrote:
>
LikeLike
Dear Debbie,
Thank you so much for sharing. May God let His Holy Spirit be drawn into your arms, legs, hips, lungs and all parts of your body to give you sweet peace and spiritual rest. Let the Light of His hands and feet be revealed in you and fill you with His radiance. May He warm up your heart and spread that warmth throughout your whole body, filling you with the joy of ever closeness to God. Let this Holy Joy spread into your arms, legs, hips, lungs and throughout your body leaving you at complete peace and rest.
All my love,
Peggy
LikeLike
Thank you so much for the detailed report and filling in for us the ‘holes’ we didn’t know about in your diagnosis. We certainly do continue to pray for you and your family. This helps us know how to pray more specifically. You have been an encouragement to us as you’ve walked through your illness. Your faith has been seen and felt. Thank you for staying faithful and trusting our Lord and Savior. An AMEN to Peggy’s prayer for you in previous comment. Beautifully said.
LikeLike
Thank you for your kind words Millie. Your continued prayers for us are much appreciated. Blessings to your family for a wonderful Thanksgiving.
LikeLike