Cancer with Christ.

by Karla McKay
(Canada)

Hi, My name is Karla.

I guess you could say that I’m not your average teenage girl. I do a lot of normal things that most girls do. I’m a competitive dancer. I love volleyball, basketball, track & field, cross country, and soccer. But, right now I’m not able to do any of those things. You see, when I was 2 years old, my parents found a giant bruise on my back. I was an active little girl at the time so they didn’t think much of it until it began to get bigger instead of smaller. Now I had a big, bad, bruise running all the way up my spine and I started to not want to play any games with my twin sister, Summer. My parents took me to the doctor and told us we had to go to the emergency room immediately.

When we got to the hospital the doctors decided to do some tests. My parents and I waited for the results of the tests to come back for a very long time and I was getting impatient, especially considering I had already had a very traumatic day (for a two year old). I can't imagine the thoughts that were running through my parents minds when the doctor came back and told them that I had a type of Leukemia.

I grew up in a Christian home so I’ve always had my church family to support me throughout the years. I accepted Christ to be my saviour when was only 6 years old. I don’t know if I knew back then how truly amazing God really is until much later though.

When I was 6, my brother (who was 4 at the time) donated bone marrow to me so I was able to have a bone marrow transplant. I was in the hospital for 6 months straight afterwards because my body wasn’t able to fight just a simple cold…so I was in isolation. It wasn’t the best half a year of my life but it paid off because I went into remission when I was 7. YAY! No more Cancer! …or so we thought.

I was never alone during all of my treatments. And I always had my twin sister to talk to and more importantly I had God to talk to. He Always listens to what we have to say, and always answers our prayers! God is soooo incredible!
Now I’m certainly not saying that I NEVER struggled with my faith!

There are times when I absolutely hated God for giving me cancer. I thought he was a terrible person because ‘I didn’t deserve to have cancer,’ but in the end I always remembered that God was just using that so that I could reach out to others and to help me be the stronger person that God wanted me to be.

In August 2009 I started to have horrible stomach pains. It wasn’t until October that we found out that they were painful gallbladder attacks. So, on November 3rd I had my gallbladder removed. What was supposed to be day surgery (in and out of the hospital n the same day) turned out to be almost 2 months n the hospital! I had bled A LOT during/after the surgery from the operation, and I kept getting fevers and infections. Eventually the doctors did some tests and figured out that my leukemia had relapsed on December 7th 2009, at 15 years old.

At first, I was angry at God again, but like always I remembered that he has an amazing plan, and this is all a part of that. Even though I can’t see all of the pieces that he can, I trust him! I know he only wants what’s best for me [-my favourite bible verse: Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you daughter, not plans to harm you but plans to give you a hope and a future.”

I think that having my cancer relapse has brought me closer to God. It’s made me realize how some things are important and some things just shouldn’t be bothered with. One day I will have enough energy to run and dance lke before, but for now I will fight for my life, hand in hand with God. Philippians 4:13“I can do all things through him who gives me strength”…so I can conquer Cancer again, and for good!

If anyone else is going through anything similar to me, ether physically or spiritually- Just remember that God REALLY DOES LOVE YOU! Don’t you EVER forget it! Sometimes it may not seem like it but it’s the truth-And the truth shall set you free!