Updates on Nanci Alcorn

Many of you have asked about Nanci’s memorial service. It will be held Sunday, May 15 at 3:30 p.m. at our home church, Good Shepherd Community Church, 28986 SE Haley Rd, Boring, OR 97009. A live stream will be available at http://memorial.gshep.us/, and the video will also be available at that web address after the service.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers for our family. We would also appreciate your prayers that the service will be honoring to Nanci and above all honoring to her beloved Jesus.

Note from Eternal Perspective Ministries: The family asks that in lieu of flowers delivered to the Alcorn home, those who would like to give a gift consider giving to the memorial fund instead. To donate online click here (select the "Nanci Alcorn Memorial Fund"). If you wish to send a check, you can make it payable to Eternal Perspective Ministries and send to: 39065 Pioneer Blvd, Suite 100, Sandy, OR 97055. Be sure to write "Nanci" in the notation area.

Please direct questions related to the service to EPM.

In honor of Nanci’s life and legacy, the board of Eternal Perspective Ministries has set up a fund in her memory. Whether you give to this or not, please know that your prayers, love, and concern for the Alcorns has been a source of great strength and comfort to them over these past years. If you would like to honor her in this particular way, 100% of any donations to EPM's special fund will be divided among some ministries that were dear to her heart: ministry in Cuba, persecuted Christians (currently with special concern for Nigeria), and the Logos Hope Ship (Operation Mobilization).

To donate online click here (select the "Nanci Alcorn Memorial Fund"). If you wish to send a check you can make it payable to Eternal Perspective Ministries and send to: 39065 Pioneer Blvd, Suite 100, Sandy Oregon 97055. Be sure to write “Nanci” in the notation area.

Randy and his family covet your prayers as they adjust to life without her. Thanks so much.

Kathy Norquist, on behalf of EPM’s board

When Nanci poured herself out for her family last Monday, a week ago today, it was as if she exhausted her remaining energy. She’s gotten weaker nearly every day. Still, Nanci and I were having short but meaningful conversations until just a few days ago. Unfortunately, the last two days she has faded noticeably. 

Though we are keeping her comfortable, she’s no longer capable of communicating with her words. I still talk to her and read Scripture to her and play the praise music for her, but don’t know how much she is absorbing. (Since I don’t know, I talk to her assuming she can understand.) 

The hospice nurse thinks Nanci may have less than a week to live, maybe just a few days, though it’s impossible to be certain. 

I simultaneously don’t want her to go, yet with all my heart I DO want her to go into the arms of Jesus. 

I am grateful that with the meds that it’s not intense suffering as much as ongoing discomfort but still, even hearing her frequent cough that borders on choking sometimes is heart-breaking. We give her a continuous flow of oxygen, Nebulizer treatments, suction machine, mouth moisturizer, and lip balm in addition to morphine, and that’s not all. With the wonderful help of Hospice, we’re reaching for everything in the arsenal to make her a little more comfortable. Meanwhile God is has graciously prepared us to release her to Jesus. 

“To live is Christ and to die is gain…I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:21, 23). Better by far even than when we’re at our strongest in this world groaning under the Curse, and all the better when we’re at our weakest, and this is the weakest my Nanci has ever been. She has told me in tears that what she’s gone through these past months has been very hard. She has wanted either to get much better or to be with Jesus.

Being with Jesus and God’s family—including both of our moms and dads and many dear friends—in Heaven, awaiting the resurrection and the New Earth, free from pain and suffering and curse. What could be better for her? 

It seems like Nanci’s barely hanging on, and this evening I was kissing her forehead and whispering to her things like this: “Let go and be with the person you love the most and have always dreamed of meeting face to face. One day soon I’ll join you there and so will the people on earth that you love the most.”

Well done, good and faithful daughter of God. What a privilege, my Sweetheart, to have lived this life with you. I so look forward to the wonders and glories we will experience together in the world to come, where Joy will be the air we breathe.

Thanks so much for your ongoing prayers, especially for Nanci and also for me and our daughters, sons-in-law and grandsons, and Nanci’s special friends. (You know who you are, and we love you for loving her.)

Randy

Some excerpts from Nanci's journal:

1. John Newton: “We have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, his arm over us, his ear open to our prayer—his grace sufficient, his promise unchangeable.” 

Nanci: That promise, found in Romans 8:27–30, is:

               *The Holy Spirit prays for me according to the will of God

               *God always works to cause everything to result in my best interest

               *God works “everything” to conform me to the image of his son.

               *God called me; he justified me; and he will glorify me.

God is in control. I am not. God knows my future. I do not. God always has my best interest in mind. I can trust that.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne: “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.”

 2. Yesterday I was mourning my summer. I was looking at pictures on my phone of last summer at the beach with Maggie and the boys; of Dodge Park; of doing things. I had tears of “what I had missed.” Now I’m missing the boys’ games, missing walking Maggie, the PAO conference, and doing many more things! Then one of my devotionals from Face to Face with Jesus talked about clinging to our own plans and desires instead of yielding to the path God has for you.

The path God laid out for me over the past 8 months did not provide me with many—if any—options wherein I could choose to follow my own plans and desires. Surgery and pain, radiation and chemo and pain and fatigue, more chemo with greater pain and fatigue. All these were unavoidable.

But the best that came my way in God’s sovereign plan over these months has been my heart yielding to God’s plan. I have sat reading books about God. I have sat reading God’s word. I have sat pouring my heart out to God and praising God, and coming to a new and greater belief in his love for me; a new and greater trust in his plans for me, a new and greater expectation of what my death will bring!

I would not trade a spring and summer filled with fun and projects needing to get done, over what God had planned. He knew what was in my best interest! He knew what would draw me to himself in ways I never anticipated. 

3. My Savior ministered to me greatly this morning with this truth: I will be ready to die when my time comes because my Shepherd will give me his joy, peace, and readiness. It will not be me working up enough faith and trust, my God will fight the battle for me! It will be his perfect ministering Spirit who will carry me peacefully–jubilantly into God’s arms. 

Spurgeon: “What if we should soon be called to the heavenly realm? Certainly, there would be nothing to deplore in such a summons, but everything to rejoice in. Living or dying we are the Lord’s. If we live, Jesus will be with us; if we die, we will be with Jesus.

4. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. I will be found by you says the LORD. Jer. 29:12–14

We know these days that God always listens to us because of his Son’s work on our behalf. When I pray I never worry about having God’s attention. I never need to plead for his ear, or his heart to take heed. 

God always listens to me.

The Holy Spirit gives me words to say.

Jesus advocates my prayers with God the Father

God wants me to pray to Him.

Even though God has already sovereignly determined the plans for my life, somehow my prayer requests play a solid role in it all. I do not need to understand how this fits; I do need to trust that God has declared to use my prayers. God wants to hear my prayers.

My prayers to God keep my spiritual life alive. I recognize God’s sovereignty and power when I pray. I feel his love, grace and faithfulness. Prayer helps me keep things in perspective. Nothing “just happens”. Everything is planned in love. Everything is carried out in wisdom, power and love.

Because I am not God, I should never question why things go the way they go. It is the height of foolishness to determine that my ways are preferable to God’s ways.

I am not omniscient, all–wise or totally just.

I don’t even love myself nearly as much as God loves me!!! 

So why would I ever second guess God? He always always has my best interests in mind and when his way for me is painful, unclear, frightening, seemingly unfair, emotionally difficult, mentally challenging, et all…I need to trust, to believe that God does all things well.

5. And I pray that Christ will be more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. Eph. 3:17

Needing to trust in Christ and then choosing to do so, results in him making a home deeper in my heart. That bond which becomes more established between us comes from my recognition and acceptance of my need for him. It comes from placing my trust in him. It is lessened by my questioning and resentment of his ways. My trust allows my soul to continuously grow in the presence of God’s love for me which is a deep and marvelous love.

6. A prayer of Nanci’s:

Ancient of Days, 

You have shown yourself to me over these months. 

You have stayed by my side, of course, but you have allowed me to feel your presence. Thank you with all my heart.

You, in your wisdom, did not choose to remove all side effects, but you, in your mercy, did eliminate some and lighten others.

I pray that you will continue to teach me about your love, faithfulness and grace through pain, and uncertainty, and waiting—waiting—waiting.

I praise and thank you for your sovereign hand on my life. 

I truly trust you with my life.

I don’t want anything to happen (and it won’t) which is outside your will.

You know what is best. 

You are always working in my best interests.

Now, please, Heavenly Father, give me your strength, your courage, your perspective as I seek to accept with thanksgiving whatever you have for me. 

I still need your help to be able to say “I will accept with joy, praise, and thanksgiving anything and everything ahead.”

More pain. More fear. More uncertainty, more waiting. I need your sweet and powerful Holy Spirit to infuse my heart with your joy and thanksgiving. I’m bringing this request to your throne. Nanci

John Donne: “I shall…be united to the Ancient of Days, to God himself, who had no morning, never began…No man ever saw God and lived; and yet I shall not live till I see God; and when I have seen him I shall never die.” 

A NOTE FROM RANDY:

Since my last update, Nanci has come home from the hospital, and a hospital bed has been moved into our room with a recliner next to it for me or others.

Things have radically changed since Thursday. Nanci has been in an altered state mentally. We don’t know if that’s temporary or permanent.  

Karina, Angela and I were up most of last night with her. (No surprise, the girls are a wonderful care team, just amazing.) Part of it was very precious and beautiful, Nanci was raising her hands up to the Lord, singing and sweetly asking Him to take her to be with him. Part of it was tough. She is struggling to find the right words and wants to get out of bed, but we can’t let her because she is so physically unstable.  

We met with the hospice director this morning and then a hospice social worker. Nanci is officially now in hospice care, so that means her death is expected within six months. It could be a lot less than that or it could be more, of course no one knows. 

Nanci and I have had end-of-present-life conversations going back years and again in recent months. She  is ready to meet Jesus. After what I have seen in the last 10 days—which has been so hard on her—I feel ready to let her go, even though in another sense of course I can’t be ready.  Thanks for your prayers. Lamentations 3:19-26 is on my heart:

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

A NOTE FROM ANGELA STUMP:

Friends and family, we can’t begin to express how thankful we have been for your prayers. We have all felt them and have been sustained by them. Mom’s rapid decline has been brutal to watch, and yet we see even now how God has given us precious moments every step of the way. My mom’s faith and love for Jesus is palpable, even as she struggles for words. The way she is ending her life here on earth has been an absolute privilege to watch. And the way my dad has loved her, served her sacrificially, and honored her every step of the way makes me indescribably proud. 

Please continue to pray for each of us. We are all grieving in our own ways, and the continued uncertainty of the amount of time we have left makes it difficult to know how to process.  

As much as my mom has expressed the desire to be with Jesus, she’s told me multiple times in the last few days to “take care of Dad.” So to honor her wishes, even starting right now, I want to express to you a way in which I’m asking you to help me take care of Dad. The amount of people texting, emailing and calling him is a wonderful thing, and a testament to how many of you deeply love my parents. However, please also understand that because of the sheer number of people sending well wishes and asking questions out of concern, it can start to feel overwhelming if he were expected to respond to each of you individually. 

That being said, I’m NOT asking you to stop texting and emailing him, but please know that a lack of response, and/or a delayed response has no bearing on his gratitude for your prayers and concern! Even starting a text or email with “no response necessary” would be so appreciated. I want for him to have the freedom to just read and appreciate them, and zero pressure to respond. Also, phone calls are usually too much right now, especially because of the many phone calls he’s receiving as we set up hospice. Reading these Caring Bridge updates is the best way to know what’s going on. Also, his EPM ministry assistant Amy Woodard can answer most of your questions at amyW@epm.org

Thank you for understanding, and for helping me take care of him as he takes care of my mom (and hopefully himself—pray he will be able to make time for rest and other things that will encourage his weary body and mind.) We will try to keep this Caring Bridge site updated so hopefully your questions will be answered here. 

Ways in which you can practically help: Freezer meals (for local folks), Grubhub gift cards, or however you feel led. Also, friends to volunteer time at the house (usually 2:15 to 5 PMweekdays) where they can keep an eye on Nanci so he might be able to continue to serve as a volunteer boys tennis coach for Barlow High. (Mom has felt strongly that she wants Dad to not give this up, it’s good for the kids and for his physical and mental health.) If you’re interested in helping in this way or some other at the house, email my sister, Karina Franklin, at dankarinafranklin@gmail.com and she will coordinate the schedule.  

Finally, Dad has asked to make clear their material needs are cared for, no need for financial gifts. Thanks so much for your prayers above all. 

Nanci was unable to receive her 6th chemo treatment ten days ago because she had pneumonia. After a rough time fighting the pneumonia, she was able to receive chemo yesterday. She is feeling MUCH better and we are rejoicing that she is now half way through the treatments! We hope and pray that she will stay well enough to have her twelfth and final treatment just before Easter. Please join us in asking that of our good and gracious Lord.

We have received very encouraging indications that the treatments appear to be working! Nanci’s last CT showed shrinkage in the small tumors in her lung, and indicated the disappearance of some nodules that were thought likely to be malignant. There continues to be no sign of cancer in any of her other organs besides her lungs. A Tumor Marker test, which helps indicate the level of cancer in her body, has gone down from the 20’s to 8.12 to, as of yesterday, 5.89. The level we are hoping and praying for is 3 or below, but that is great progress. Please keep praying for Nanci! We trust God regardless, but it sure is a great cause for rejoicing and relief when we see good test results!

Here’s Jeremiah 17:7-8, a passage that Nanci often goes back to, and which I see firsthand to be beautifully true of her life:

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord [Yahweh],
    whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.” (NIV)

Nanci is my best friend and precious soulmate. Thank you again so much for your prayers for her. ♥️

Randy

Nanci’s treatment plan has changed. This Wednesday, day after tomorrow, at 7:30 am PST, Nanci will undergo a procedure by an interventional pulmonologist who will attempt to clear out enough of the tumor blocking her airway to help her breathe better. 

He doesn't believe he can remove all the impeding tissue but hopes to give her some relief. He will also search for other areas of concern including taking more samples for biopsy. There are some risks, but because her breathing has become very labored, we believe we need to take them. 

Nanci’s team of doctors now think she could benefit from more radiation treatments prior to receiving chemotherapy, so she did NOT begin chemo last week as planned. She will meet with her radiation doctor soon to schedule those treatments. We are uncertain at this time when she will complete radiation, therefore we do not know when chemo will start. 

Though we are accustomed to uncertainty and changed plans, it’s a bit jarring to I have it happen once again. We are very concerned about Nanci’s health, obviously, and we need the prayers of God’s people.  We are at peace that God has a plan even though we are not sure what it is. We ARE sure, however, of WHO HE IS.

“I love you, O LORD [literally Yahweh, God’s personal name], my strength. Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” 

Psalm 118:1-3 

Thanks again so much for your friendship and prayers and love, which mean more to us than ever. 

Randy and Nanci

Friends,

Much has happened in the last few weeks. Due to various issues, Nanci had several tests done on short notice, which we (and her doctors) didn’t anticipate would be serious. 

After some concerning test results, a doctor ordered a PET Scan. It revealed new malignancies in Nanci’s lungs. When a bronchoscopy was performed, the doctor found a large tumor partially impeding an airway, explaining why her breathing has been even more labored than already (30% of her lungs were removed in past surgeries). 

Today we met with Nanci’s oncologist, who was surprised and concerned when she saw the PET scan results. She advised us, and weighing the alternatives we agreed it’s what’s best under the circumstances, to move forward with 12 sessions (over six months) of chemotherapy, which will be 50% more than her last round in 2019. Nanci will also be seeing an interventional pulmonologist (our vocabulary continues to grow :) and likely a radiation doctor to possibly use radiation on the tumor near her airway.  

As has often been the case these last 3.5 years, we are putting one foot in front of the other to do what seems wisest as we seek God’s direction. No, six months of chemo isn’t what we planned, in fact we are now cancelling some plans we were looking forward to, in hope (but not certainty) we can do them later. That’s okay, to say the least God knows better than we do!  He says, “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21). And along with the hardship, God will bring us times of joy and delight even in the challenges of these treatments. He’s done it before, He will do it again.

The oncologist says that there is no timetable here, but medically speaking they are not looking toward a cure. The goal is to slow the cancer’s progress and to make Nanci’s life easier and breathing better by shrinking the tumor. To clarify, Nanci isn’t teetering on the edge and we aren’t desperately trying to cling onto earthly life at the expense of its quality, rather we are taking the opportunity to improve that quality. If the time comes when God seems ready to take either of us home we will accept that and not use every possible means to prolong life at the expense of comfort and wellbeing. “To depart and be with Christ…is better by far.” Nanci referred tonight to that wonderful song “It is not death to die.” https://youtu.be/d45nKyGphvg

We don’t know, and neither do the doctors, what’s ahead of us, but that’s nothing new for any of us, right? We are only finite but praise God we know personally the infinite One who’s in charge of the universe and who lovingly supervises our lives!

When we received the worst news, Nanci said to me, “God has been with us in all this, and He still is.” Then she talked about how gracious and kind He has been and how she has sensed His presence. I am a firsthand witness of this, Nanci has been extraordinary in her dependence on the Lord. She knows how serious this is, we are not in denial and we have shed our share of tears, we did again tonight. But in all this by God’s grace Nanci has maintained a contagiously upbeat mindset.  

I marvel at the depth and delight of Nanci’s Christ-centered perspective. What an example she is to me! She is wonderfully like what it says in Jeremiah 17:7-8: 

Happy are those who trust in the Lord [Yahweh, God’s personal name],
    who rely on the Lord [Yahweh].
They will be like trees planted by the streams,
    whose roots reach down to the water.
They won’t fear drought when it comes;
    their leaves will remain green.
They won’t be stressed in the time of drought
    or fail to bear fruit. 

(Common English Bible)

We haven’t given up and we prayed for complete healing again tonight as we have every night for nearly four years. But neither are we presuming to tell God what he must do just because we want it. He is God, we are not. Immediate short-term healing is not a certainty, but ultimate long-term healing is woven into the Gospel itself. It is the blood-bought promise of Jesus!

Jesus said of us, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). For the resurrection and eternal life on the New Earth the risen Jesus promises: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4)

If God doesn’t heal Nanci completely, then we pray for the success of medical means (God’s providence and common grace extends to them also). But that too is in His hands. Nanci and I have never doubted or questioned Him just because so far the prayers for total healing have gone unanswered. She has a big view of God, and a truly eternal perspective. God ministers to me through her every day. She shared with me tonight what she meditated on this morning: “Yahweh is your keeper; Yahweh is your shade on your right hand” (Psalm 121:5).

I think you would really appreciate Nanci’s blog that will be posted a few hours from now, the morning of September 1, before most of you read this. She read it to me from her journal a few days ago and I asked if we could post it. It’s called “My Cancer is God’s Servant.” Go to this link and it should be the first link listed below: https://www.epm.org/blog/

Thanks again so much for your love and prayers, our beloved brothers and sisters. Here are some verses that mean a lot to us, I hope they bring you comfort in what you’re facing in your own lives, we know we’re not alone in walking a challenging road:

Randy and Nanci

The MRI showed nothing abnormal. The CT scan found no new cancer or nodules. One of the remaining nodules that’s believed to be malignant did not grow in the last three months. The other grew only 1 mm, a very small amount. 

The test of the original cancer site in the colon showed no indication that cancer has returned. 

While we continue to pray for complete healing, the very small growth of the existing cancer and the absence of new occurrences are cause for great celebration! ???? 

We believe God heard the prayers of His people and we thank you with all our hearts for lifting up Nanci as you did. As you think of it, please continue to pray for her! 

With Thanksgiving upon us, our hearts are truly filled with gratitude to our God! Lord willing, she will not be in the hospital this Thanksgiving as she was last year!

Hopefully, this good news will mean no more procedures or treatments for at least three months. So it may be that long before you receive another Caring Bridge message from us. 

I’m sorry that we don’t see most of you often, especially in the era of Covid. But we hope and pray you will have a Joyful Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Randy, with much love from Nanci too

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. Habakkuk 3:19

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4-5

We met yesterday with Nanci’s oncologist to discuss the results of her CT scan. There is no indication of lymph node involvement, and there are no new growths detected anywhere at this time. That is very good news!  

Two nodules in her lungs which we were already aware of have grown from 4mm to 6mm. That’s a very small and slow growth, so the recommendation is once again to “watch and wait” until the next test in three months.

We are profoundly grateful there are no big changes and that Nanci does not have to return to chemo, radiation, or surgery at this time. We totally trust God’s providence, and celebrate his purposeful sovereignty over all things. But we also believe He invites us to pray as we feel led, so we continue to pray for complete healing for Nanci. 

Another prayer request is that our spirits and bodies will be refreshed. These last two and a half years have taken a cumulative toll physically and emotionally. We have not been able to do some of the things that commonly renew our spirits. And though the weather has been beautiful, and we’ve enjoyed being outdoors, we are feeling the countdown toward greater confinement indoors. 

We are certainly far better off than most of the world, but between the cancer and COVID, a number of options have been closed to us. As many of you know firsthand, the combination of COVID limitations and health struggles is becoming wearisome. (Within the last hour we became aware of the fact that our dear friends, Ron and Kathy Norquist, and Norman Norquist, have had to evacuate their homes east of Sandy, Oregon, due to forest fires, and I’m sure others receiving this update are in the same position. Praying for you!)

Please pray that God will sustain, uplift and refresh both Nanci and my bodies, minds, and emotions. I just prayed that same thing for all of YOU as well, since we are not alone, we are the family of God. Nanci and I both thank you for your love and prayers, and we cling to the blood-bought promises of God in verses such as these:

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. Psalm 103:19

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary;they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2

Nanci’s pain hasn’t been bad even since switching today from the big gun pain meds to Tylenol. I got her a walker that she loves, very stable and because she’s confident with it she's managed to do some laps around living room, dining room and kitchen!

Nanci is very tired yet very happy. She sends her greetings and thanks! Since it was a major surgery,  recovery won’t be quick. The recovery time is uncertain but we are in it for the duration and are trusting our Lord. We are profoundly grateful for how He answered your prayers and ours in her surgery outcome! 

Regarding Nanci’s CT scan results, first there was some good news: nothing new was found in any other organs. The original tumor site in the lower colon is still clear. That’s cause for great gratitude.

Second, there was also some news for which we deeply appreciate your prayers: One of the nodules in Nanci’s lungs has grown from 2 to 5 mm, and a new 5 mm nodule has developed. (There are 3 other nodules which remained in her lungs after surgery and they have not changed.) We are grateful that the tests showed no large scale growth and movement, but we are obviously concerned.

Dr Herzig, Nanci’s lead doctor, is also head of the OHSU “tumor board” and he brought Nanci’s case to them today. (They are all experts in various fields and bring all their experience and wisdom to the table.) Dr. Herzig will also be consulting her oncologist as well as a senior pulmonary surgeon at OHSU to get their recommendations for treatment.

The tumor board members gave several recommendations, involving surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, with different possibilities as to which comes first. Nanci will be meeting soon with a new thoracic (lung) surgeon and a radiation oncologist to help determine the next steps. 

Though this remains stage four cancer, Dr. Herzig says they are still working toward a cure, which they believe is still possible.

SO while we obviously would have preferred to hear the words “the cancer is gone” or “the cancer has shrunk” or even “nothing has changed,” we are very thankful that it has not spread widely and its growth hasn’t been great. We are still praying for a cure, asking God to intervene directly in complete healing, and if not, to use the medical means (which are part of his common grace) to eliminate the cancer.

Nanci is mostly positive about this, as there was concern that perhaps the cancer had spread to other areas of her body, and there is no indication of that. Her colon, where the cancer started, still appears to be cancer-free, suggesting her earlier chemotherapy and radiation were effective. 

I want to share something wonderful that our God of providence did today. Nanci has been reading daily a book of devotions by Charles Spurgeon called The Promises of God: Discovering the One Who Keeps His Word. So this morning, as we awaited the call from her doctor, she read to me today’s entry, February 27. (Nanci said it was as if Spurgeon, and our God of sovereign grace, had written these words just for us.) We prayed together thanking God for His supernatural perfect timing of this post that spoke to our lives exactly where we were before the phone call came, and where we are now as well. We hope these words mean as much to you as they do to us:

“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” Psalm 112:7

Suspense is dreadful. When we have no news from home, we are apt to grow anxious, and we cannot be persuaded that “no news is good news.” Faith is the cure for this condition of sadness; the Lord by His Spirit settles the mind in holy serenity, and all fear is gone as to the future as well as the present.

The fixedness of heart spoken of by the psalmist is to be diligently sought after. It is not believing this or that promise of the Lord, but the general condition of unstaggering trustfulness in our God, the confidence which we have in Him that He will neither do us ill Himself nor suffer anyone else to harm us. This constant confidence meets the unknown as well as the known of life.

Let the morrow be what it may, our God is the God of tomorrow. Whatever events may have happened, which to us are unknown, our Jehovah is God of the unknown as well as of the known. We are determined to trust the Lord, come what may. If the very worst should happen, our God is still the greatest and best. Therefore will we not fear though the postman’s knock should startle us or a telegram wake us at midnight. The Lord lives, and what can His children fear?

Thanks so much for your prayers and love,

Randy and Nanci

Their consensus was that before starting further treatment Nanci should wait two months and get another CT scan to indicate the possible progression of the spots on her lungs. Yesterday Nanci’s oncologist, who isn’t on the tumor board, expressed to Nanci, Angela and me her agreement that this is the best approach.

Because the spots are small and they are not causing any symptoms at this point (shortness of breath, pain, etc) they would like to keep her as strong and healthy for as long as possible before introducing the toxic effects of chemo to her body again. 

They are also considering doing targeted radiation if only some of the spots grow. (They are currently too small for that.) This would minimize harmful side effects as well and give her body more of a chance to get stronger should further chemo be considered necessary.

This delay in starting chemo is encouraging for several reasons. First, the doctors do not believe the delay will have serious adverse effects. Second, Nanci will hopefully be able to feel better longer and increase her strength. Lord willing, she will also be able to go on a few trips she wants make that had been doubtful with impending treatment schedules.

Her next CT scan is scheduled for late February. If anything changes between now and then we will share it here on CaringBridge. Otherwise, our request continues to be that you join us in asking God for her healing, and for increased energy and strength in her daily life! 

THANK YOU for your partnership in prayer. It means the world to Nanci and me and all our family.

Like many of you, Nanci and I have the joy of gathering with our precious family. On Christmas, I will pick up at the airport our oldest daughter Karina Franklin, and her husband Dan and three sons, Matthew, Jack and David. They will join Nanci and me along with our daughter Angela Stump and her husband Dan and their two sons, Jake and Ty. Nanci and I are thrilled!

No matter what troubles and distractions and weights are on you right now, we pray that you and we will experience a truly Jesus-centered Christmas. The holidays can be very tough, and they may be that for you right now. But Jesus is the one who can lift our burdens and brings us joy when our hearts are heavy. He says, “In the world you will have troubles; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33)

“To us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” ―Isaiah 9:6

“A God who was only holy would not have come down to us in Jesus Christ. He would have simply demanded that we pull ourselves together, that we be moral and holy enough to merit a relationship with him. A deity that was an “all‐accepting God of love” would not have needed to come to Earth either. This God of the modern imagination would have just overlooked sin and evil and embraced us. Neither the God of moralism nor the God of relativism would have bothered with Christmas.” ―Tim Keller

Randy

Thanks so much for your prayers for Nanci. She is feeling good, a real answer to prayer, and she is in good spirits! Her surgery is scheduled for 10:00 AM tomorrow, Tuesday. We are asking God for the best outcome, and are trusting in His sovereign love. 

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him” (Psalm 28:7).

Journal entry by Angela Stump — November 23, 2019

Thanks again for your prayers and love for my mom and for our family. We are so very grateful.

Journal entry by Randy Alcorn