Tag Archives: new trial

Some Reasons to Praise!

[W]e get pretty excited around here about answered prayers and any evidence of a less aggressive cancer:

For those who don’t know, and I can’t remember who does know now: I had extensive blood work done yesterday (as in 14 tubes full) and had both a CT scan and a PET scan today.

I just spoke with the research nurse who had seen the results of all those tests and said there has been no significant growth of the cancer or deterioration of my labs during this month of no treatment. Praise God! This is a first!! My labs are holding steady – my liver function tests remain in a normal range (there’s that beautiful word “normal”) and there was no big change in my tumor marker (also a blood test). She said the CT scan had mixed results, meaning a couple of places had even shrunk a bit, despite no treatment for 25 days! Thank you, God!

So everything looks good at this point for beginning the next trial on Monday.  Thankfully, in other answered prayer news: Dr. Bendell found a loophole which allowed me to go ahead and start treatment for the cancer next week despite my dreadful dermatitis: a dermatitis that again defies explanation by any of a number of doctors, and beats anything they have ever seen. A few weeks into the trial we may be able to start treating the dermatitis with steroids or other meds.

In terms of current prayer needs:

1.Please pray that this current whole-body (face-sparing) dermatitis that I have will resolve soon.

2. Please pray that I have minimal pain with my core liver biopsy tomorrow. The drug companies need more of my tissues for study purposes. This was a very painful procedure last time (last year), but they were unable to give me the full pain meds to help last time too. (Can’t remember why now.)   

3. As always, pray for full healing of my cancer. “Is anything too hard for God?”

While spending time in waiting rooms this week, we were given even more evidence that we are extremely blessed to live here in Nashville. One man explained to us that his brother, a current Sarah Cannon patient, is from North Alabama and was being treated at MD Anderson in Houston, TX (one of the most well-known cancer treatment hospitals in the country.) His doctors at MD Anderson referred him to Sarah Cannon (SC), saying the best place in the country for his cancer to be treated was just about 100 miles from his home – at Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, TN.  We also met another lady who told us she had met patients at SC from as far away as San Francisco.

Thank you, Father, for putting me in good hands here at home, so that I am only very minimally away from my family. What a tremendous blessing!

Thank you for your prayers. I know they have been heard!

Sara Walker




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