In June 2020, while the world was fighting the onslaught of Covid, my family was embroiled in another battle. My six-year-old daughter, Debbie, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer in the shin of her right leg near her knee. During diagnosis, a lung nodule in her left lung was also found, which could indicate cancer metastasis from her leg to her lung.
The treatment was leg amputation to remove the tumour and 29 weeks of aggressive chemotherapy, and lung surgery to remove the lung nodule. Her survival chances were 70 per cent if there was no lung metastasis and less than 30 percent if there was. It was a great blow to me and my family. Debbie had to stay in the hospital four to five days weekly, nearly every week for 29 weeks; and due to Covid, only one caregiver could be at the hospital. So, my wife and I had to rotate taking care of her, cooking, and sending meals from home. It was tiring and stressful as we didn't get to see each other and we couldn't support each other. Also, our 12-year-old son Joseph was having his primary school leaving examinations (PSLE) in October of 2020, and he was affected by his sister's cancer as well.
When New Creation Church got the news, the church immediately stepped in to support my wife, myself, Joseph, and Debbie. They provided help, support, prayer, and even ferried us to and from the hospital when they could. The Rock Kidz leaders supported me and Debbie, and they partnered with the Chinese Ministry visitation team to support my wife. The Rock Kidz teachers also held regular Zoom calls with Debbie and Joseph, keeping Debbie entertained and encouraged during the tough chemo regime.
Debbie's leg surgery was planned for September 2020. Pre-surgery scans in August showed that the tumour in the leg and the nodule in the lung were still there, and the leg surgery had to proceed in September. To be honest, I was disappointed, but I continued to believe that God is working behind the scenes. The leg surgery, called rotationplasty, would cut off some flesh from Debbie's mid-thigh to her shin and reattach her foot to her thigh backwards to function as a knee so that she can be fitted with a prosthetic leg to give her better mobility.
The highly complex surgery would take 12 hours. Unfortunately, the surgery didn't go well. Debbie started to swell badly in her body, and her legs started to turn black and were covered with blisters. Necrosis, which is dying flesh and tissues, started to set in. Again disappointed, but I held on to God's promises that Debbie is healing and that the battle is the Lord's. Eventually, the leg swelling subsided, but so much flesh and skin had died that the doctor said that a skin graft was inevitable, and there was no guarantee of success. The doctor prepared us for a possible amputation of the hip, which would also mean that there was no chance for a prosthetic leg.
My wife started having suicidal thoughts, and we both were on antidepressants to help us go through those dark days. I knew God is real and God is true. Though I couldn't see what He was doing, I held on to His work at the cross and that He is our healer. My faith was weak, but I clung tightly to whatever God's word said.
In February 2021, prior to the lung surgery to remove the nodule in the lung, Pastor Prince mentioned in his sermon that he saw someone with a spot in the lung and that spot be dead and removed. I knew that moment it was for Debbie, and I claimed it.
It was a nerve-wracking lung surgery to remove the lung nodule. One week later, the biopsy results came out, and the report stood out clear as day, solid as rock—no viable tumour identified.
On 8 March, Debbie was declared cancer-free and was in remission. What a victory! We know that the healing had to be God and, most precious of all, through these months of pain, discomfort, and tough side effects, Debbie has not lost her joy. She was always joyful, singing and dancing, especially during Rock Kidz Online.
She's also the one to remind me to take holy Communion regularly, even during the hardest parts of the treatment—suffering from side effects of chemo, pain in her leg, ulcers in her mouth, and in so many parts of her body. She just was joyful. It has to be Jesus.
Today, my wife and I are off antidepressants. Debbie is getting ready to go to school again in April with her prosthetic leg. Despite all that we have gone through, we know right that God is the one who has given Debbie the victory.
Not only so, Debbie has been doing well academically and received multiple academic awards and is assessed to be intellectually above her peers. Praise Jesus!
