When I was 8 my grandma, Evelyn Klepper, was diagnosed with Lymphoma. For anyone who doesn't know, Lymphoma is cancer of the lymph nodes, meaning the bacteria fighters of her body could no longer function like normal making her able to get very sick very easily. On top of that she had also suffered from heart disease for several years along with being diabetic.
My grandma pretty much raised me and my younger brother. I always remember staying the night with her on Saturday nights so I could go to church with her in the morning. She would always read her Bible before she went to sleep. She always treated me like I was much older teaching me to cook, and also to take care of my brother. When she was diagnosed with cancer I really didn't know how to take the news. I was in shock thinking my grandma could be so sick now when just a short time ago she seemed fine.
The cancer had spread quite a bit by the time she started chemotherapy treatments, and the doctors were already questioning the probability of her making it through the battle. She was in Dallas for her treatment which was a 4 hour drive for my family to see her. The first time I saw her I was scared to death. I had never seen my grandma so small and fragile while my whole life I had pictured her as invincible. It upset me to see her this way, and I was angry. How could she get this way? What had she done to be so helpless now? It took me several years to understand it was just her time to go home.
The week before Easter my grandma called my mom and told her she wanted to come home for a weekend. She made all of the arrangements with the doctors and my mom arranged to come pick her up the weekend after easter weekend. She had to get CAT scans and blood work done before she left to come home, and after that she headed back to Childress. On the way home my grandma told my mom she had a dream Easter day. When my mom asked what it was about she went on to tell her she wasn't actually sure it was a dream. "It was just as real as you sitting there" she said. "I was in my hospital bed after before my last chemo treatment, and the room was very white and peaceful. I have never been so peaceful and pain free" My grandma said "There were angels all around me, and they were sticking there hands into me and pulling out the cancer. I could really feel it coming out." My mom's reaction was surprised; She was speechless, what do you say to something so wishful.
When grandma was home we had a great time. She looked good, she felt good, everything seemed to be looking up. I thought maybe she could beat the cancer. The last day my grandma was going to be in town she had a seizure. By the time my mom got her to the hospital she had several seizures. The doctors go her stabalized and my mom, aunt and uncles decided it was time to get her back to Dallas. When they were on their way back to my grandmas apartment in Dallas they stopped by the clinic to pick up her CAT scan results. My grandma kept telling my mom she was tired. When they got her back to her apartment mom my laid her down in bed and went to the living room. She could still see my grandma at this point. She looked in the bedroom at my grandma laying peacefully in bed looked at the TV and when she looked back my grandma had sat up in bed and grabbed her chest. The last thing my grandma ever said was screaming my mom's name. She died in that bed and by the time the ambulance had arrived she was already brain dead because of lack of oxygen. When the paramedics rushed her to the hospital my mom and uncle grabbed her CAT scan results and followed her to the hospital. While they were in the hospital they decided to look at the results to see how bad the cancer was. When they opened the results they found the cancer completely gone.
My grandmother passed away May 1, 2002 of cardiac arrest because of the unneeded final treatment of chemotherapy was too much for her heart. Who would have known the cancer was gone. The last time the doctors checked it covered her body.
The Angels took away the cancer. They took away her pain. She enjoyed the last week of her life. There is no doubt in my mind she is watching over me and my family. She is with us through every triumph and heartache. I love my grandmother.
Once again another example of how the lord works in mysterious ways. One more miracle...
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