Jim Sills

Admittedly, nutrition had become my “god.” Strict vegetarians, my wife, Lee, and I had been practicing nutritional alternatives since 1979.

I believed I could deal with any medical situation through nutrition. In fact, in the nutritional meetings we held, I used to joke, “Give me cancer; I’ll cure it with nutrition.”

In December 1996, I had my chance. My right testicle was swollen.

An avid soccer player, I assumed I’d been whacked with a ball while playing. But the following month, when the swelling hadn’t diminished, I visited my urologist. The urologist said the swelling appeared to be due to fluid leakage, and they needed to repair the cause.

But in February, when they operated, the doctor described my testicle “as a charcoal briquette” that needed removal and testing. He also recommended a CT scan. The testicle tested positive for cancer, and the scan showed a small, cancerous spot in my abdominal area. The doctor recommended chemo and radiation.

But I was determined to make good my boast … I’d beat this cancer with nutrition. Over the succeeding months, I doggedly tried a variety of nutritional regimes. My condition worsened. I became short of breath, lost energy, began vomiting, experienced back aches and lost weight. I tried some additional alternative treatments. Nothing worked. And while I was still fulfilling my job responsibilities at Amoco, I worked fewer hours each day. Lee remembers it taking five hours to get me out of bed and ready so I could do three hours of work.

In mid-summer, I added something new to all I was trying. I started listening to tapes with healing Scriptures from the Bible and messages on divine healing.

All of a sudden it hit me. I was going to be healed. I just needed to hold on to that, no matter what I was feeling or experiencing. Nothing was going to shake that. I began picturing myself playing soccer again.

What was happening to me spiritually was that the god of nutrition was being unseated, and I was beginning to understand that God was the divine healer.

But by summer’s end, my condition had declined dramatically. I went to another physician who told me I now had a tumor in the abdominal region and it needed to be removed. I decided it was time for the chemo and radiation.

But Lee had been praying and researching and felt strongly we should go to Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) for treatment. On Oct. 3, 1997, with tests already ordered at another hospital, she called CTCA and spoke to Sharon Langham, an oncology information specialist. Langham told her she would take care of arrangements and to just bring me in to CTCA.

We were terrified when we got there. I weighed between 115-120 pounds and was experiencing some hallucinations. But the minute we entered, we sensed the peace of God.

New scans revealed that in eight months, the small spot had grown to a football-size tumor resembling a cluster of grapes attached to the lymph nodes of my abdominal area. Additionally, it had compressed one of my ureters, leaving me with only one working kidney. The metastasis also included a new thumb-sized spot on my lung.

Dr. King, one of the physicians assigned to my treatment team, spoke to us. He told us if he were just wearing his physician’s hat, the tests showed my body had very little chance of surviving, but that if he put on his faith hat, anything was possible with God. I was shocked to learn I was so bad physically, but I held on to what I knew in my spirit – I would be healed.

From October through February, while I underwent five rounds of chemotherapy, I struggled with related medical conditions, including depleted red blood cells and a large blood clot. Throughout, I continued to feed my spirit on Scripture, holding on to one in particular I felt God had given me, Psalm 118:17: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of Jehovah.”

After the first round of chemo, the tumor had shrunk to the size of a deck of cards, and the spot was gone from my lungs. After the second round, the tumor was down to thumbnail size. After the third round, tests showed no cancer anywhere. I completed the final two rounds of chemo. And in February 1998, a full battery of tests showed no cancer in my body.

My wife and I believe the spiritual and emotional support we received at CTCA played a definite role in my healing, along with the medical treatment. CTCA treats the whole person. Nurses prayed over the medication they gave me. My wife was able to stay with me in my room. Nurses knew the names of all seven of our children. Our oncologist never became discouraged.

In March 1998, I was back playing soccer and working full time. I knew all along what the outcome would be, once I recognized my dependency on God. Although I’m no longer a vegetarian, we still believe nutrition is important in caring for the body, but God is Healer and your partner in everything. He’s faithful. Life can be a roller coaster, with ups and downs. But keep focused on the end point; don’t get lost in the journey. Medically, my oncologist said the rapidity of my healing was impossible. But God is the God of the impossible.

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