GUEST POST BY TAMI BOEHMER
I had a very interesting interview on a Detroit radio station for a program called God 321. I met the host Danny Hutchins at The Pink Fund Crazy Sexy Luncheon of all places! I am grateful to my friend Molly MacDonald, who leads this wonderful organization, for introducing us. I was apprehensive about being on a Christian program. As some of you know, I was raised a non-practicing Jew. As an adult, our little nuclear family attends Unity, which embraces all religions and has taught me about a loving and kind God.
When I was writing From Incurable to Incredible, I was overwhelmed from hearing stories of the people gracing the pages and how faith helped them through life’s most serious challenges. These stories and getting to know these amazing people I interviewed help me through. It gave me faith that I can do it, too. My faith certainly helped me. I connected with God on a much deeper level. My faith was and is my lifeboat, which is always there to rescue me in my time of need.
Not everyone in my book were people of faith, but a comment from God 321′s host made me rethink that. Dan said that everyone has faith. After all, humanists have faith in themselves. That is certainly true of all the people I’ve interviewed. Some were very Christian, some were Jewish, and some just believed in the power of themselves and the people around them. Yet they all had faith.
I’m not a Bible reader but there are many truths in it, which have been a source of comfort to me since I was diagnosed with cancer. One is the meaning of faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1, KJV).” According to statistics, my chances for a long life are not great. But faith tells me that all things are possible, even if there is no (medical) evidence to back it up. I have faith that a power greater than myself will allow me to see my daughter grow up and dance at her wedding (if she chooses that path). I believe God has a purpose for me: sharing hope and encouragement with others.
But sometimes my faith is challenged. Recently, I attended my friend Cyndi’s visitation and saw her husband and two children standing there looking lost. Like us, they are an extremely close family and Cyndi held things together. Her beautiful young adult daughter Lauryn is a spitting image of her. Her husband Gary says that is a gift Cyndi gave to him. I’m angry that so many people are taken away in their prime by cancer. I don’t understand it, but it just is. I want to blame someone, something for it, but in the end, I have to just have faith that some good will evolve from tragedy.
As my mentor Bernie Siegel, MD, conveys in his children’s book, Smudge Bunny, sometimes good things happen from bad things. For me, cancer has been a transformative experience. As one of my friends said recently, “Would you have ever thought you’d write a book and be speaking to groups of people?” My world has opened up since my diagnosis. I take better care of myself and have more confidence and passion for what I believe is a God-given mission. There have been more gifts than I can count.
I just finished watching Monster’s Ball on TV (yes, I know it’s been out for 10 years). I could barely view the beginning; it was so full of painful images. Billy Bob Thornton’s character was a violent racist who transformed into a loving and generous man who falls in love with an African American woman (Halle Berry). This transformation happens after the suicide of his son and the death of her son. In the end, they are looking up at the stars, and Billy Bob’s character says to her, “I think everything’s going to be alright.”
That’s faith. That’s the demonstration of God’s love despite terrible circumstances. Bernie was right. Good things can come from bad things.
To listen to my God 321 interview, go to http://www.god321.net/podcast.html.
After more than 20 years working in health care public relations, Tami Boehmer was thrust into the world as a patient. In February 2008, she was diagnosed with a stage IV breast cancer recurrence–months after celebrating her five-year, cancer-free anniversary. Unwilling to accept a grim prognosis, she decided to interview survivors nationwide who have lived far beyond what the medical establishment predicted. Tami compiled these amazing stories into her book, and shares them along with valuable information on healing the body, mind and spirit on her Web site and blog, Miracle Survivors. Tami lives with her husband Mike, daughter Chrissy and furry feline AJ in Cincinnati, Ohio. She divides her time between caring for her family, blogging, fulfilling speaking engagements, and serving as a board member for Pink Ribbon Girls, a support group for young breast cancer survivors.
