Da’Sha’s Story

My name is Da’Sha and I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer January 30th of 2009. I was 42 at the time my life was turned upside down. We learned I inherited a gene from my grandmother it’s called ‘Lynch syndrome’ and at that time, I was given 3 to 6 months to live. The cancer was very aggressive and my oncologist didn’t believe I would survive radiation and chemo treatments. However, my doctor decided to take advantage of my age and hit me hard with chemo/radiation. The entirety of my story is a long and difficult tale. After 8 years and soon to be 14 surgeries, I’m still journeying to wellness. My journey includes several rounds of two different types of chemo(pump) and radiation; a sundry of medications which each have many different side effects. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful & humbled that my God has honored my one prayer since my diagnoses.

See, when I was first diagnosed with these disease and the doctor walked in to tell me that it was staged 4 and a very aggressive form of cancer, I prayed. My doctor said we needed to act fast and get started on a treatment place. Immediately when I left the hospital I sat in my car and I prayed. I prayed and told Him(God) that I wasn’t ready. I asked him, Lord who would Praise You from the grave! You see, just 10 months before I found out my body was being invaded by this greedy illness, I had just given my life back to Christ. I reminded God of this fact. I wanted to be a living breathing testimony for him. And I wasn’t ready to go!!!

So I wasn’t ready to give up. I’m a single mother of 5 children. I have also been blessed to have my 18th grandchild. So I have much to live for and much work to be done. This mama has no time for all this cancer stuff. And dying is NOT an option. Still, God kept me. He kept me humble, thankful and grateful. He’s given me gratitude for what I’ve been through. Even through the excruciating pain, the loss of hair and my skin falling off due to radiation. I choose to not dwell on that for too long. Yes! It has been rough and tough. I have learned to retrain my mind to tell my brain and will my heart to understand that God’s Got Me!

I do understand the battle of this adversary and I do know the struggles are real. I’m not always on ‘mountain tops’ and often walk through the ‘Valley of the shadow of death.’ I simply tell myself it’s only a ‘ shadow’ and ask of whom shall I be afraid? I know my God is with me no matter what I go through. It is because of my prayer in 2009. What did I pray for? I prayed for strength. I prayed for courage. I prayed for wisdom. No matter my circumstances, no matter what the doctors say to me. My God would never forsake me and then I will put my trust in Him! I told God if He would honor my prayer, that I would chose ‘LIFE’ no matter what I endured! I choose life if He would be my strength when I was weak. I choose life if He would be the courage I need to keep on keeping on when I felt I know longer could, And I chose to live in Wisdom knowing MY GOD is still in the miracle business and He still sits on the throne!

I still have a long road ahead but He walks with me and I meditate on God’s Word. You see God is my Greatest Motivator!! He is My Heavenly Father!

Thank you for letting me share my journey…God Bless Ms.Marissa M.you have been such an inspiration…

Mr. Lee’s Story

Antoine “Ace” Lee is an Army Veteran that served his country for six years. To his family, he’s a loving husband, caring father, and the “best Papa ever.” Living a relatively healthy and active life, never did he imagine his toughest battle would be for his life. In 2005, Ace was diagnosed with colon cancer and was treated at the VA Hospital in Dallas, TX. There he underwent chemotherapy and many surgeries. One was to remove his pancreas and others were reconstructive surgeries to repair the damage of colon cancer. Mr. Lee says that cancer was truly a fight for his life. A fight that he won! In 2007, he received a report from his doctor saying that he was in complete remission.
Mr. Lee believes in celebrating life. One of his favorite pastimes is riding his motorcycle with his wife and bike club. Ace is the national president for the Cruising Angels Motorcycle Club. He gives all glory to God for his complete healing and is thankful for the support of his family and friends during the darkest time of his life.

Leilani’s Story

We discovered that my Sister – daughter, mother and wife – Leilani (35), had Type 1 insulin dependent diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, and colon cancer in January 2014. We learned this after she was rushed to the ER while attending our Grandmother’s funeral out of state. The doctors admitted her into the ICU immediately because she was going into a diabetic coma. After determining she was Type 1 insulin dependent, we all figured she would be stabilized within a few days, so we returned back home, to San Antonio, TX – where Leilani is also a resident.

After spending one week in the hospital in Illinois, we were certain she would be ready to come back to San Antonio, and manage her newly diagnosed diabetes. However, she continued to get worse. The doctors could not figure out why she was not recovering.  Therefore, they decided she was not well enough to travel back home. She spent 13 weeks away from her children, her husband, and her home before the physicians allowed her to return home. The doctors decided to test her for every medical disease/illness to discover what other barriers were preventing her condition from stabilizing. They determined she had stage 2 colon cancer. This wife and mother of 4 children lost 87 lbs in less than 2 months. While we all knew she was sick, no one had any idea she had cancer.

We were unprepared for her Type 1 diabetic diagnosis and devastated by the cancer discovery. June 2014, she was upgraded to stage III Colon Cancer and Cervical Cancer, her battle became more complicated by the severe internal damage of her cancer.  Following her chemo, she had major reconstructive surgery to repair damage to her intestines and reconstruct her colon. Today, Leilani is a five year Ovarian Cancer survivor and has officially beat Colon Cancer as of 28 October 2014. However, as of March 2015, she is currently in battle with Cervical Cancer and prepared to kicks it’s butt!