Quiet time with God key, Pope says

God is faithful and true. Period.

That is the thread woven throughout Crissy Pope’s breast cancer story.

The Enterprise woman has been cancer free for 16 years. “My testimony is simple,” Pope said. “I am still here, praise God.”

Cancer is no respecter of persons, Pope said. That was a lesson brought home to her on June 12, 2001 following an appointment with Enterprise surgeon Dr. Sam Sawyer to check a lump in her left breast.

“I was a little concerned but due to the fact that this had not been an unusual thing in my family I tried to remain calm,” she said.

Pope said she received a call from Sawyer the next morning asking her to come in to his office to discuss the biopsy results. It was cancer. “My lab report read: ‘The carcinoma is quite extensive—is associated with extension into lymphatic channels—the carcinoma involves virtually all sections of breast tissues—the exact size of the tumor is difficult to evaluate—the approximate stage is IIB.’

“Wow—I was only 30 years old,” Pope said was her immediate reaction. “As a mother, the first thing I thought of was Aaron and Adam, who were 9 and 10 at the time. There was one thing for certain, I knew they needed their momma and I needed to be there for them.

“The next week, I spent lots of quiet time with God, the kind of time where I could feel His arms around me and I knew that He was there with me,” Pope said.

Surgery day came and all went well, Pope said, adding that she “lost” her left breast. “I hear of some women not wanting to have the mastectomy, but for me it was an easy decision,” she said. “There are worse things to lose—I still had things to do.”

The next day Pope said she was told that tests revealed that her lymph nodes were void of cancer. “Prayers had been answered,” she said.

Pope began chemotherapy treatment during which time the support she received from family and friends was invaluable, she said. “Each day I knew I was covered by the prayers of family and friends.”

Pope said her challenge to other women is to have mammograms and do self-breast exams. “And if you feel something questionable, go see your doctor,” she stressed.

“Today my 9-year-old and 10-year-old sons are 25- and 27-years-old and my family has been blessed with a daughter-in-law and a grandbaby on the way,” Pope said. “I believe that God healed me.

“When some people are diagnosed with cancer, we have reports that the cancer is gone and the doctors can’t explain it,” Pope said. “My healing came through the wisdom of doctors, medicine and a divine touch to my lymph nodes.

“We can’t explain why God moves the way He does in our situation but we must trust that God is faithful and true and that He is at work,” Pope said. “Because through experience comes understanding and through understanding comes the compassion that we need to reach others where they are.

“I don’t know what the mountain might be that you are praying about,” Pope said. “So I want to encourage you that God is faithful and true. Thank you God for seeing my tears and hearing my prayer. “This year marked me as a 16 year cancer survivor and I am so thankful for that,” Pope said. “Life is a gift—His mercies are new every morning.

“We never know why we have the experiences that we have in life,” Pope said. “But I believe we should use these situations to come out with a new level of compassion that is only learned through experience.”