Gail's Story
In December of 2004, Pastor's wife was diagnosed with Metastatic
Colon Cancer that had spread to her liver and her lungs. Pastor Scott
and Gail were blessed by God to be married for over 10 years and to have
two wonderful sons, Jake and Seth, who were only 3 years old and 8
months old, respectively, at the time of diagnosis. To the amazement of
her physicians, God blessed Gail with life beyond the time limits that
they had set for her. Four times our Pastor was told that Gail's
journey was at an end, but God always showed Himself mighty and
merciful, even to the doctor's own admission that it wasn't anything
that their medicine was doing, it was something beyond their own
understanding. We praise our God for showing Himself strong througout
Gail's Life.
We are so thankful to everyone who has visited this site and prayed for Gail throughout her journey.
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Our Story
12-23-2004 - Gail was diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer at Baptist Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.
1-17-2005 - We flew to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas
today. While we were there the center ran new tests and found that the
cancer has advanced since the previous tests that were done last month.
This was not the news we were hoping for but we remain confident that
God is in control of all things.
1-24-2005 - We returned to Jacksonville today.
2-2-2005 - Gail received her first chemo treatment at Baptist
hospital today. It took almost five hours. We sat together and thanked
God for His blessings. Gail showed no signs of side effects and is home
resting.
2-4-2005 - We moved into our new house today. After celebrating 10
Christmas holidays as man and wife in our mobile home we are now in the
home we have saved for, waited for and prayed for. We did not know we
would be walking this path 9 months ago when we signed the contract to
build this house but we thank God that He allowed us to move into our
house together. Jake loves his "Spiderman bedroom", Seth is easy to
please & Gail loves her new house. I love seeing my family happy!
Thanks be to God for His many blessings.
2-8-2005 - Gail received her 2nd chemo treatment today. It was a tough day but God saw her through it.
2-14-2005 - Gail received her 3rd chemo treatment today. I am amazed by
her strength and by her faith in God. Each week we sit in a room for
five hours with different people and Gail tells everyone about her love
for God and God's love for her. We are blessed to know God's love
through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ.
2-19-2005 - Hillcrest Baptist Church held a benefit concert for Gail
today. It was a great night of praise & worship featuring soloists
Richard Velasco from Westside Baptist, Joanne Brooks from the Potter's
House, Allison Adkison from Old Plank and Archie Jackson from Hillcrest.
God's people came together and collected more than 11,000 dollars for
Gail. We appreciate everyone who helped make this a special night. Gail
was unable to attend because of her illness.
2-20-2005 - At 11:30 pm I took Gail to the ER at Baptist hospital.
She was so weak I had to physically carry her into the ER. She is
suffering from dehydration and infection. She is resting in Tower 506 at
Baptist hospital now. This is the same room she was checked into 2
months ago to the day when we received her initial diagnoses.
2-24-2005 - Today was Gail's Benefit golf tournament at Mill Cove Golf
Course. It was a great time for all and we appreciate everyone's help.
Eleven thousand dollars seems to be the special number for us. Not to be
out done by the concert, the tournament took in just over $11,000.00 -
Special thanks to Mark Ellison and Samantha Green for putting it all
together.
2-26-2005 - This has been a rough week for us. Gail has been very
sick and is still in the hospital. Tuesday the 22nd was her 35th
birthday. The doctor told us on Tuesday that he believed that this was
the "end of Gail's journey, and we should be prepared to lose her very
soon." She is still listed as day to day but she is doing better every
day. Praise God for His mercy.
3-1-2005 - Gail had surgery today to remove an infected portacath.
During the surgery she vomited several liters of fluid that had been
backing up in her bowels due to an unknown obstruction. She aspirated
(inhaled the fluid into her lungs) and the doctors have her in ICU
monitoring her for pneumonia.
3-5-2005 - Gail had exploratory surgery today to find the obstruction
in her bowels. The doctor repaired a hole in her small intestine and
"untangled her bowels". He said this should fix her obstruction problem.
She is recovering in the ICU.
3-9-2005 - God is a miracle worker. Gail stood up on her own
today and walked out of her room and down the hall. Praise the Lord! She
is still in ICU recovering from her surgery.
3-12-2005 - Gail was moved out of ICU today. She is still in the
hospital but she is getting stronger every day. We hope to be discharged
soon so we can go to Mexico this month.
3-17-2005 - Despite the doctors telling me to put in a do not
resuscitate order ( I didn't), telling me we need to move her to hospice
(I didn't), telling me this would be the end of her journey (it
wasn't), after almost four weeks of being in the hospital ICU listed in
critical day to day condition, Gail came home today. Praise God for His
healing power! Thank you for praying for us and believing God with us.
3-18-2005 - What a great day. Mom is home. Gail spent the day getting
and giving lots of hugs and kisses. We ate dinner together as a family.
Gail fed Seth and put Jake to bed. We hope to go to Mexico soon. Pray
for Gail to regain her strength so she can walk on her own.
3-22-2005 - After a month and a half of living in our new house with
boxes everywhere we started putting our house together today. It was
great to have Gail here to tell us where to put stuff. She is the best
woman I have ever known and her faith in God makes me want to be a
better Christian. We finalized our plans for Mexico today. We leave next
Wednesday. Please pray for us. Thank you to all who have helped us make
this happen. We love you and pray God's blessings in your lives.
3-31-05 - We arrived in Mexico last night. The hospital and the
people are great. We are surrounded by faith people and we know God is
working in Gail's life. Please keep us in your prayers. We love you.
4-18-2005 - We came home today. It is great to be back in the
USA. The twenty days in Mexico were wonderful. When we left three weeks
ago Gail was very weak. As we traveled through the airport I had to push
her in a wheel chair. When we arrived at the hospital she spent the
first few days in the wheel chair but each day God blessed Gail to
become stronger and stronger.
The treatment went well. Within days she was walking on her own.
While we were there we walked on the beach together, went shopping
together & went on several sightseeing trips together. She is
felling much better now.
4-21-2005 - Today Gail did something she hasn't done in four months.
She drove her car. Not only was this the first time she has driven since
her diagnoses but she went off by herself. She had some errands to run
and wanted to feel "normal" again so she hopped in the car and took care
of her business. Praise God for giving her strength.
4-24-2005 - Today was a great day for us as a family. All of the
Becker's were in church on the Lord's Day. I have prayed that God would
bring us back safely and allow us to stand in the house of the Lord
together and He did.
4-28-2005 - Today is Seth's birthday. He is one year old. Gail and I
went shopping today at the St John's Town Center. This was my first trip
to the new mega mall. Gail on the other hand has been twice this week.
What can I say? She loves shopping and she has totally re-mastered
walking/driving/spending money. It is a blessing to see her doing fun
things again. Praise God for His miraculous power!
4-29-2005 - This morining Gail got up and took Jake to school by
herself. She went on his field trip to the Build a Bear factory. They
made a stuffed bear from scratch. Jake named him Sonny Bear. I told her
not to try and do too much but she said she didn't want to miss the
chance to go on a field trip with her son.
After ther field trip she came home and made us all supper. She is awesome! We thank God for increasing her strength.
6-9-2005 - Hello. I'm sorry for taking so long to bring this update. We
just came back from a week long trip to Chambersburg, PA visiting Gail's
family. Jake and Seth loved spending time with their cousins & we
had a great time catching up with Gail's Grandma - aunts - uncles - and
cousins.
Gail's cough is getting worse but she is living life to the fullest.
She is shopping - playing with the kids - serving God & taking care
of the boys & me . Not necessarily in that order. Last month Gail
shared her testimony at a mother daughter banquet & everywhere we go
we meet people who are praying for us. The Body of Christ is great
& our God is great!
7-25-2005 - God is healing Gail. Her blood count is normal and she
feels great. She is doing everthing she use to do before she got sick.
Her energy is back & she is eating everything in sight. God is
awesome! Please pray that she can continue to gain weight.
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8-15-2005 - Gail is doing great! She is gaining weight and feeling
stronger every day. Last week she had routine CT scans done to measure
her tumors. The results came back this week - 25% - 50% shinkage. Praise
God!
10-10- 2005 - Hey everybody don't fall off your chairs, yes its me
Gail. I'm finally writing an E-Mail! I have been wanting for so long to
do this but I'm not very computer literate and had to get my sweet hubby
to show me how to get into this program to update stuff. I'm doing
great. Every two weeks I see my oncologist for my check up visit and he
is continually amazed at my report. I feel totally normal and have more
or at least as much energy as I have ever had. I have no ill feeling
side effects from the chemo only a few skin conditions to deal with.
Praise God!! My last cea level two weeks ago showed that the cancer has
significantly reduced activity and is now at 10 down from 69 when I
first started the chemo. Praise God He is awesome. Although I'm not
surprised, I know my God is a healing God. He is The Great Physician.
I have been struggling lately with wanting to know what God's desire
for my life is. What does He want me to do to greater impact the
Kingdom? I know I'm only going through this season in my life to give
God glory. And He showed me something that I feel like He wants me to
share with you. Hopefully you won't mind taking the extra time to read
this, it might be just for you.
We never deal with the finality of life. We live our lives thinking
they will last forever and certainly to a degree we should. I don't
believe God wants us to wake up each morning worried and petrified that
some great tragedy is going to befall us and just what are we going to
have to go through next. Obviously that's backed by scripture. God tells
us not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will have its own set
of worries. But I do believe we should live our lives as a race. But not
the race that we all seem to be caught up in. We end up a lot of times
running a race pursuing our own goals. Caught up in our day-to-day
lives. But what could we actually accomplish if we lived our lives
following after God as the "finish line" and not "just God " as we
normally do. But striving for the perfect will of God to be accomplished
in our lives. Close your eyes, well don't close your eyes because you
wont be able to keep reading. Just for a minute let your mind get that
picture in a picture window like our husbands (or wives) do when their
favorite baseball team is playing, or our cooking show is on. Picture
yourself all decked out in your running gear. You've got on the best
running shoes (the shoes of peace). The best headband (the helmet of
salvation). The cutest little running outfit, (I know guys that doesn't
really mean anything to you but just work with me for a minute that's
how girls think or at least me) and by the way girls you can look just
as cute as you want to look in that outfit this is your T.V. show
(He-He). Back to business (breastplate of righteousness). A perfectly
running stopwatch (the sword of he spirit). Your prepared. You've been
so faithful through the years to serve God. You've been to a gazillion
conferences. You've read lots of books had great quiet times, been
changed by life impacting sermons. God has shown you what he can do
through short one hundred meter dashes where we've pursued god
unmercifully for a short period of time. He's built your faith; He's
increased your knowledge. He's revealed truth to you. All to prepare you
for the ultimate race. And the ultimate race is I believe one where
something changes in our lives. Things begin to click in our minds and
we realize we've GOT to do so much more. My husband read a book not to
long ago called "The Barbarian Way". You should read it. It was awesome.
I know because He kept me awake at night for several days reading me
half the book. (I didn't mind it was great). But we should all live as
Barbarians in this Christian life. The Bible says we have the mind of
Christ. God is dealing with me. Wanting me to sign the roster, to dig my
heels down. To squint my eyes and see the tape at the finish line. Some
times God gives us reality checks to bring us in line with what he
wants from us. I have received my check in the mail overnight through
Fed-Ex just in case you're wandering. Sometimes God has to use desperate
measures to get us back on track. To set our eyes on the mark that he
has intended for us. I read 1 Corinthians 2:9 and for some reason (most
assuredly God) He revealed something to me. The scripture says, " No eye
has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared
for those that love Him". In the past I've always assumed this meant
what things will be like in heaven. And I believe it does. But not just
heaven. In this life we are living right now! Just a minute imagine what
God could accomplish through us if we lived totally sold out obedient
to do His will............ Wow!!!! I don't know about you but my heart
leaped and I was overcome with excitement when I thought about what God
could use me to do. And you know what whatever you thought about and I
thought about is only the tip of the iceberg.
Without reading the whole
chapter you might at first think God has something prepared for me that
I can't even imagine. But that's not true Take a minute to read 1
Corinthians 2. Paul is talking about the difference between saved people
and unsaved people. Unsaved people can't understand spiritual things.
But if we are truly saved we have the mind of Christ. God himself will
reveal what he has in store for us. What goals He wants us to accomplish
for his glory. How amazing is that!! We can see things revealed before
they actually come to pass. And if God is revealing these great and
awesome things to us, there should be an excitement we've never had
before. Have you ever watched a horse race? Those horses are so excited
their just waiting for the gun to explode so they can bust out of that
starting gate with their legs stretching as far as they can go. You can
see every muscle in their bodies rippling as they give everything they
have to get to the finish line. Stretching their neck out to accomplish
what their master has been training them to do. You've been training
your whole Christian life to accomplish what God has in store for you.
Don't live this life for yourself and your own desires. I've often head
people say and I've said myself, I'm not sure what God's will for my
life is. It's frustrating, I know. But remember we have the mind of
Christ. We can know what His will for our lives is! However it won't
come without pursuing God as hard as we can. "Like a deer panteth for
the water so my soul longeth after You". Man that's powerful. That
should be our hearts desire. And if it is we can do great things through
Christ.
Maybe your reading this and it doesn't make a lot of sense to you but
something inside is saying you want this. You NEED God. You need meaning
in your life and purpose. Please send me an E-Mail. I would love to
tell you how you can experience the most abundant life you can imagine.
Or maybe your like me, and you want to accomplish great things for God.
Make a decision and follow along with me. As God leads me through the
journey of a lifetime! There is an old song by Steven Curtis Chapman ( I
think) "This is the great adventure" Living the Christian life is a
great adventure!! You got to choose to hunker down and make a decision
to live a life for Christ that will have everlasting impact on the
people around you and for eternity. We only get one life. There are no
do-overs. We will never get the chance again to strive to bear the
everlasting fruit God intended.
I encourage you, if God is sparking a
desire in your heart to make changes, to accomplish things you can only
now dream of. Don't wait one minute more. Pray earnestly to make God
your number one priority. Don't just pray that once and forget about it.
Ask God to let that be your heart continually. Strive closer to get to
that big "THING" He has shown you or that he will show you once you
begin to seek it. And reach for the stars!!!
Well, that's all for now I hope it spoke to someone out there. I know
it spoke to me. Keep checking back I'll be in touch again soon.
Love, Gail
5-30-2006 - I am writing this update in response to the many requests
I have received regarding Gail's condition. There have been several
more surgeries and numerous hospital stays since my last update. In
spite of all of that Gail is still going strong and loving God with all
of her heart. She took the boys swimming over the holiday weekend and on
her good days nothing slows her down.
6-29-2006 - Gail came home today after 17 long, hard days in the
hospital. The doctor's office said, "she is a living miracle", and I
agree. Thank you for your prayers. Her complications are many but our
God is great and mighty in power & grace. She is still fighting the
infection that they have been treating her for in the hospital. They
sent her home so she could be with her family and sleep in her own bed.
I am administering IV antibiotics three times daily, nebulizer
treatments every 4 hours while awake & giving her oxygen around the
clock. She is my hero and it is my joy to take care of her.
Each day brings new challenges. Our faith is strong and we know our
God is strong. Please continue to pray as we walk the path that God
chooses for us to walk.
Gail asked me to please tell everyone on this site that they can have
a personal relationship with God. The Bible says in Romans 10:13
whosoever shall call upon the name of Lord shall be saved. If you are
not saved please call on God to save you. We would love to talk to you
about how you can have a relationship with the God who can give you
peace and joy even in the midst of difficult times. E-mail us and tell
us your story!
7-16-2006 - Praise the Lord, Glory to God, Bless His holy Name! This
morning at 8:15 am God completely healed Gail and took her home to
heaven. Thank you for your love and support. Gail was a champion until
the end. She never stopped believing God for her miracle & now she
is with the Lord.
We love you & thank you for your support. God bless you,
Pastor Scott & Gail Becker
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