Peace through the Storm

Dear partners in prayer,

The past two weeks have seen the focus of our lives changed in a way neither Rob nor I could have imagined. While we were focusing on the details of our move to the States and winding down our ministry in Hungary, health issues were looming.

Sunday morning February 15th while Rob was shaving before church, he discovered a large mass in his neck. After looking at it and discovering it was not painful (an indication of infection) we decided we needed to have our friend Dr. Krisztian take a look at it at church that morning.

Dr. Krisztian checked it out and decided that Rob needed to be seen by an Ear, Nose, and Throat doc so an appointment was made for Wednesday, February 18th. Following a chest x-ray and an ultrasound, the doctor in Hungary told Rob the mass was indeed a tumor but gave no indication whether it was benign or malignant. Since it was too late in the day to have a needle biopsy and since they are only done on Wednesday mornings, an appointment was scheduled for Wednesday, February 25th.

Since I,(Carol) was scheduled to leave for the U.S. on Monday the 23rd, there was discussion of whether or not to postpone my leaving. Rob assured me he felt the tumor would be benign and not to change my plans.

On Wednesday, February 25th Rob had a needle biopsy and was told that he would know the results within an hour or so. Unfortunately, the news was not what we hoped to hear. The tumor is malignant, the diagnosis was "Metastatic Squamous Cell Neck Cancer with an unknown (occult) primary." This means that the cancer in his neck is metastasized from an unknown location and is considered a secondary cancer. The doctors do not know at this time where the primary cancer is except that with this type of cancer it generally is in the area above the shoulders, i.e., head and neck areas.

On Thursday, February 26th, I met with our personal doctor here in California and showed him the e-mail with the diagnosis and asked him to tell us the truth, i.e., how serious is this type of cancer, how treatable, etc. Again, the news was not good. His comments were that this type of cancer is VERY aggressive, VERY fast growing, and DOES NOT respond well to treatment.

The next question I posed to him was what does this mean in terms of survivability. He said without treatment it would usually be from 3-6 months. Rob has stated many times through the years that he would not choose to prolong his life with chemo or radiation treatments. Most recently he expressed this again when a friend in California was diagnosed with cancer and died in 11 days. Rob's comment was "that's the way I want to go...quickly."

Rob will fly to California on Sunday, March 8th (his 66th birthday) and will have additional tests here including a CT Scan, possibly an MRI, and blood work. After the results are in, Rob will meet with the Oncologist so he can make a fully informed decision about the course he will choose to pursue.

Please keep Rob in your prayers, for God's perfect plan for his life to be accomplished, and my special prayer...that Rob would not suffer unduly.

I will keep you updated through this blog as we have information to share. The number of e-mails we've received since the news got out have just inundated us and it's hard to respond personally to each of you.

We thank you one and all for your love and encouragement. We cherish you and our friendships, realizing we would never choose to go through these days without you and most importantly, without the Lord's grace and peace.

Rob continues to express being filled with a sense of God's presence and the peace only God can provide.

Be blessed in Jesus,
Carol for Rob too