Hi Irene,

We just got a copy of your book “Irene’s Journey of Faith”. As we left the hospital yesterday for a short break in treatment, the nurse came into the room and handed us a copy of the book and said she thought we would be interested in it.

My husband has been getting chemo treatments at UCSF since July. This is his second stint with cancer. The first (bladder cancer) was 5 years ago, and they told us that the 5th year of remission is a good sign that it won’t come back. Well, God had different plans. He was diagnosed in July with lymphoblastic lymphoma. The strange thing is that the bladder cancer is a smoker’s disease, but my husband has never smoked a day in his life. The lymphoblastic lymphoma is considered a childhood lymphoma…my husband will be 62 on the 22nd.

We both knew that this was God’s plan, even though we didn’t know what the plan was. My husband and I are with the Gideon’s. The first 3 weeks that my husband was in the hospital, he handed out 65 testaments; his personal record. When he gave one to a nurse, she said, I wondered when I would get one. All the other nurses had one, and she wondered why she hadn’t gotten one yet! (He had run out and I had to replenish his stock weekly).

As you know, it isn’t easy being stuck in the hospital, but we are making the best out of it. My husband’s doctor was so impressed with his progress that he would bring Stephen to other patients and show him off as a “model patient”. We still have months to go before the final treatment, but we have gotten so familiar with the staff and patients that going in has become a way of life.

I was the volunteer administrator for the San Francisco Prayer Breakfast for the last 12 years, and have been involved with Young Life, and Bold Assurance Ministries. I had to take a break from the prayer breakfast to care for my husband. As I thumbed through the book, I realized I knew the name Dave Dias, and several other names mentioned in the book. Ryon Paton, Don Thomas, and Wally Hawley were all names I recognized. I even bumped into Mark Laret while visiting the hospital.

We are looking forward to what God’s plan is for us in the next 18 months. “We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who hold the future.”

I’m asking for prayer for a patient who was my husband’s roommate at one time. His name is Sam Adams. As my husband was leaving on Sunday, Sam came into the room and it they were both elated to see each other again. The nurse said it was very rare that former roommates would ever share the same room again. Sam is a Coptic Christian of Egyptian descent. He is having a very had time with his treatment. Please pray for him to receive peace during his treatment.

God Bless your recovery.

Joyce Sarkisian