This post is from my wife. I am in the process writing a biography which this is an important part of. I am hoping our stories (true events from our lives) and testimonies can help to lead others to God. I spent most my life in the Army learning how to lead, now I want to take that leadership and lead my fellow Christian’s to God and redemption.
My name is Beth Thompson, and I am an Acute Myeloid Leukemia -With Flt 3 genetic mutation (AML+Flt3) Survivor.
In March of 2014, My life changed forever. I awoke one morning unable to breathe. For weeks, I had been sick, feeling weak, and Inside I somehow knew I was dying. Every Doctor that I had seen said that it was just a common virus, flu, common cold, Completely dismissed my symptoms and sent me home. This morning was different. My symptoms changed for the worst and I was having trouble breathing due to an insane amount of pain in my left abdominal area. My husband drove me to my doctors office to be seen again by my physician. He asked questions and felt my stomach, abdomen and said he didn’t feel anything enlarged. He recommended going to the emergency room where I could get result on blood work more immediately.
We drove straight to the Emergency Room. At this point, I was gasping for air. They quickly took me to a room, began evaluations and immediately ran blood work. Within minutes… literally 10 minutes, the head Pathologist of the Hospital was standing at the foot of my bed. He asked me a series of odd questions all of which I answered “Well now that you ask, Yes.” I pulled out my 4 pages of symptoms that I had written down and categorized in order of occurrence & under what I thought could possibly be causing them to happen. I will never forget that moment when I realized the answer to my symptoms amongst his medical terminology ramblings. I stopped him and said “Leukemic?!? As in Leukemia?!!!?” My heart dropped and I was in complete shock. “This can’t be happening.” My sons were 1.5 yr old and 5 months old when all of this happened.
I was admitted into the hospital ICU immediately (literally 5 minutes) after the pathologist gave me the devastating news. My Cancer was so advanced that it was easily visible. My blood was 98% Blasts (Cancerous cells). He told me that he didn’t know how I was still alive. Before I even sat down on the bed in the ICU, a nurse entered with chemotherapy pills and water telling me to take them. I had to make a decision within minutes that would effect the rest of our lives.
Over the next 7 days straight, I went through intense (24 hours a day for 7) days of chemotherapy treatments. Those 7 days were a whirlwind of emotions, depression, sadness, grief and anger. I barely understood what was happening or even what AML was. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to see my children grow and be there for all of their “firsts”. I wanted to live more than anything I had ever wanted before. I prayed and I prayed for God to save me. I prayed endlessly for the wrongs that I had done, my failures, my mistakes…
One night, I believe it was day 5 at this hospital, something indescribable and unimaginable happened. I laid in my bed with tears rolling down my face, unable to sleep. Then all of a sudden, my room filled glorious light brighter than the sun and shined with an incredible amount of energy. I shielded my eyes and was still but I was not afraid. I heard a soft manly voice speak “Do not be afraid. I am Gabriel. The Lord thy God has sent me.”
I was visited by the Angel Gabriel. The Angel Gabriel told me “The Lord thy God has healed you. Go forward and tell the world what he has done and the miracle that has happened here!” Then, Just as fast has the angel had arrived, He left. I cried and fell asleep. I didn’t fully understand/accept what had happened that day until recently. I have doubted myself and kept this event to myself until now. The longer time passed the more I felt that I had disobeyed Gods command for my life. I felt/feel unworthy. I fought my battle with AML Leukemia and an AML Leukemia relapse for almost a full year. That year tested every fiber of my being and brought me back to my Faith in God.
My prognosis of life expectancy was a less than 5% chance of life for up to 2 years. Can I tell you… this March of 2022 will mark 8 years since my initial diagnosis!?! 8 years!! God has blessed me and given me more life than I could have ever dreamed.
I would ask my Oncology team “Have my odds improved!?! I’m at the 3 year mark!? or the 5 year mark!? or 7 year mark!??” The last time I asked He told me to “Stop asking and just enjoy life.” I didn’t know how to take that at first but what I have learned over the Last two years is to seek and find the Joy in everyday.
There is so much more to my story … The ugly side, the depression, the struggle, the pain, and watching my children be raised by someone else because I wasn’t strong enough to care for myself yet alone to be a full time mother. I struggled with “Why did God spared me?” It took 3 years for me to be able to walk more than 50 feet without resting. It was 5 years before I could be in sunlight for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. 6 years Before I could be a fraction of “Me” again and conquer my depression and suicidal thoughts. That is when I made the bold, broken, desperate decision to Move my family back to Roanoke, Virginia where our journey had originally began. I hadn’t been allowed to live more than 30 minutes away from my out of state Oncology Team in 6 years. Roanoke is 6 hours away… away from my extended family, my hospital, my oncology team, and everything that I depended on and held on to out of fear for so long. I was faithful and God fearing but I was so incredibly scared. I believed God had saved me but I kept asking “Why!? Why me!? I don’t deserve this.” Trauma had thought me to hold on for dear life, to control everything around me that I could possibly control and if I did it just right, maybe… just maybe I could live an extra month or another year. I couldn’t bare the thought of my children growing up without me. I had become so miserable in the bubble that I had created. I was tired of being scared. I was extremely depressed and had lost sight of “Hope”. I was embarrassed of how I had not progressed in my faithful walk with Christ. I was at a crossroads in life, give up? Or jump! I Jumped! I took that leap of faith and ran with it. I jump started my life in November of 2019 and I let go of fear.
A month later, COVID-19 started and the world shut down. Everyone was quarantined and forced to live the way that, quite frankly, I had been living for over 6 years. We were exactly where I wanted to be, location at least. We started new things such as gardening, a greenhouse, some renovations and an organic herb garden that I absolutely love. I have found Passion, Joy, Peace and most importantly, I once again found God.
Voice of the People (VoP) 