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    No Retreat, No Surrender: A Story of Faith, Love and Cancer.
    No Retreat, No Surrender: A Story of Faith, Love and Cancer.
    No Retreat, No Surrender: A Story of Faith, Love and Cancer.
    Ebook144 pages1 hour

    No Retreat, No Surrender: A Story of Faith, Love and Cancer.

    By Dena Sherwood

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    About this ebook

    On July 6, 2008, when author Dena Sherwood first heard the devastating words, "Your son has neuroblastoma," she never imagined that those words would later become a blessing to so many.

    Dena prayerfully fought alongside her son, for three and a half years, to give him the best chance of beating the disease. A year after diagnosis, with God's guidance, Dena founded Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation to fund less toxic treatments for children with cancer and to bring hope to other families fighting the battle. Her son underwent chemotherapy, radiation, four major surgeries, immunotherapy, and a phase one vaccine trial and was later declared NED (No Evidence of Disease).

    From living in fear to living by faith No Retreat, No Surrender chronicles how one family's faith in the Lord has brought hope and help to so many.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateDec 14, 2011
    ISBN9781449732400
    No Retreat, No Surrender: A Story of Faith, Love and Cancer.
    Author

    Dena Sherwood

    Dena Sherwood is the mother of two children, one of which was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma—a rare and deadly form of childhood cancer.   Dena became very active in the childhood-cancer community and subsequently founded Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation. To date the foundation has helped to fund several childhood cancer treatments, which are available in hospitals around the country. AWOCCF also sponsors programs to aid childhood cancer families emotionally, as well as providing  assistance to families who are suffering  hardship due to their child's diagnosis.   She lives in Marlboro, New Jersey, with her husband of ten years and her two children; Sydney and Billy, Jr.  She is also a court reporter by trade and owns her own court reporting agency, Sherwood Reporting, Inc.  She draws strength from the Lord daily and thanks Him every day for her precious gifts: her husband, her daughter and her son.  

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      Book preview

      No Retreat, No Surrender - Dena Sherwood

      Contents

      Dedication

      Introduction

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Dedication

      This book is dedicated to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior; through these words, may You be glorified and may others come to know You. Thank you for strengthening our family and allowing us to help those in need through Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation. My prayer is that You continue to use the foundation and our family to serve others, to aid those in the fight against childhood cancer, and to one day be a part of the cure.

      •   To my husband, Billy: I am so proud to be your wife. I love you more every day! Who knew ten years could feel like ten days? I am blessed to be able to share my life with such an amazing man, husband, and father! I pray continually for your peace.

      •   To my daughter, Sydney: Thank you for being so brave, patient, and understanding—and for graciously taking a backseat for a big part of our journey. Billy’s cancer has been difficult for us all, and I know that you have made many sacrifices. I am so proud of the young lady you are—responsible, kind, compassionate, loving, and nurturing. Always remember how much you are loved and what an important part of this family you are!

      •   To my son, Billy: You are a precious gift from God. Your battle with cancer has caused us all to come to know and love the God who created you. Your strength, disposition, and love for life never cease to amaze everyone who meets you. I am blessed to be your mother. Because of you, my life will never be the same—thank you!!!

      •   To our extended family and friends who have stood beside us through the most difficult time of our lives: Thank you for your love, strength, encouragement, and support. All you have done for our family and the Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation totally overwhelms me. We could never begin to repay your generosity, but we do promise to pay it forward.

      •   To Kim, Noreen, Tracy, and Trish: Thank you for helping to make this book a reality.

      •   To Pastor Lloyd: Thank you for faithfully teaching the truth.

      Prayer of Sir Francis Drake – (1540-1596)

      Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,

      When our dreams have come true

      Because we have dreamed too little,

      When we arrived safely

      Because we sailed too close to the shore.

      Disturb us, Lord, when

      With the abundance of things we possess

      We have lost our thirst

      For the waters of life;

      Having fallen in love with life,

      We have ceased to dream of eternity

      And in our efforts to build a new earth,

      We have allowed our vision

      Of the new Heaven to dim.

      Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

      To venture on wider seas

      Where storms will show your mastery;

      Where losing sight of land,

      We shall find the stars.

      We ask You to push back

      The horizons of our hopes;

      And to push into the future

      In strength, courage, hope, and love.

      Introduction

      Each of us has a day that stands out in our memories above all the rest. For some, that day was a happy time—a wedding, anniversary, birthday, or vacation. For others it may have been a day of extraordinary loss or pain. For me, that day is July 6, 2008, the day when I first heard that my then thirteen-month-old son, Billy, had a rare form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma. Every detail of that awful day has been burned into my memory. That day has altered all the rest.

      Sadly, what happened to our family on that day is something that many other families are experiencing every day. On average, forty-six children are diagnosed with cancer each weekday. It doesn’t make the evening news; it doesn’t get much attention at all. Yet, day after day, mothers and fathers are told that their children have cancer, and their lives are being devastated. Adding to their heartache is the reality that their precious child may die because adequate funding for childhood cancer research and treatment is not available.

      Since Billy’s diagnosis, I’ve experienced a new life. I’ve walked the halls of children’s cancer wards. I’ve lived for weeks at a time in my son’s hospital room and in the comforting atmosphere of the Ronald McDonald House. I’ve heard the brave laughter as well as the heart-wrenching cries of many precious little warriors. I’ve seen the fear in their parents’ eyes, and cried with them when they received the news that their child had run out of options. I’ve watched my own young son fight for his life, and it has pierced me to the core of my soul.

      Yet, despite all the horror and unfairness of this Crazy Cancer World, I have also discovered a rare beauty that exists in the midst of this dark and difficult place. It is because of Billy’s cancer that I have come face-to-face with my own greatest need. At first, I thought that need was to find a cure for my son’s cancer, but one day I realized that I had an even greater need—a need to find acceptance and peace in the midst of all the pain and uncertainty. Today, I have found both in my Christian faith.

      My belief in Jesus is so interwoven with my son’s cancer that I can’t talk about one without the other. In many ways, I believe that God has allowed my family to enter into this dark corner of the world so that He could shine the light and hope of His love to all those we meet. It is also amid families battling with childhood cancer that I have been encouraged by the faith of so many others.

      When we are living with the reality that our child could die, it is easy to believe that God has forgotten about us. But His Word says that He will not leave us or forsake us.[1] Although I still work fervently to raise awareness and funding to help find a cure for Billy’s cancer, today I know that, no matter what happens, God is in this with me. I am not alone. He feels every pain, eases the burden, and gives me peace in the midst of the storm. Without faith in a God who is greater than my circumstances, what hope would I have? I read these words of encouragement in one of my devotionals, Streams in the Desert, by LB Cowman. It reads, "Jesus Christ is not my security against the storms of life, but He is my perfect security in the storms. He has never promised me an easy passage, only a safe landing."[2]

      Since Billy’s diagnosis, I have walked through this Crazy Cancer World with faith in God and a growing compassion for those He puts in my path. In August 2009, I formed Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The amount of money needed to bring promising new treatments into clinical trials is relatively small. Through a number of fundraisers and other endeavors—including writing this book—Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation is working to raise public awareness and bring in funds to advance research and finance less-toxic treatment options for children with cancer.

      The idea for this book came about as I was reading some of the entries in our CaringBridge Journal. These entries are more than just periodic updates from someone locked inside the cancer ward—they tell the story of what life in this crazy world is all about. I thought, what better way to raise awareness than to share our story. So, with help and encouragement, I began the task. My prayer is that God will use it in much the same way that He used a small rock in the hand of a young shepherd boy named David. In the midst of an army that told him he would never prevail, David brought down the mighty Goliath, because he trusted in God.

      I hope as you read our story of faith, love, and cancer that you will see the beauty that exists amid the great sorrow and that you will consider joining us in our fight against this deadly disease.

      The goals of Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation are to:

      •   Raise awareness and help fund a cure for neuroblastoma and other pediatric cancers;

      •   Be an advocate for the voiceless children, whose lives are more valuable than silver and gold;

      •   Bring hope to families who are suffering and remind them that their greatest peace comes from knowing the love of God; and

      •   Honor the lives of the beautiful children who are now looking into the face of God.

      Proceeds from this book will go directly toward fighting childhood cancer.

      Chapter One

      Where Will Our Help Come From?

      When I heard the doctor in the emergency room of our local hospital say the word cancer, my whole body went limp. A combination of nausea, grief, and panic washed over me like a tidal wave. Even my thinking seemed to have slipped out of my control. Like a broken record, the same anxious thoughts began to play repeatedly inside my head: How could this be? This must be a mistake. How could this be? This must be a mistake.

      My mind did not want to believe what the doctors had just said. My eyes did not want to see the serious looks on their faces or the tears in my husband’s eyes. I felt my life slipping away like a vapor. My heart was broken. My soul ached. Sorrow consumed me. When I started to cry, I couldn’t stop. My own tears, like the crazy thoughts racing through my mind and the tumors growing inside my thirteen-month-old son’s little body, were uncontrollable. New questions began mixing with those already swirling around inside my head: Who is going to save us from this monster? Where will our help come from?

      * * *

      It is hard to believe how quickly life can

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