My Help Cometh From The Lord

I recently received a prayer request from Missy Skinner. Many of you will know Missy and her Husband Jeff. Our families have been friends for many years. We basically grew up at the ballpark together. They have been going thru some really hard times, so if you would, read their story and lets lift these guys up in prayer.

It seems like every time you turn the television on or open the newspaper, you see one tragedy after another. I would like to share that among all the bad there is still some good out there. There are good people out there. My family has been blessed by family, friends, the community, business associates, our Army family, and many people I do not even know.

It all started on October 26, 2008, I took my husband, Jeff, to the Emergency Room. He was suffering from a serve headache. His serve headache turned out to be another brain tumor. On October 27, 2008, Jeff had his second brain surgery at Trinity Hospital. The surgeon removed the tumor. After the surgery, the doctor came out and told me that my husband has a Stage 4 Cancerous tumor. He was given a 48 week life expectancy. I stood still trying to comprehend what had just been told to me. At the same time, I am trying to figure out how I am going to tell our only child her father has cancer. Our only child is only 16 years old. I am 39 and Jeff is 38, how could this be?

On Tuesday, October 28, 2008, Jeff took a turn for the worse. Jeff was experiencing swelling on the brain. During this time Jeff also had his first stroke. His short-term memory was affected. He had many other physical challenges to overcome. His balance was off, etc. God has been very good and merciful through all of this. The faith of my family has grown stronger. We know and understand that He is the Great Physician. Finally, on November 8, 2008, Jeff was released from the hospital. Praise the Lord!

Everything was going really well. Jeff was getting stronger each day. His memory was improving. His other physical problems were getting better. Jeff was not feeling well on Sunday, December 7, 2008 so I took him to the Emergency Room. They changed his medication and he seemed to be fine. Jeff was finally able to begin his Radiation and Chemo treatment on Monday, December 8, 2008. Everything went well during his first treatment. I took him in for his second treatment on Tuesday, December 9, 2008, and the entire world changed. During this treatment Jeff was rushed to the Emergency Room at Trinity Hospital. He was experiencing brain swelling again. During this time Jeff, also suffered another stroke. Jeff had to undergo another brain surgery. After his surgery, the doctor came out and told me that they removed the bone flap that was put in after his first surgery, some dead brain cells, and new cancerous cells. The doctors exact words were, “We’ve done all we can do, He is in the Lord’s hands”. The next morning, the doctor told me that he didn’t expect to see me because he felt that Jeff would not make it through the night. He told me, “Mrs. Skinner, he is a miracle”. I know Jeff is a miracle…my miracle. Well as of today, I still believe that the God I know and serve will heal my husband, the father of my child.

The strokes have affected Jeff’s vision. He is still suffering from other physical problems from the cancer and his third brain surgery. He is unable to take care of himself let alone stay by himself. I am reminded of our wedding vows…”For better or worse, in sickness and in health”. This is a good lesson for those going through this with us to learn what unconditional love is.
Jeff was finally released from the Hospital on Tuesday, December 16, 2008. Our story gets more interesting here. On Saturday, December 20, 2008, Jeff’s sisters picked my daughter Megan and me up to go and finish our Christmas shopping. No matter what was going on in our personal life…Christmas was rapidly approaching. Their husbands were going to be Jeff’s caretakers that day. They came over and stayed with him for a little while and then took him to Krispy Kreme for some donuts.

I had barely gotten inside the mall and started to shop when my cell phone began to ring. My next door neighbor called and told me that our house was on fire! I remember thinking this can’t be happening! I had been doing all morning. Apparently there was a short in the dryer and this is the cause of the fire. (No I did not leave the dryer running when I left.)
God is good and He does take care of His children. The Christmas gifts I had already purchased and wrapped were rescued. My scrapbooks of our lives were saved. A few other sentimental items were also saved. Other than that we lost everything else.

Now, this is the good I want to tell you about. God is good all the time, all the time God is good! To get through life, you might as well look for humor. The day of the fire, as the day was ending, we were joking around about sending our story in to Extreme Home Makeover. Well, who needs Extreme Home Makeover when you have family, friends, and a community that have all pitched in to help rebuild our home! God puts people in your path in His timing. We have been overwhelmed from the kindness and generosity of others. God’s love is truly shining through others as they are blessing us. I can’t express our thanks enough. There are good people in this world!

I thank you for taking the time to read, Our Story. Your consideration in airing our story on your show would be more than appreciated. There are so many people to thank, I’m not sure of any other way to thank them all.

If you would like to verify Our Story, it was shared on Magic 96 by a personal friend of mine during their Christmas Elves. However, this was shared before the house fire. When someone hears about the fire on top of stage 4 brain cancer, their mouth drops open and they say, you’re kidding me…this can’t be true.
Missy Skinner