John Piper Diagnosed
with Prostate Cancer
January 6, 2006
Dear Friends,
I hope this letter will encourage your prayer, strengthen
your hope, and minister peace. I am writing with the blessing
of the Council of Elders of Bethlehem Baptist Church to help
you receive the news about my prostate cancer.
At my annual urological exam on Wednesday, December 21, the
doctor felt an abnormality in the prostate and suggested
a biopsy. He called the next day with the following facts:
1) cancer cells were found in two of the ten samples and
the estimate is that perhaps 5% of the gland is affected;
2) my PSA count was 1.6, which is good (below 4 is normal);
3) the Gleason score is 6 (signaling that the cancer is not
aggressive). These three facts incline the doctor to think
that it is unlikely that the cancer has spread beyond the
prostate, and that it is possible with successful treatment
to be cancer-free.
Before going with my wife, Noël, to consult in person
with the doctor on December 29 about treatment options, I
shared this news with the Bethlehem staff on Tuesday morning,
December 27, and with the elders that evening. Both groups
prayed over me for healing and for wisdom in the treatment
choices that lie before us. These were sweet times before
the throne of grace with much-loved colleagues.
All things considered, Noël and I believe that I should
pursue the treatment called radical prostatectomy, which
means the surgical removal of the prostate. We would ask
you to pray that the surgery be completely successful in
the removal of all cancer and freedom from possible side
effects.
With the approval of Bethlehem’s executive staff and
elder leadership, we are planning surgery in February. The
recovery time is about three weeks before returning to a
slow work pace, and six weeks to be back to all normal activities.
This news has, of course, been good for me. The most dangerous
thing in the world is the sin of self-reliance and the stupor
of worldliness. The news of cancer has a wonderfully blasting
effect on both. I thank God for that. The times with Christ
in these days have been unusually sweet.
For example, is there anything greater to hear and believe
in the bottom of your heart than this: “God has not
destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our
Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are
awake or asleep we might live with him” (1 Thessalonians
5:9-10)?
God has designed this trial for my good and for your good.
You can see this in 2 Corinthians 1:9, “Indeed, we
felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that
was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises
the dead.” And in 2 Corinthians 1:4-6, “He comforts
us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort
those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which
we ourselves are comforted by God . . . If we are afflicted,
it is for your comfort and salvation.”
So I am praying: “Lord, for your great glory, 1) don’t
let me miss any of the sanctifying blessings that you have
for me in this experience; 2) don’t let the people
of Bethlehem miss any of the sanctifying blessings that you
have for us in this; 3) grant that the surgery be successful
in removing cancer and sparing important nerves; 4) grant
that this light and momentary trial would work to spread
a passion for you supremacy for the joy of all peoples through
Jesus Christ; 5) may Noël and all close to me be given
great peace—and all of this through the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever,
Amen.” I
hope God will lead you to pray in a similar way.
With deep confidence that - “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin
is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 15:54-57
|
