Horn Family UpdateDecember 30, 2007
Warmest wishes to you at this season of rejoicing in the coming of our Savior to earth! We gratefully express our heartfelt thanks for continuing to uphold us in prayer - this is the best gift we've been privileged to receive and are excited to update you on how God has continued to be at work and praise Him for His goodness.
Following chemotheraphy, Beth began a year's worth of Herceptin treatment in October (her cancer isn't hormone-related, but the protein Her2Nu is overexpressed on her cell receptors - either causing or fed by the cancer - medicine doesn't know why this protein is overexpressed, but in studying Herceptin, they found it so effective against recurrence of the aggressive type cancer she has that they quit studying this biological agent & give it to every woman in her situation).
These treatments are 3 weeks apart and her fifth Herceptin treatment will be January 8 with 12 more treatments to follow. The fact she has been able to proceed thus far is an answer to your prayers; in post-chemotheraphy testing of the ejection-fraction function of her heart, her oncologist discovered that this pumping function of her heart had diminished significantly & we were faced with the scenario that she may not be able to sustain this necessary treatment due to the known side-effect of toxicity to the heart that Herceptin has (once again, the doctors do not know why this is).
Her oncologist agreed to proceed as long as Beth was also under the care of a Cardiologist, which is the case and so far all her testing shows no further-related heart issues. Her blood counts have been erratic since beginning Herceptin, so that is the most current area of need - please pray with us that her white blood counts (responsible for immune system function) will elevate and remain in a normal functioning range on their own. (She would very much like to "pass" on the bone-marrow test needed if this does not clear up.) Once again, in spite of her low numbers on the test results, God's protection of her health has been evident as she has remained healthy all through radiation and the holidays and been able to maintain a normal schedule.
Other areas of praise are the developing relationships between Beth and her physicians and medical care teams; she desires to share the Lord with each of them. A budding relationship with 2 elderly couples and a number of other individuals were forged during radiation and we would ask you to pray that the Lord would open their spiritual eyes and that these folks would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, this journey for our family continues to open doors of ministry with other believers who are battling cancer as well and we desire to be an encouragement, prayer supporters and blessing to each of them.
May the Lord's rich blessings be upon you in 2008!
Sam, Beth & familySeptember 20, 2007
Dear praying friends,
Beth and I wanted to give you a more recent update as to where things stand. We have been swamped with the start of school for our children as well as beginning a new semester at Northland on top of some of the most difficult and challenging days of the chemotherapy treatments. Basically, each treatment built on the previous treatment and so the effects of each treatment were more taxing as the summer progressed. We apologize for not giving you a more recent update but we have been trying to keep our noses above water. However, our hearts have been encouraged through it all and our spirits have been bolstered by the prayers and continued expressions of support and encouragement of so many of you.
Your continued prayers are so appreciated – the last part of July and all of August was a challenging time as Beth dealt with being down physically with various side effects due to her system getting taxed from the chemo. Her sixth & final chemo treatment was 9/19, so we're thankful to have reached the end of that course. Some natural treatment to right her internal systems that the Lord has graciously provided is proving very helpful & positive in the restorative process.
As far as an update on the cancer, it's a wait & see situation; the doctor watches the 4 areas closely that breast cancer can spread to & will test for spread if any symptoms arise. Otherwise, the best prognosis is positive, in that the treatments have all been completed without delay or alteration due to serious side effects. Our comfort is that we are safely in His hands & know that His perfect will will be accomplished in each of our lives who know & wait upon Him.
Beth will now receive Hercepton treatment from her oncologist for a year, every 3 weeks, to reduce an excess protein on her cells, that they're still studying - they don't know if cancer causes the protein or the protein causes the cancer. However, this treatment's been so effective for women with her same cell receptors that they quit studying this biological agent & give it to every woman in her situation & their cancer free existence has been very positive. Radiation treatment will begin shortly - we are just waiting on the schedule to be set by the radiation oncologist. She is currently scheduled to have between 40 and 45 treatments.
The Lord has continued to provide many open doors of ministry through this time which has been a great blessing & please continue to remember Penny, the wife of Randy (they trusted Christ together several weeks before he went to be with the Lord). She's growing as a Christian & wants to share Christ with her family. As a husband, I have been deeply impacted by my wife’s testimony both at home and with others in ministry. She has consistently walked confidently before the Lord in all of this. She has modeled for me what the Scripture records of Job – in all of this she has not charged God foolishly.
With the Lord’s help she has maintained a full and active church life. To my knowledge, she has not missed a service or an opportunity of service for the Lord – even on the days when she received her chemotherapy treatments. Needless to say, this has been an encouragement and a rebuke to the rest of us. She has also determined to continue teaching Spanish this Fall for Northland and has been making the weekly trek up to the campus with me each week – without complaint. I am amazed and rebuked at her passion and love for her students. And she has not missed a beat as a mom.
We don’t know what the future holds but Beth is helping me learn that today is the best day in which to serve the Lord since we are not promised tomorrow. Her doctors are still holding out a fairly positive outlook in that she has about a 60 to 70 percent chance of survival after all the treatments. This may seem dismal until one reflects on the original picture we were facing not too many months ago. We are confident that our lives are in His hands and we are not a statistic to Him.
He has been more than faithful to provide for all of our needs according to His riches and grace!
Thanks again for upholding us before the Lord - we are most grateful.
Sam and Beth and RD and Ashton
July 6, 2007
Dear Friends:
We continue to be so thankful to all of you for your ongoing, faithful prayer support. We have received emails, cards, calls, food, flowers, gifts, and even visits from so many of you. God has used your contact to encourage us and to remind us that He has surrounded us by many brothers and sisters in Christ who are standing with us through this trial. We have been especially blessed to learn that so many have passed through this very trial or ones even more severe and have experienced great things from God as He carried them through. Thank you from both of us for not forgetting to pray for us regularly. We feel the effect of your praying and need it now more than ever.
Beth is working through the difficult burden of chemotherapy. She had her second treatment last week and everything we were told to expect has (or is) coming to pass. She is sporting a snazzy wig these days and is up and about on her good days and we both are thankful that the “down days” are far fewer than the days when she is almost back to her normal energy level. We are thankful our doctors prepared us for the effects of chemotherapy – she seems to be a textbook case for everything they told us to expect. What we are most excited about however, is that in the midst of all of it, God has continued to meet our need with the precise amount of grace and provision needed for that moment.
Everything we have needed at every point along the way (from meals, finances, encouragement, medical assistance/advice) has come precisely when we need it and often from unexpected sources. We are more confident than ever that we are in the perfect place of His appointment and are experiencing His providential care and provision.
We continue to see God using this situation to stir His people to a greater dependence on Him and to a deeper level of willingness to serve and testify of Him. Beth and I had the privilege of becoming a small part of Randy and Penny Norman’s lives the last month of Randy’s life. In our last post, we shared that God used Beth’s cancer to open a door into the lives of this couple. They had been very hostile to the gospel in general and to people from our church in particular. However, in ways that only God could arrange, Beth was able to make a friend of Randy and Penny and in early June, they became believers.
For the next three weeks we had the privilege of being in their home on many occasions to help them after Randy was released from the hospital into hospice for the final segment of his 10 year battle with cancer. One of the final evenings we were together, he pulled out an old hymnal he had been given as a choir boy and we sat around his bed and sang hymns till almost 11 p.m. Last week, Randy went home to be with Christ. I had the privilege of preaching his funeral this past weekend. As I stood by the casket at the graveside and said goodbye to my new friend for the last time – I thanked God from both of our hearts that He had chosen to take us through this since it was the vehicle that He used to bring Randy into His presence!
As we walked back to our cars, I received a gift I will treasure till I am in His presence – Randy’s 90-year old mother who had been praying for his salvation since she was converted (at 83) thanked me for leading her son to Christ. I can’t even begin to express how Beth and I are encouraged by something like this – it certainly does help us to consider this fiery trial as something to rejoice over.
But – it is a trial that is fiery. We don’t really know whether the effect of chemotherapy will improve or become more difficult with each treatment. We suspect the third treatment will give us some indication. We are both praying that the effects will lessen but even if they don’t we are confident God will continue to supply strength and grace as He has done all along.
Thank you again for praying for us and please continue to remember us before the Lord as He brings us to your mind. Specifically pray that God will give us additional opportunities to share Christ through the vehicle of this cancer. We are planning to have dinner with the surgeon who did Beth’s mastectomy and we are asking the Lord to give us an open door to share Christ in detail with this man who has helped us in so great a way. Additionally, Beth has developed a growing friendship with her oncologist (Dr. Jean Peliska) and we want to try to find a time and an occasion to present Christ to her accurately and attractively.
Gratefully,
Sam and Beth
June 8, 2007
Thanks to all of you who have so faithfully prayed for us over the past week and a half since our last update. God has been so gracious and has given strength and grace at every step along the way. Beth recuperated from her surgery faster than anticipated and so her chemotherapry regime was accelerated by her doctors. She went for her first chemotherapy treatment on Wednesday and Thursday of this week and we are very thankful to be able to report that she responded wonderfully beyond our expectations. Other than a bit of fatigue which is to be expected, she is doing well. Of course, this is just the first treatment and often the full brunt of the treatment does not hit until later in the treatment process. However, we remain confident that God will continue to provide strength for us in all of this in the days ahead just as He has been providing thus far in the process.
We do have some wonderful news to share with all who have been praying for us. From the beginning of this journey Beth has been asking the Lord to give us specific opportunities to share the gospel with individuals that would cross our lives in this process. We have had several opportunities to do so already.
There is a lady in our church who has a son who is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. He is not a believer and up to this point has been hostile to the gospel. However, through a series of circumstances that only God could have arranged, Beth and I were thrown into their lives as our paths crossed at the cancer treatment center, the hospital, and several post-op visits. We have slowly been able to develop a genuine friendship with this man and his wife (Randy and Penny). Some weeks ago a pastor from our church (Ken Keltner) who visited with them had a wonderful opportunity to share a clear presentation of the gospel with Randy. This week after Beth’s chemotherapy treatment, Randy’s wife called Beth and asked her if she and Randy could visit with us about something important.
After several hours together, both Randy and Penny professed Christ. Randy has been given about two weeks left on this earth and we are just thankful that God chose to use our cancer to reach into their lives and bring them into a personal relationship with Christ. I wish all of you could have heard Randy’s prayer as he talked to God and asked forgiveness for his sins. It is an awesome thought to think that in a few weeks he will be enjoying a totally new kind of life and freedom than the pain-filled one he has been experiencing.
We are praying that God will give him and Penny some quality time over the next two weeks and that we will be able to minister to Penny in the weeks and months ahead. Many of our church members have stepped into their lives and have established relationships with them and so it has been a wonderful, precious time to see God use so many of His people to reach this hurting couple. Please continue to pray for us and ask the Lord to give us strength and grace for the long haul ahead.
In Christ,
Sam and Beth
Pastor Sam Horn Graduation and Appreciation Video
May 17, 2007
Dear praying friends,
Words can't begin to express our thanks for the prayers that have been offered on our behalf by all of you. We were particularly strengthened and encouraged to know that many of you were gathered to pray Wednesday morning.
God is certainly at work and is doing great things in us, for us, and around us through all of this. We are certain that He is not wasting this cancer but is using it to bring about good in us and others, and to exalt His glory.
The surgery went as well as the surgeon could have hoped for. He was able to get the chemotherapy port inserted and he was able to remove the axillary lymph nodes. We are still waiting for the pathology report on the lymph nodes that were removed, and were cautioned about being overly optimistic as to the results. However, we have seen God answer so many different prayers and we are confident that He will work out His good and perfect will in our lives no matter which way the pathology reports come back.
The doctor wants to get Beth on her feet as quickly as possible so she can get into the chemotherapy treatments as soon as possible. He is hoping to see them start in about three weeks. This is a bit sooner than we had anticipated but we understand the need for urgency and so are praying to that end. We have experienced so many evidences that God is ordering the steps and timing of these events in our lives.
I share all this to let you know that your prayers are accomplishing more than just a physical intercession for us personally. They are having a real and tangible impact on the souls of men in the great spiritual conflict with which we are all engaged. And, they are achieving great and mighty things!
We are so thankful for all of your care and your prayers.
In Christ,
Sam and Beth
May 13, 2007
Dr. Steve Pettit preached on Healing Prayer, and afterwards anointed and prayed for Beth Horn.
May 10, 2007
We spent all of last week and much of this week in what seemed to be a never ending series of tests and medical procedures. We discovered at the end of the process that Beth’s cancer is both aggressive and hardy in nature which means that it will be difficult to eradicate even with aggressive chemotherapy. However, as the results of the test continued to come in throughout the week, we were encouraged as test by test revealed that the different systems/organs in her body did not appear to reveal the presence of the cancer as of yet. When we reached the end of the process, we were told by her oncologist that, to her glad surprise, while the cancer appears to be in the delivery system, it does not appear to have been delivered yet to any major organs or systems. Therefore, for the first time in this process, the medical practitioners talking with us feel there is a possibility of a cure if we act swiftly and God continues to keep the cancer contained to its current locations.
An analogy helped us to see and appreciate the glorious grace of what God has chosen to do in answer to many of your prayers. Imagine Beth standing out on Lambeau field facing the entire Packer line. Once that line comes after her, chemotherapy and medical procedures such as surgery can take out some but not all of the line and one of them was sure to get her in the end. In our scenario, by God’s grace, the ball has not yet been snapped. And consequently, our medical team wants to act swiftly to get them off the field before the ball is snapped! If they can do this, then they will hit the remaining players on the bench with a strong course of chemotherapy followed by a potential course of radiation therapy.
In an effort to accomplish this, the treatment plan has been adjusted. Instead of going immediately to chemotherapy in an effort to control the spread of the cancer, Beth is going to have surgery in order to remove the existing cancer before it has an opportunity to spread.
This surgery will take place at the first opportunity she can be scheduled by her surgeon. We believe it will take place later this week or perhaps early next week. After the surgery and a brief recuperation period, she will be given a strong and fairly aggressive chemotherapy treatment for a period of about five months. Depending on what they discover during the surgical procedure, she may have to go through additional radiation therapy after chemotherapy.
While it may seem strange to be praising the Lord and rejoicing over the news that Beth will have to endure surgery, chemotherapy and its side effects, and possibly a course of radiation – given what we were expecting to hear and what the doctors were expecting to tell us, this is indeed glorious news.
We have no doubt that God has moved on our behalf because of the prayers of so many. We are deeply thankful for those prayers and would ask that you keep praying. The road ahead will not be an easy one and we will need His grace to continue to sustain us each day.
Please pray that God will strengthen us and keep us from falling prey to our fears. Ask Him to continue to strengthen us so that we won’t shrink back in the day of our testing. We prayed that God would remove the furnace but in His grace, He has chosen to allow us to go in. However, He is with us in the fire and the only things being burned away are those things that have bound us from a closer walk with Him or hindered us from being more usable vessels in His service.
As a dad and mom, thank you for praying for our children, RD and Ashton. We want to respond properly in private so that we will do or say nothing that will cause them to question God or doubt His goodness in all of this. Our deep desire is that our children would love Him passionately and serve Him fully and our lives would be a small price to pay for such a gift. Please pray that God will continue to help us point them to Christ.
Please pray for us as God brings us to your mind.
Sam and Beth Horn
May 2, 2007 (Wednesday Prayer Update--Listen to Announcement)
Pastor Sam Horn announced Sunday, April 29th, 2007 at Brookside that his wife, Beth Horn, has cancer.
"Last Wednesday, Beth and I received news from her doctor, that Beth has a case of fairly advanced cancer. The Lord has chosen that for us. We are confident that the Lord is at work in all of this, He is sustaining us. The cancer is of two types. One type is in her upper chest area. There is a tumor in her upper chest, which the doctors are calling in situ, but the other form of cancer has broken out of that cell and is making its way into her lymph system. There is at least one major set of lymph nodes that has been compromised. We are asking the Lord that He would be gracious and not allow that to spread."
