Cancer! When your doctor tells you that you have cancer, life seems to come to a standstill as you tries to fathom what lies ahead. What used to be in focus down the road of life now is very blurred.
It was three years ago when I met Lisa in Wuhan, China. She was part of a group that came from Texas to gain some insight into the work we were doing there. I originally met her at a dinner our team had with this group. The next morning our paths crossed again. At the time I was walking from my apartment to the cafeteria where I usually went for lunch. I was deep in thought at the time and didn't notice Lisa sitting by herself in the courtyard. As I walked by her I heard my name called and when I turned around I noticed Lisa. I went over to her and asked why she was sitting there by herself. Her response really got my attention.
That morning she and some other members of the team were getting ready to leave the guest apartment to begin their day's adventure when Lisa noticed a young man walk out onto his tenth story balcony. Lisa was at the door of her ninth story balcony, directly across from his. The young man walked over to the railing and jumped off, allowing Lisa to watch him fall to his death on the ground below. This really her to the point where she felt she could not join the group activity planed for the day. Later in the morning she wandered out of the apartment and came out to sit for awhile where we met.
I sat down with Lisa and we talked for awhile and then I asked her if she would like to join me for lunch. We went to the cafeteria, ate and talked and got to know a bit more about each other. I asked her if she had any plans for the afternoon and wanted to know if she would like to join me for some conversation with Chinese students at the coffee shop. She told me she would and later that afternoon we met there. Conversations with students quickly became the high point of her trip and started her thinking about returning to China to teach English full time. By the following year the Lord had provided her with an opportunity to teach English at a university near the coffee shop.
I have stayed in contact with Lisa and whenever I go to China I always make room in my schedule to teach at least once in each of her classed. We also try to get together for a western lunch now and then as she enjoys western companionship when its available.
On my last trip to China, Lisa began to share some health concerns with me. These concerns continued in her emails and at my urging I got her to contact a western medical doctor I know in Wuhan who requested some medical test. One of those tests was a colonoscopy, which came back with some abnormalities which required further testing. Those tests revealed cancer.
I was shocked and have thought much about this and decided to ask her permission to write about this in my blog. It will provide you the chance to pray for her and to learn a little about life in a Chinese hospital. Since I just opened her email granting me permission, I decided to quickly write this entry so I could get back to my shop, leaving me time to research her past emails and begin to write blog entries about her adventure. Those entries that relate to her I will begin the title with "Lisa" followed by the topic of the entry.
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