Graham Relay for Life June 2010 My Journey

Hi my name is Laura Jones and I am pleased to be here with you for such a time as this

I was asked at the first of this year to be a part of this awesome opportunity called Relay for Life, and not only is it something very near and dear to me, but with it being my hometown it makes it even sweeter! I am very humbled and honored to be here and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this opportunity to share with you. I will start out by telling you a little bit about myself, I will be 41 yrs old Thursday , I am married I have four children , with two boys and two girls, with the last one going to college in the fall. I am originally from Graham but have lived in East Texas for 17 years now. I am a chaplain for Texas Dept Criminal Justice. I want not only to be able to share my story but also to be able give others hope, whether you have walked in my shoes, or whether you have had a family member who has been through this journey called cancer.

My story starts in Sept of 2004, I all of the sudden had a persistent cough I could not get rid of, the more I had to cough, the more needed to cough. I did not have any insurance so I ended up spending 2 months and about $200 trying to get rid of a cough, I tried everything. Then one night as I was slowly walking around the track across the street from my school, I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, and I felt like I was being squeezed, so for this I would go to the doctor and have it checked out . The very next day Nov 4th I went into the clinic to see my Dr and he took X rays, being an EMT /Nurse and working with him for many yrs he told me right away that he saw a mass on my right lung and personally called the Pulmonologist, the Lung Dr, himself from his personal phone, And I knew then that it must be something he was very worried about, something serious. I did all the diff tests and blood work they wanted and three wks later I was sitting in Tyler face to face with the Pulmonologist, not long after introductions, he was sitting back in his chair with his feet up, with his surgery cap on, looking thru my paperwork, He knew I was medical background and he looks me straight in the eye and says "Do you want the good version of it or the not so good version?", I said "Do NOT sugarcoats and of it, this is my LIFE we are talking about!" So he slowly starts to tell me about the possibility of taking out the middle lobe of my right lung, how it is done, how its much like open heart surgery, how I would be in the hospital 10 days, and it would be a year recovery I said "what is the good news?" he says "We are going to give you very good drugs while you are there " I said ," So you do all this , what are my chances ?" and he got very quiet and was looking at the floor He said " We can do all of this we have discussed and you could have many complications, but if that’s what what you want to do we can do it on Jan 28th , I do not think your chances are great " I asked him again, "What are my chances, give it to me straight " He said "At the rate your tumor is growing it doesn’t look good at all, percentage wise I would say 1-2 % " I said "Cool, my God only needs 1% chance to move " I got up, shook his hand and said " I will see you on the 28th!"

I was never scared, not for a minute, my family was beside themselves, my preacher was really worried, but I had such peace, it is hard to explain. I did not know if I would win this battle, but I did know I would be healed here or there, either way, I would win! I felt like God had already given me my miracle, all I had to do was go through and endure my storms, and come out the other side! I never once stayed up at night worrying; I gave God everything I had, my time, my resources and my energy, no matter how little it seemed, and I felt that my willingness and surrender would activate Gods intervention and blessings in my life! And it did!

You see when you ignite just one possibility that things will be okay, you activate faith, which turns into hope! I did not deny there was a problem; I just saw it from a new perspective, which was from Gods eyes!

It was a trying time that month of Jan 05, 2 wks before my surgery , I spent 12 hrs days in McKinney enduring my sisters murder trial , the wk between the trial and my surgery, we did what the doctor said, and got our affairs in order and spent quality time as a family.

The day of surgery and throughout this whole process I had so many people praying for me, so much support.

When I was in recovery the Dr Came in with tears in his eyes and said “I think we got it all”

I couldn’t get out of bed for 10 days and was in the hospital for 30 days due to complications. It was the hardest thing I have ever been thru, and it was an intense year recovery.

There are two funny stories that happened while I was in the hospital, six days in because my blood pressure had dropped out, they had pain medicines and narcotics, and I was left do endure it with no meds, I was in a lot of pain but also because they did not wean me, I into severe withdrawals and was paranoid. I would draw things, wrote down a lot of words, and thought people were out to get all my things when they would come into the room, it was really bad, I finally felt like what a crack addict may feel like! What was worse is I knew I was doing it and everything that was going on but could not stop it! One day when the Dr came in, when he was leaving I went to shake his hand and said "you don’t care about the care bears do you!" He was shocked! He looked at my husband and said "she’s Progressing from the neck down, but I am sure worried about her from the neck up!" And then at 14 days I was having a lot of complications and had severe pneumonia and so the Dr came in and got close to my face and said “If you don’t get up outta the bed and walk further and further each day you might not leave this hospital " So I walked more and the next day I asked if I could walk outside the hospital and they said "yes just let us know where and when you are going " So i did, well I ended up walking too far and a lot of things began to look the same , it had started to rain so I walked up in a bus shelter, it rained for over an hr and it was very cold, and I was barefoot, a little while longer a security guard in his security truck came along and said "Are you Laura Jones?" I said "YES! I sure am!" And he said “Honey I have been looking for you!" and he took me back to the hospital!

When I got home from the hospital it was the last day of Feb and very cold, the first thing i did was take my walker and go across to the middle school and sit on a big boulder and just be in nature and listen . To just soak it in. I was gone so long my husband came to find me as I was supposed to be on bed rest, but I just wanted to savor the moment. The sunshine was breathtaking, even though it was 50 degrees outside, the grass seemed greener than before, and the birds seemed like they were singing just for me! I sat there almost 2 hours and I will never look through the same eyes again!

Have I had an easy time, no, in 07 while going out to give my mother in law in Ca her last wishes, which was a last moms day with all her kids and grandkids, 8 hours before she passed, I went into cardiac arrest and was brought back not once but twice by CPR by my husband and brother in law, I am not even medically supposed to be here, but I keep defying the odds as I know God has a plan and a purpose for me! He is not finished with me yet!

Then in March 09 my lung cancer came back in my left lung, found on a routine scan, I went to the doctor just a day before I came here and was told I am still in remission. And I will continue to focus on the positive

Since 05 I have seen my last two children graduate and another grandson born. I would not have had the joy of experiencing these things if I had not had the courage to fight back!

I will keep putting one foot in front of the other and sharing my story of hope as long as I am able to. If you look thru the eyes of faith, those small blessings you have won’t be overlooked. I am not in denial but I am not willing to give up Faith and hope is not ignoring the present reality, it is acknowledging that with God, all things are possible.