December 25th, 2013, I was 19 years old. Little did I know my life was about to change.
As you may know or not know, 70-80% of our immunity is within our gut. Growing up I had many stomach, bowl, and intestinal issues, causing pain, nausea, vomiting and irritability. When I reached school age, I was very sick. It seemed as if any sickness that was going around would end up making its way to me very quickly due to low immunity, ending me up in many hospital visits. I remember times I would have to be pulled out of school for weeks to sometimes a month or two at a time until I recovered. I do not think my parents thought anything of it other than I was sicklier than my siblings.
My mother was into the natural supplement life, verses medication. So, vitamins were the go-to whenever my siblings and I did not feel well. I remember at an early age trying many different diets including elimination diets. I would go through periods of time where it seemed as if we found what worked. I would go months and sometimes years doing better but never told my parents from the time I was 9-10 I was only eliminating 2 days a week.
When I reached junior high, many times, I would not feel hungry. I would skip meals due to my stomach feeling tight and bloated. When I ate, I would get very nauseous and depending on the type of food I would eat I would spew it out. This caused me to lose weight so I would visit doctors along the way but usually leaving the appointments with answers such as “she has bulimia, anxiety or another possible allergy.” These answers would soon turn into a letdown.
September 2008 I was a high school freshman. That year I was excited to go to school. My brother was a senior and that was exciting to see him at school with me. That December our school would put on a snowball dance, and I was thrilled to attend with a friend of mine. That same week I became terribly ill. What I thought would be missing school for a few weeks became 2 years. I was pulled out of public school to try homeschooling that quickly became another concern due to not being able to catch up with any schooling I would try to perform. So, my parents had to drop me out of school completely. As a 16-year-old I was devastated, but I was not going to give up.
Certain scents would make me feel as if I were suffocating, this would also include certain temperatures. I went on goat milk, sunflower seeds, and dates diet for a length of time to heal. This helped a bit, but my body did not want to take in much else without spewing. I was up to spewing after every meal now and could not hold it back. My body was very weak. One of the toughest things to see was my dad crying on Thanksgiving due to not being able to enjoy it with any of them. Their garage was turned into a rec room. So, this is where I would spend most of my time including where I would sleep. We had to keep the room at a very cold temperature including during the winter. I would also chew on ice chips to help me not sigh or have the feeling of asphyxiation. During this time is when I would be diagnosed with GERD. Although we had one diagnosis we were still on the search for the complete diagnosis of my other symptoms.
September 2010-2011 I was enrolled back to school. My symptoms appeared better I was active once again. During this period, I was considered a “junior” in high school but had no credits from my past 2 years. So, I took on the load of completing my freshman, sophomore, and junior year in 1 year. I participated in an online after school program, completed online classes during my free periods. As well as taking my regular classes. This is when I met a friend of mine who would become my best friend and is now my husband of 9 years as of December 2023.
September 2011-2012, I was a senior ready to tackle the rest of the year in hopes I could graduate with my fellow classmates on time. Although I did the best I could with the time I had, the vice principal sat down with my mother and I to talk about my future. He said at the rate I was going I would still have another entire year to graduate. This was due to missing school for a length of time once again due to my stomach pain and irregular bowl movements acting up. At This point I did not want to become a super senior. We decided it would be best to pull me out of school and apply for a GED program that was down from my school at that time. For that I am so thankful. I was able to achieve my GED diploma the day before my class graduated. And although I did not walk with my classmates, I was able to be there to support them.
October 2012, one of my best friends during that time asked me to be his girlfriend and one year later we were engaged. The 25th of December 2013 is when everything took a turn for the worse. The night before the 25th I felt good there was nothing that could have led to how the next day was going to take a turn.
I woke up on the 25th of December 2013 and my body decided it would not take in food anymore. Whenever I ate, I would feel completely asphyxiated, my stomach would bloat as if I looked pregnant. My bowls seized up completely, I began to spew out anything and everything I tried to eat. I was back to sleeping in my parents’ rec room once again. Although I could not eat, I still was able to take in fluids. My body began to wither away quickly. There were many doctor visits in between but it was very discouraging to constantly leave without an answer. 30 days (about 4 and a half weeks) later My body rejected fluids as well. At this point I would get the same reaction I did when I was eating food. Because I could not take in fluids my weight loss was much quicker.
I lost 60 pounds in less than 2 months. I was very weak I could barely walk on my own. My mother would bathe me and care for me while my father was at work. While we were waiting for answers we felt at a loss. I could feel my body wanting to let go. My heart was not strong like it was before. I would get more frequent seizures due to dehydration. Every test we got back from the doctors was negative.
My mother is a woman of great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. At that time while we were praying about this, she felt in her spirit the Lord tell her “Whatever you see, continue to speak healing from the Word over your daughter” So day after day, night after night, she would speak healing verses from the bible, her and my dad would also sing hymns over me.
During this time, my body was exhausted and wanted to give up. Every time I would fall asleep someone would shake me awake because my heart would stop. My family, including my fiancé at that time would stay on watch throughout all hours of the night to make sure I stayed awake. I remember during this time my sister was in nursing school learning about cancers of the body. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “If I didn’t know any better, I would say she has cancer.” Because we had no other answers, I took this to the Lord and asked God, “If I have any cancer, please show me what I have to bring comfort.” I heard the word “colon cancer.”
I looked up the symptoms on WebMD to find I had every symptom to stage 4 colon cancer. I ended up getting a colonoscopy and endoscopy during the time I was being tested for other cancers which had an outcome of them finding a “foreign substance” in my intestines. To this day I still do not know what that foreign substance was. When we went back to the specialist, we asked to have me tested for colon cancer and they said because they found nothing in my colonoscopy other than a “foreign substance” they would not test me for that because I was too young. As you can imagine we were terribly upset. They tested me for every other cancer they believed it could be but not colon cancer due to being only 19 years old. They told us “Good luck on finding someone who will do this for you” I felt like my world was crashing down. I was angry, sad, tired, confused and in pain. But This journey only brought me closer to my faith leaning on the Lord Jesus Christ, that if it were in his will to heal me that it would be done.
It was the end of February 2013. It has only been a couple of months since my life began spiraling, but it felt like much longer. My fiancé was going to a blazers game in Portland, Oregon.
That day I called him before he left and said I do not feel well please stay here and do not go. I have a feeling it is not going to be a good night; he told me he still was going to go, and I should not think negatively. It was around 7pm that night, I was sitting on the couch in the living room with my parents when suddenly I had a bad seizure, so I was hospitalized once again.
When I woke up in the hospital, my parents as well as my fiancé and his dad were standing there in front of my bed. I remember feeling so happy to see all of them. The doctor told my parents after they give me the IV there is nothing more, they can do for me. So, they released me to go back home. When I got home, I laid down on the couch in the living room. I did not feel I was going to make it through the night. I could feel as if my spirit was beginning to leave my body. My dad was in the kitchen. And I was listening to worship. I then turned on a song that was my favorite during that time “Build your Kingdom here” by Rend Collective.
I lifted my hands as high as I could to the Lord and told him let your will be done. And as I was worshiping, this large mass which resembled a tumor on my stomach began to shake like a miniature earthquake and it disappeared. I yelled for my dad and praised the Lord that he had healed me! That night I drank 1 gallon of water. And 2 weeks later I was able to consume my first whole meal without any complications. Since then, my stomach and bowls have been completely healed. All praise and glory be given to the Lord Jesus Christ for he is so good!
Although my story may not be typical, no, I was not diagnosed by your typical physician of the world but the greatest physician of the universe. It may sound crazy, but I am healed In Jesus name! forever changed. He saved my life… And that is my story of beating cancer.
“And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your afflictions. Mark 5:34 NKJ
By Megan Youngs