If you were told that you have three weeks to live, what would be your reaction? What would you say? What would you think? What would you do? Think about it.
If a friend told you that they had three weeks to live, what would be your response to them?
Rev. Enoch Fuzz, pastor of Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church, has been on his journey with stage four lung cancer almost a year now. Along this journey, he began to receive a cancer treatment in the form of a chemo pill called Teprotumumab. While taking this newer form of cancer treatment, he has had some extremely difficult days along with some days that are not so bad. Considering the circumstances, he has even had some pretty good days.
On February 9, he went to visit his oncology specialist. Fuzz recalls: “He walks in saying your test results are excellent. Tremendous improvement with the cancer mass and appears that the medication is really doing the job! That’s great news exclaimed my care giver daughter listening on speaker phone while I feel cautious because I still have pain, shortness of breath and sluggish days. This, the doctor explains, is due to the type medication I take, like morphine every morning to manage pain—but you’re still here and getting better every week. Yet the cancer in my back is gone. That’s when I realized, yes, I’m still here!”
With that realization, Rev. Fuzz began to reflect on the year and the situation. “I’m still here, but so many close friends are gone with the same or lesser illnesses than me,” he said. He remembered some of those dear friends such as Kwame Leo Lillard; Rev. Louie Johnston, who provided me with tractor trailers of food for the community; my church mother, Sara Johnson, whom I called when I wanted a dinner from Swetts or a Sonic milkshake; Carol Ann Rodgers in Mobile Alabama, my ministry mentor; Rev James Netters of Memphis; and more than a few others that passed away in just the past few months.
Nothing answers questions like how or why someone with the same disease (and sometimes even less) expired in so much less time after a diagnosis. The scriptures say that no man knows the day or the hour (along with the ‘how’ or the ‘why’) in which we will leave life here on earth. While some people might be able to roughly answer questions posed at the beginning of this article, we really don’t know how to truly give an answer to the extent of time a person has left. That is a guess. It may be a medically educated guess, but a guess, nevertheless.
Thinking back, Rev. Fuzz can recall many, many friends, community members and others who are no longer here. “We remember them and praise God,” he said. He remembers them with great respect and praise, knowing them through life’s journey. “I’m still here with another chance to help and to do service to God and somebody,” he said.
Continue to pray for Rev. Enoch Fuzz just as he is praying for everyone else. Check his status on his Facebook site, where you might find him singing and praising or giving testimony to God’s works. Continue to read about his journey each week in ‘Cancer: My Journey in Time.’
