Dr. Lancaster was a teacher and clinic director at dental school while I was there. He also led the school Bible study and befriended me during one of the most difficult times in my life. He constantly encouraged me and gads of other students. His ability to love us in the midst of our blatent selfish ways and self-absorbed problems astounds me still.
Dr. Lancaster has been living with CF, cystic fibrosis, his whole life. It is a disease that mainly affects your pancreas and lungs. The results are: 1. you cannot absorb calories efficiently so you end up eating 6-7K calories a day in hopes of maintaining your weight and getting nutrients. 2. thick, mucus builds up in your lungs, making gas exchange increasingly impossible. CF patients usually have short lives, in the 20’s and 30’s unless they have lung transplants.
Well, thankfully, Dr. L has had that- a double lung transplant to be exact. Praise Jesus, right?! Yes, would be his answer. But after seeing the havoc a transplant organ, especially one resposible for your breathing, can wreck on a person, I might answer differently. But after numerous bouts of pnemonia, acute rejection, collapsed lungs, countless medications and their side effects, innumerable days laying in a hospital bed, weakness, fatigue, cancer and its treatments (oh yeah, he had that too!), and Icould go on. Dr. L continues to praise God. He continues to trust Jesus. He has his bad days as the blog I pasted below will convey. But in the worst of human suffering that I can figure or as close as I’ve gotten- he just presses in closer to Jesus. I don’t know if I’d have the faith.
I don’t know if I would be able to thank God for a malfunctioning set of transplant lungs, but I know I am so grateful that men of Dr. L’s faith exist. I’m pray God creates this kind of faith in me. Here is a copy of one of his blogs. Keep him in your prayers.
“Well, I know it’s been a long time since my last posting, and I just took a look at my last posting…boy was it depressing. I am sorry I left you thinking that I had lost all hope. Truth is, it has been a battle the last month. That cut that I suffered on my leg got infected and I had to go back into the hospital for IV antibiotics. Four weeks later it is now looking better but has a long way to go . My leg is swollen and the laceration hurts most of the time.”
“I have received many prayers and get well cards during this time, and I want to thank all of you for them. God has brought so many great people into our lives to help out. Our neighbors have been mowing our lawn every week for us! People have taken me to doctors’ appointments and even gone with me to the emergency room. You know how long those can take. Today my mom took me to the dental school to pick up my office stuff that had been packed up, and we got to visit with all of the faculty, staff and students. I must say it was a really good time. I don’t miss the school that much, but I did miss the people. It really cheered me up! My mom is an angel. She pushed me around the school in my wheelchair and I am sure it wore her out.”
“Basically the last 4 weeks have been full of lots of ups and downs for me, both physically and emotionally. Which is why I haven’t felt like blogging. I felt like I would just let all of you down because I just didn’t have anything really positive to relay. I have spent many days focusing on how much I have lost in the past 10 months. I went from working full time and being able travel, play with my son, swim in our pool, go on long walks with my wife, etc. Now I can’t do any of those. I was letting it bring me down and I was having trouble not being angry with God. I have a pretty strong relationship with Christ, yet I was still getting angry and feeling sorry for myself. For instance, this week I had to go to the emergency room, and then the next day I had to go back to the hospital because I thought I had a collapsed lung. I have been in lots of pain and just very weak. Yesterday I told God I was miserable with my life and couldn’t take it anymore. Guess what, He heard me. Today I have felt more cheerful and physically I feel much better.”
“God allows us to wander away and get angry, and stop looking to Him for our comfort. But He only allows it for a time. Eventually you have to come back to Him. I had to break down and cry out to him for help. That’s exactly what I did yesterday, and today He graciously put His arms around me for comfort. My problems are all still here but He is letting me handle them much better. I hope you can take my experiences and let God take care of you the same way.”