Dying to Live: A Testimony of Faith in the Face of Cancer

By Lance B. Rubin

Dying to Live is a book showing off the awesome works of God and how the lord can and will do all he says and that his word is true. And that he stands by your side in the good times and the bad. I believe my book will challenge your faith and to believe and to stand firm on Gods Word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496954800

Lance B. Rubin

Lance Rubin is a fighter and doesn’t accept defeat easily. This he learned from his mother, Vivian Rubin. Plus his walk with the Lord is real and has shown to have put his faith into strong action. The cancer could have destroyed him and made him a broken man. But his faith in Jesus gave him the strength not only to fight back but to move forward to victory. He has, along the way, been an encouragement to others as he will be to those who read his book.

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© 2014 Lance B. Rubin. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/18/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-5479-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-5480-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Contents

The Beginning

In Christ Love Lance

THE Silent Times

The Second Attack

The Stem Cell Intervention

Testimonies from Church Family and Friends

In the Conclusion

A New Beginning

Bibliography

About Me

Forward by Pastor Joe Esposito.

Well Lance is an encourager and I can sum up his life with the Cancer in these few words.

Lance; LET GO AND LET GOD.

Dedica

tion;

With Thanks first off all to the Lord Jesus (Yeshua) Christ for if it was not for Him I would not be here to write this book.

To my wife Druann for sticking by my side thru thick or thin.

To my awesome web of support from my church, New Covenant Church in East Meadow NY.

The Beginning

What I, am about to say might sound a bit incredible, But everything I will say is the very truth of it all. All thanks be to God. Let tell you a bit about myself, this way you can understand where I am coming from. And how Miraculous this is to me! I, an Jewish by birth and a Born again christian by Faith. A Jew for Jesus. I work at Peninsula Hospital center for over 20 years at this point. My Job is a transporter also known as patient escort service. This required me to move heavy beds, patients to and from various modalities such as, Cat scan, X-Ray, Nuclear Medicine, Dialysis, Etc… One can say I got paid to push people around.

Some light some heavy, and when the wheels of the beds going to dialysis are not working well made the beds hard to move. Then In August of 2004, I, began getting pain in the area of my Loin. In the Pelvic section. To say the least being a man with a high tolerance to pain, I ignored it. I figured it would heal and go away on its own. I was dead wrong!The pain was persistent and to my shock was getting worse by the day. I began taking Motrin to control the pain, first 400 mg then 600, then 800As the pain increased so did the amount of Motrin it took to control it.

My wife Druann saw how much pain I was in and I told her not to worry as it was nothing (Boy was I wrong!) The pain kept of getting worse and I tried to hide it from my wife. So I, was talking to a nurse Margret in the Er, telling her about the pain I was Having. And agreed that it could be a hernia, pulled muscle, or kidney stones. Then a Doctor J. Franks heard what I was saying and also agreed that one of Those things could be causing the pain I was in. And to give it a bit more Time to see if it heals itself. Well it didn’t it continues to get worse not it was getting into September and I Was still in pain, in agony to be honest. SO my wife Druann got fed up with me seeing me in all this pain she forced me to go to my doctor.

Dr, Neelan Gupta, She examined me at great length. And She also agreed that it could be a hernia, pulled muscle for stones. But lets take it one step further, She sent me for a cat scan with I.V. and Oral contrast to see exactly what the heck was going on. She gave me the prescription for this, and I, made the appointment at Peninsula Hospital where I worked.

As I worked for the hospital they gave me pi\priority for this. Meaning they Gave me a early appointment and pushed me ahead of others.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this just that I had to get to the bottom of this all. So I could pray about it effectively. At time we pray broadband and not specific. If we Pray about a specific thing we will get a specific answer. And to be able to get the right treatment in order for healing to take place. So I, was doing my part to find out what was wrong so I, could Pray about it for healing. To be able to come against it in the Mighty name of Jesus, As I mention I come from Judaism, and a complete worry worth. I, Know the Bible says not to worry as t can’t put another day to our Lives. And the stress of worrying can make one sick as well.

Well on the day of the test one has to drink 2 bottle of a barium sulfide drink which highlights the and illuminates the kidneys, abdomen, And pelvic structures. The test ran about 45 mins. Yes I, know I was lying down on the job.

A very good reason for having the test down at my place of work was that I, had a good working relationship with all the techs, doctors in the hospital. And got professional courtesy as well. The doctor of radiology would tell me thing he would not ordinarily tell others but to your doctors in report.

At the end of the day, the doctor pulls me aside and hands me my report and you need to see your doctor fast. Ok this didn’t sound good to me Something wasn’t quite kosher. I Began to read the following two page report:

09/10/04; Dear Dr Gupta; CT Scan of the Abdomen and Pelvis: Examination was done pre and post contrast. The pre contrast study showed a markedly enlarged left kidney with the lobulated contour and enlarged right kidney. Mild spenomegaly. Following the injection of IV contrast the left kidney demonstrates almost complete replacement by a hypo vascular poorly enhancing lesion infiltrating the left renal parenchyma and there was confirmed to be extensive bulky left para-aortic retroperitoneal Lymphadenopathy beginning at the level of the left renal helium extending into the left common iliac chain, In other words here is the impression;

HIGHLY ABNORMAL CT SCAN PRE AND POST CONTRAST DEMONSTRATING EXTENSIVE HYPOVASCULAR MASSES REPLACING ALMOST THE ENTIRE LEFT KIDNEY WITH PARA-AORTIC LYMPHADENOPATHY. 3CM MASS VENTRAL ASPECT OF THE RIGHT KIDNEY WITH A SMALL DEGREE OF PARA-AORTIC ADENOPATHY, MILD SPENOMEGALY, BUT NO SPLENIC MASS IDENTIFIED.

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSSIS INCULUDES A BILATERAL RENAL CELL CARCINOMA WITH METASTATIC ADENOPATHY OR THE POSSIBILITY OF BILATERAL RENAL LYMPHOMA. CORRELATION WITH HISTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IS NECESSARY."

The study confirms that the right kidney shows a 3cm mass ventral anterior aspect as well as extensive replacement of the left kidney by a solid hypochoic mass. Findings may represent a bilateral renal cell carcinoma with metastatic ADENOPATHY. "Cancer but I was stymied, taken aback stunned speechless by this!

Totally bewildered. In a mindless stupor when I got to the front of hallway in X-Ray, I bumped into my co-worker Gloria Johnson, I turned to her and asked What is Lymphoma? Gloria turned to me with a look of exasperation and exclaimed YOU all of the x-ray tech their couldn’t believe what they Were hearing and saying! Not even my boss!

But it didn’t say what type it was I was to find out much later.

I went back to Dr Gupta, and called me in to discuss what the next stop will need to be. She did say it was bad which I already knew that.

And that I needed to see a urologist, and said to go see Dr Badlani at long in new Hyde park. Gave me his number and told me to call her back with the appointment. Well I called and was told that Dr Badlani had no openings for at least 3—4 months. I called Dr Gupta right back and told her what I was told. Dr Gupta said this is am emergency situation and is unacceptable, stay by your phone I will call you right back Lance.

Five Minutes later Dr. Gupta called me back and said to be at the urology Department tomorrow at 5pm. And Dr. Badlani will see you tomorrow.

What happened next was that my wife Druann came home from work at God-4-Me bookstore. I said to Dru, you need to sit down as I have some bad News to tell you; I got the results from the cat scan and it isn’t good!

I have cancer which type I don’t know. I have a appointment tomorrow st Long Island Jewish to meet and discuss what is to be the next step.

He is a urologist and top in his field of expertise. (The Lord kept putting the right people in my path) Druann lost control and broke down crying why you! Honey. What will happen to us! I replied!

I don’t know yet, but lets put it in the hands the Lord. To this I Prayed Lord, Am I to live my wife a widow at 4 yrs, What do you say O’ Lord, to this Jesus replied Don’t worry over this, trust in me, rest in My hands and I will bring you thru it all" Dru I said call New covenant and put me on the pray chain and list. Next call family and friend to get them praying on this matter. I was nervous and worried I already said what the Lord said to me. But I am Human, Not Vulcan like Mr. Spock of star trek.

But The Lords Answer top me was calming and as I say a miracle as I did stop worrying over the matter. When I went to work the next day the news of my health already spread all Through the hospital, Many nurses, doctors said they would pray for me. Druann went on the internet and told her friends from here to California, to Australia. She had people praying for me world wide. I went to my boss Val. Ippolitte and told him the news that I, had Cancer. And was meeting with a specialist in urology that afternoon. Mr. Ippolittle said Lance don’t worry over sick time I, will make sure your covered. Get yourself well do whatever it take. Little did I know what it would take out of me for that!! I was about to learn the hard way.

I met with Dr. Badlani, And he set me up with a battery of more tests. Blood work, urine tests, more cat scans a ct guided biopsy, a bone marrow biopsy as well was ordered and done in fast pace within days all this was done. The results of the non contrast scan read thus Sept. 16th 2004, "Impression 3 cm mass in diameter in the anterior right breast. Several small, non-calcified nodular densities are seen in the extra pleural fat of the posterior left lung base. Along the intercostals space as described further assement is suggested to better evaluate and ascertain whether these abnormalities could represent neoplastic disease. Fatty liver infiltration no other adenopapthy or other pulmonary nodules are seen. The possibilities of the left posterior lung base intercostal, extra-pleural fat nodular densities cannot be ruled out on the basis of this ct scan.

Next up the MRI (magnetic Resonance Imaging) I, so far surprisingly enough was not acting like the Lance Rubin I, normally knew even though this beginning phase of, what was yet to come. I was not behaving normally for One, I, was not worried, nor scarred of what I was facing. I, was going about, My day to day business like their was nothing wrong with me. I was put on A drug patch to help deal with the pain. Which didn’t do a darned thing. So they put me on 2 types of morphine one fast acting one long acting.

This did help the pain. So I had to wait for a day