I Shall Not Die: My Walk Through the Valley of Death

By Cathy Dillard Byrum

The year 2014 started with great promise. Author Cathy Dillard Byrum’s youngest son, Dan, had graduated college, had a new job, and was moving to a nearby town. Her oldest son, Derick, returned home after two years overseas and proposed to his girlfriend, Jill. Then came the news no one expects and everyone dreads. Cathy was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and the prognosis was grim.

In I Shall Not Die, she narrates her story, including details about treatment, losing her hair, an emergency ride on a helicopter, and a stem cell transplant. Cathy offers an inside look at her battle with cancer, and she shares what it took for her to make it to her son’s wedding and beyond.

I Shall Not Die offers a brave, open memoir that focuses on Cathy’s experience with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, including how she dealt with it physically and emotionally. She tells how she stayed strong through the grace of God and the love of her family and friends. Her story serves to inspire others facing adversity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973660330

Cathy Dillard Byrum

Cathy Dillard Byrum is married to Ronnie and lives in Arkansas. Two sons, their wives and three grandsons live nearby.

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Copyright © 2019 Cathy Dillard Byrum.

Cover art credit: Derick Dillard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6031-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6032-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6033-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019904520

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/24/2019

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1     I Never Get Sick

Chapter 2     Now What?

Chapter 3     Not Ready, Set, Go

Chapter 4     Hearts and (No) Flowers

Chapter 5     The Hairs on Your Head Are Numbered

Chapter 6     In Sickness and in Health

Chapter 7     Get Me to the Church on Time

Chapter 8     The Ahh of the Storm

Chapter 9     Omaha? Nebraska?

Chapter 10   Transplanted

Chapter 11   The Funny Stories I Can Share

Chapter 12   Prayer—The Greater Work

Chapter 13   The Power of the Word

Chapter 14   Miracles

Chapter 15   And the (Heart)Beat Goes On

Chapter 16   You Just Never Know—But You Can!

Epilogue

This book is dedicated to Jesus, my Savior, Lord, and healer, and to my mom, who always seemed to know I would one day write a book.

PREFACE

If you were to describe me, one thing you could say is I am slow but thorough. That has definitely been the case with this book. I began writing at the prompting of my husband, Ronnie, who put a legal pad in my lap and pen in my hand as we were on the road to a family reunion at the end of July 2015 (he was driving!).

In addition to its inception on the highway during that trip, parts of the book have since come into being in many places: on the road to Omaha for my one-year checkup after the transplant; in a covered outdoor café on a rainy afternoon in Antigua, Guatemala, watching my grandson sleep in his stroller; in a coffee shop in Cave Springs, Arkansas, on a rainy Saturday morning; during many late nights at home, because I am still working full time; and most recently on a hotel balcony during a short trip to Orlando.

I have written in bits and pieces, with rather long breaks in between, because I have found it to be both cathartic and emotionally draining to re-live the whole experience. There is an upside, however, in that every time I came back to it, I was once again humbled, being reminded that but for the grace of God manifested through a modern-day miracle, I would not be here. Yes, I had top-notch medical care, but even my doctor told me after it all, You shouldn’t be here!

Twice, in June and November 2014, I thought the whole cancer thing was done and I could get back to normal. I have realized since that it will never be done. Being a cancer survivor will forever be part of who I am now. I am reminded of that every time someone says I have a friend who has cancer, can you share your story?

I have been asked at what point I knew I would survive. It was soon after the start of it all, when I read Psalm 118:17, I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. Thus, the title of this book.

I never made a deal with God, but the verse has two parts. God came through on the first part; now it’s my turn.

CHAPTER 1

I Never Get Sick

I have always been a healthy person. The only times I recall even using my health insurance were when my two sons were born in 1989 and 1990, and when I broke my leg in 2000. That’s how I explain the fact that I gave little notice to two jelly bean–sized bumps at the base of my neck, near my left collar bone, when they first appeared around December 2013.

The following month, January 2014, was a busy one. My youngest son, Dan, had taken a job in another city, and so I did what I could to help him get moved and settled. At the same time, his older brother, Derick, had completed two years of missionary work in Nepal and was preparing to return to the United States. He had long wanted to visit the Holy Land, and so had I. Knowing I would likely see very little of him once he returned home because he had a serious girlfriend, I decided to meet him in London, and we flew together from there to Israel. While there, we walked up and down the hills of Jerusalem, took an all-day bus tour, and hauled his two years’ worth of stuff through hotels and airports.

I mention all of this to show I had no pain or lack of energy, which are