How Cancer Cured Me: Dealing with Cancer and Other Stings of Life

By Mark Heisey

Mark shares a personal journey through cancer. It is real, but done with wit and wisdom.
You,ll laugh and cry, and along with learning practical ideas about healthful living, you,ll be inspired with hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973690214

Mark Heisey

Choosing a simple country life, Mark and Eulita have spent about half of their forty-four married years on a modest mountain farm near Boone, North Carolina, with a small orchard, berries, grapes, a greenhouse, and herb, flower, and vegetable gardens. They heat with a wood cookstove, have gravity spring water, and use solar- and wind-generated electricity. Mostly while their son, Josiah, was home, they kept a dairy goatherd, along with an assortment of sheep, horses, donkeys, a cow, emus, ducks, prairie dogs, chickens, honeybees, and ponds stocked with fish. Mark’s favorite hobbies were white water canoeing, snow skiing, primitive backpacking, a fast game of soccer, and travel to foreign countries as a tourist or for short-term mission service. He still can enjoy gardening, music, photography, woodworking, and manipulative puzzles. He has worked in multiple factories, started a few small businesses, was a volunteer chaplain for a rehab hospital, an editor of a sermon resource, served as a pastor for twenty years, and directed a ministry that assists pastors and teachers. While having penned numerous articles by alias ‘Dewey C. Wright’, this is his first book.

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Copyright © 2020 Mark Heisey.

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.

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For more information please visit www.seizeandsqueezelife.com or contact the author by e-mail at: [e-mail].

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.

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

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover photo of Heisey’s beehives.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®

Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9020-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9022-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9021-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020906979

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/03/2020

ENDORSEMENTS

Mark Heisey has come through the challenging experience of the diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma and has emerged back into the happy place of remission from cancer. His booklet illustrates his personal journey and many of the survival skills that he learned along the way. Some of his thoughts are supported by extensive evidence, and some from his personal experience and views. This little book has been written as an expression of gratitude for the care that has offered his future life and to help other patients deal with the world of cancer treatment.

Derek Raghavan, MD, PhD, FACP, FRACP, FASCO; president, Levine Cancer Institute; professor of medicine, UNC School of Medicine, Charlotte campus

Truly touched by Mark’s amazing journey, battling an aggressive cancer and coming out as a survivor. A journey filled with hope from someone who showed a great deal of fortitude and courage.

Nilanjan Ghosh, MD, PhD; chief, Lymphoma Division, Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders, Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina; clinical associate professor of medicine, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine

"Mark Heisey is my patient and he detailed his extraordinary journey of battling double-hit, high-grade B cell lymphoma in his book How Cancer Cured Me. He is thankfully in remission, but his course was rocky to say the least. However, he fought bravely with his wife beside him, and I am very proud of how far he has come and how much he learned. While some patients may be bitter as they spend many days in a hospital, hooked up to IVs with names of drugs they cannot pronounce, Mark learned to better himself … I hope his detailed journey can help those who are fighting their uphill battle with cancer."

Bei Hu, MD; Lymphoma Division, Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders, Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina

What would you do if you or your loved one received that dreaded diagnosis of cancer? Choosing humor and love instead of self-pity and anger, Mark followed a course that led to a complete remission. Besides being a fascinating and delightful read, Mark shares the practical things he did in regaining his health. With vulnerability and deep soul searching, he asked God to solve his ‘problem,’ not by changing the circumstance but through the circumstance, to change his heart. Cancer proved to be what he needed to change his motivations, relationships, and attitudes. Inspiring to say the least! I wholeheartedly recommend this book to pastors, chaplains, social workers, counselors, and family members who are supporting those walking the difficult road of cancer.

Paull Dixon, DMin, MPH; pastor; family life educator

A truly contemporary version of the book of Job with a clear roadmap to the kingdom of God.

Thomas Bolling, MD; general surgeon

In reading the book, I was drawn into the moment with Mark. His writing is vivid. I could not stop reading. I highly recommend it for all who are going through a crisis of faith and suffering.

Leon Brown, MDiv; hospital chaplain

It is the best ‘guide’ I have ever read on how to deal with suffering. It is theologically and psychologically sound and provides practical suggestions for physical and emotional health.

Du’ane Schoonard, mental health counselor specializing in trauma

COMMENTS FROM OTHER READERS

Read this book. Mark has always known God intimately and has been able to communicate Him to others like no other. Mark’s journey through cancer offers God’s hope for all experiencing any season of difficulty. Read this book.

I had to share how touched I am by you, how moved I have become by you, how grateful I am …

It is truly inspiring.

Brilliant! Speaking as one who has gone through the anguish of cancer (and was told there was no chance of recovery), this anointed book offers aid and comfort for the out-of-control roller-coaster ride. If you or a loved one is dealing with cancer or other major challenges, this book is a valuable tool offering priceless information to navigate through uncharted waters. Mark leads us with compassionate understanding on a journey of faith from the brink of the grave to restored health, along with touches of humor for our shared human condition.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 If You Are Going to Go Out, Go Out Happy

Chapter 2 It Is Easy to Have Faith When It Is Easy to Have Faith

Chapter 3 This Was Not the Script for My Life That I Would Write, but Who Is to Say It Was Not the Right Script?

Chapter 4 Sad, Mad, or Glad: You Decide

Chapter 5 I Was Dying to Live until I Lived Like I Was Dying

Chapter 6 Don’t Beat the Donkey!

Chapter 7 Brighten the Corner Where You Are

Chapter 8 Bringing Heaven into Hell

Chapter 9 The String Holding the Kite Down Is the String Holding the Kite Up

Chapter 10 Cut Off Everything That Doesn’t Look Like a Duck

Chapter 11 Some Vultures Don’t Shoo Away Easily

Chapter 12 Name It and Claim It?

Chapter 13 How to Be a Patient

Chapter 14 Consider the Ravens

Chapter 15 Consider How the Flowers Grow

Chapter 16 Life after Cancer

Chapter 17 Dealing with the Costs

Chapter 18 Living Better on Less

Epilogue

Guarantee

About the Author

FOREWORD

I feel very honored to be asked to write this foreword.

I first met Mark fourteen years ago, and like everyone else, I was very shocked when I learned that he (who was a very active person and particular about healthful living) was diagnosed with such an aggressive and advanced cancer. I joined others in offering intercessory prayer for healing and was encouraged by the miraculous progress he made.

Although we had regular updates, I did not quite fully understand the extent of the physical and emotional stress that he had to go through during the treatment until I read the book. More importantly, I was inspired by his uplifting spiritual reflections on this experience. He puts life in context and weans out the chaff, debris, and clutter that tend to get in the way, blocking God’s access to our hearts and mitigating our usefulness in His work.

Mark also draws lessons of health principles established in the beginning by God in the Garden of Eden, the eight natural remedies of health: nutrition (plant-based diet), exercise, water, sunlight, temperance (moderation in good things and total avoidance of harmful things), air, rest, and trust in God (abbreviated NEWSTART). These are health principles that modern medicine has found to be effective and thus has recently adopted. (See Blue Zones (https://www.bluezones.com/exploration/loma-linda-california/) and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (https://www.pcrm.org/).) I know that you will be as richly blessed as I was as you read this book. God bless you all!

Chishimba Nathan Mowa, MVM, PhD; professor of physiology and endocrinology, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina

PREFACE

"Your husband has double-hit, non-Hodgkin’s, large,