It's a miracle! Or is it?

[Jake]

First and foremost, having lost my mom and my aunt to cancer I am thankful this person has survived it, if that is indeed the case. It's nice to know it doesn't kill everyone it touches.

That said, I see this presented as a news story - cancer disappears after prayers! (or something along those lines) It's not the first time something is attributed to being the result of prayers but as is always the case the "miracle" involves something that can't be proven to be the result of divine intervention, but it is accepted as such by people of faith (some of them, anyway).

The treatment for terminal cancer that Annapolis resident Mary Ellen Heibel took at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2004 and early 2005 worked beyond anyone's wildest hopes, wiping out malignant tumors in her lungs, liver, stomach and chest. Her doctor did not expect it, nor could he explain it.

"Did what happened come about by the intercession of Blessed Seelos? That's what we have to discover,"

I might be less skeptical of such assertions if just one time a "miracle" would occur that is plain to see as a miracle. For example, why hasn't God seen fit to - at least once - cure an amputee? After all, if divine intervention can cure cancer, arthritis, paralysis, or other such cures that we can't really see and know for a fact it is a "miracle", why not one recorded case of a "miracle" involving an arm growing back?

Obviously, arms don't grow back. No one, or God, has ever grown an arm back, and yet people have recovered from other ailments through faith. Or have they?

In Annapolis, a miracle worthy of sainthood? - baltimoresun.com

By the way, we all decide what to believe when it comes to religion. I no more know for a fact whether God exists or doesn't exist than anyone else does, and I don't assert to know. (I question the validity of religions, but that's a different topic for another thread)

 

[Taosman]

Belief is a great asset. But let's keep up the funding of research as it's results are more proven and cancer is the biggest killer of Americans.
Many of us have lost and will lose loved ones to cancer. I have lost my father-in-law and other family members to cancer. My sister has survived thanks to research and improved care.

FACTBOX: Group sees 565,650 U.S. cancer deaths in 2008

(Reuters) - The American Cancer Society on Wednesday(2008) issued its annual U.S. cancer statistics report, projecting that 565,650 Americans will die of cancer in 2008 and 1.4 million will be diagnosed with cancer.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1930660220080220

 

[Apache]

You gotta believe.....

Belief is a great asset. But let's keep up the funding of research as it's results are more proven and cancer is the biggest killer of Americans.
Many of us have lost and will lose loved ones to cancer. I have lost my father-in-law and other family members to cancer. My sister has survived thanks to research and improved care.

FACTBOX: Group sees 565,650 U.S. cancer deaths in 2008

(Reuters) - The American Cancer Society on Wednesday(2008) issued its annual U.S. cancer statistics report, projecting that 565,650 Americans will die of cancer in 2008 and 1.4 million will be diagnosed with cancer.
FACTBOX: Group sees 565,650 U.S. cancer deaths in 2008 | Reuters

In any case, you gotta believe. There are times where there is no explanation for the good fortune or lack of fortune in results. I firmly believe in divine intervention. Cancer is the great devil amongst us. It takes many but in this case something unbelievable happened.

I can speak from personal experience. In my case, I had a severe car accident. I was life flighted to OSU trauma centers. My wife was told that I had no brain waves and there was little hope. She asked for the night of the accident to ponder pulling the plug on life support. By morning, brain activity was present and she was told that I might live but be in a permanent debilatory state. After much therapy and the therapists aka "the angels" at Dodd Hall, I went home. Today, years later, I am about 95% or more of what I was. There is no medical rationale for this recovery. Even the top notch doctors at OSU are still amazed. I joked that a lesser man would be dead or a shadow of his former self. But in reality it was not me, nor was it the medical staff alone. It was divine intervention . I had severe Traumatic Brain Injury and had to learn everything again, from walking, talking and even bathroom skills. To add to that, a month earlier, I had a perforated colon blow out, the surgeon at Mount Carmel East told me that if I hadn't come in to the emergency room I would have been in real trouble (dead) within 24 hours. Thanks to the great doctors at Mount Carmel and especially to the great trauma staff and rehab specialists at Ohio State Medical.

So is it the human spirit, the human skills or divine intervention? I choose to think it is a combination of all of the above.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

You really want to see a miracle, jake?

How about a whole slew of them?

 

[martinss01]

my grandmother was a cancer survivor. she was diagnosed with brain cancer and given less than a year to live. 20 years later she passed away. the one consistent theme i have noticed with survivors is that they aren't the people being defeated by their diagnosis. they are fighters who don't give up. if its belief in god thats giving them even a small part of that strength... go god! while i may not agree with their view on the matter, i certainly am not going to argue the point and take the chance of damaging their confidence in anyway.

what the mind truly believes, the body achieves. i don't think the body cares much where the basis for said belief comes from.

 

[Jake]

my grandmother was a cancer survivor. she was diagnosed with brain cancer and given less than a year to live. 20 years later she passed away. the one consistent theme i have noticed with survivors is that they aren't the people being defeated by their diagnosis. they are fighters who don't give up. if its belief in god thats giving them even a small part of that strength... go god! while i may not agree with their view on the matter, i certainly am not going to argue the point and take the chance of damaging their confidence in anyway.

what the mind truly believes, the body achieves. i don't think the body cares much where the basis for said belief comes from.

I can agree with that. Whatever strength one can't get in a time of crisis can only help them. That doesn't make it a "miracle" per se but it can't hurt the cause.

That said, there are "fighters who don't give up" that lose the battle. I have witnessed two of them. :(