On May 8, Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Bakker), announced that doctors had stopped treating her cancer, that her fate was in the hands of a higher power. Last night, I heard Tammy Faye's voice on television as she spoke to Entertainment Tonight reporters about the state of her health right now.Tammy Faye's colon cancer, diagnosed in 1996, has spread to her lungs and is causing her severe pain. Her back hurts, she said, and her stomach hurts and she is having difficulty breathing. Still her message is loud and clear: she is not giving up.
When doctors told her there was nothing more they could do, Tammy Faye, 65, said she felt sorry for herself for about one minute. Then she reminded herself there is something out there bigger than doctors -- the Lord Jesus Christ. And so despite the fact that she has been in bed for most of the past year, has lost tremendous amounts of weight, and knows her days are limited, Tammy Faye is staying strong. She is truly living for the day.
If you'd like to send your wishes to Tammy Faye who is now in the loving hands of hospice, click here.
1. The interview shows that life is not over even when we are very sick. By putting on her makeup and looking, as best she could, like the old Tammy Faye we all knew, she gave notice to other sick people that any illness does not win until the very last breath. Everything up to that moment is about living. Perhaps with struggle and difficulty, but nonetheless living. Had she not done the interview, or put on her makeup and stayed closeted, the cancer would have won even before the actual end.
Not a bad lesson for us all to learn.
Posted at 11:43AM on Jul 20th 2007 by dekerivers