February Love Letters- Love Has A Purpose by Brooke Radnor

I have seen God work in my life since I can remember, but the last 6 years have been quite

special.

 My husband and I were married in 2005 and we were an instant family as he had two daughters Carolyn (7) and Kathryn (4) and I became an instant mom. Soon, we we welcoming another baby girl and we fell in love with our little family. Actually, we fell so in love with our family that very soon, we were expecting our fourth child. 

On February 12, 2006, I was 6 months pregnant with our fourth child and I was planning for the Valentines birthday of our 1 year old daughter. The whole family was coming for the weekend to celebrate Anna’s 1st

birthday! I remember feeling so blessed knowing how good God had been to me.! !

Then came the phone call...

It was my husband telling me that his Doctor had called and asked him to stop by his office on the way to work. The Doctor informed Len that through a series of tests, they had found a tumor in my husbands abdomen and it didn’t look good. I remember standing in my bathroom, my big pregnant belly sticking out, my baby girl playing at my feet and listening to my husband say those words, "I have cancer". I fell to my knees, unsure of what to do, scared beyond words. I did the only thing I knew to do, I prayed. I grabbed my daughter, I held her and I prayed out loud asking God to give me strength, wisdom and above all courage.

The next few days were crazy.

 Len had a biopsy and we found out his tumor was not operable.  He had Follicular B-Cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, Stage 4. My husband and I are both Christians, and we have a strong faith, and through this diagnosis, we began praying together out loud every night. Sometimes several times a day. Any time either of us were scared, we would hug and I would say a prayer into his neck. Through all the crazy stress we were under, the best memories I have come from these moments of prayer.

Len started treatment and God Bless his heart, it was wicked and he was very sick. No matter how sick he got, he didn’t miss any time with his children and he didn’t miss time at the office. He was continually trying to hold it together for the kids, even letting the kids give him a mohawk when he lost his hair. I will never forget their giggles as we took pictures of them with their daddy and his funny hair! 

Our stress levels were high but by the grace of God we were muddling through.

 Then my water broke. It was too early. 5 1/2 weeks too early. I was rushed to the hospital and Len was immediately put into sterile clothing and masked so he wouldn’t get sick from all the germs in the hospital. It was a whirlwind. I prayed for a miracle and God answered me with a beautiful 4 pound baby boy. A BOY!! A BOY!! After 3 girls, we got a boy!!

I remember looking up at Len and seeing him holding his son and crying. Len is the only Radnor left to carry on his name, and now he will have a son to carry his name into the future. A gift from God. Len had to leave almost instantly because he was so sick and a hospital is not a good place to stay away from germs. John David stayed in the hospital for a few weeks, I stayed with the baby, Len stayed at home while continuing treatment and our friends and family came and helped us take care of the kids and our home.

My husband and I stayed up late many nights and talked about our dreams, our fears and our reality. Neither of us felt right about asking “why me” but we did make a game out of it. Each night before bed we would say, “Let's list the things that happened today that help us explain why this needed to happen to us”. 

The things we shared with one another were so amazing. One day Len told me that one of his patients (he is a Dentist) had stopped by his office and asked if she could pray with him. He said yes and the patient went on to tell Len that she had strayed from her relationship with God but upon hearing of Len’s diagnosis, she went to church to pray for him. We counted that as a “Why Us reason”, perhaps she would never have prayed had she not heard of Len’s illness.

 I became very involved in an outreach program called Team Toni that helps those fighting cancer by praying for them and sending them cards in the mail. We send cards all over the country and have been blessed by how many people have responded and, in turn, sent Len cards and prayed for him. Had Len not gotten sick, I may have never gotten involved with Team Toni and we are so blessed by this organization. 

The list of reasons why this has happened to us continues to grow and we are humbled that God feels we are strong enough to handle this situation.  It is 6 years later and we have had Len in remission twice and we are currently fighting a tumor that has returned.

 As I look around me, my husband is voluntarily watching a One Direction movie with Kathryn (13), and Anna (7) while Carolyn (15) does homework and John David (6) tortures all of them just like his daddy does. I have to smile at all the gifts God has granted me.

We have Faith. We have Family. We have God. We have it all.