The battle lines are drawn.

At approximately 2:15 this afternoon the oncologist Dr. Negrea gave us the words we have been anticipating with dread. Cheryl, the love of my life has stage IV ovarian cancer.

The PET scan done yesterday confirmed the pelvic ultrasound of last Friday. Her right ovary has a tumor about 2 X 2.5 inches, there are numerous tumors in her abdomen and numerous ascites (fluid sacs) which is also indicative of ovarian cancer. Her CA 125 count (cancer antigen specific to ovarian cancer) is over 600 (normal is around 35). All of this is in addition to the pleural effusion (fluid buildup) in her lung cavity where cancer was first noted. On a good note, the biopsy of her lungs came back as negative for cancer. Praise the Lord for small victories.

Dr. Negrea was very forthcoming that at stage IV, ovarian cancer is considered treatable but not curable. In the next few days, Cheryl will be transferred to the care of Dr. Burke, a gynecologic oncologist at Memorial Health in Savannah. He will be doing an assessment as soon as possible and scheduling exploratory surgery to do a complete hysterectomy and tumor debulking followed by in-hospital chemo as soon as Cheryl has healed enough to tolerate it.

The follow on plan is for her to be returned to the care of Dr. Negrea in Hinesville for chemo every three weeks until they get the cancer into remission.

Please pray that she will have the strength to endure all that she is going to face in the coming days, weeks and months and for me that I will be able to remain strong for her whatever may come our way.

We give glory to God for the peace that we experienced today as we received and assimilated this stunning news and we thank all of of you that have been praying, calling and sending notes and cards of encouragement.