God’s Great Faithfulness
by Lizzie Makin
During my junior year of college my life saw many new and life-changing challenges, including cancer. Through it all God has been faithful. He has brought people into my life at specific times to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
I was 21 when I was first diagnosed with cancer. I’m now 31, married, with a beautiful 4-year-old daughter. Let me share a brief timeline of the last 10 years of my life.
2012, March: My Junior year in college I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment while in school.
2013, Spring: graduated from college and began teaching in the fall
2014, September: met my husband, Joel; December, diagnosed with cancer again, beginning chemotherapy on Christmas Eve
2015, Spring: finished chemotherapy; October 3rd, married Joel
2018, early February: We learned we were pregnant. At the first ultrasound another tumor was found but decided to carry the baby rather than have surgery. September 21st, Charli girl was delivered at 37 weeks. I began chemotherapy a week later, finishing in November.
2019, February: surgery to replace hip (due to tumor damage), vein reconstruction and tumor removal; complications followed beginning in April and continued into 2020
2020: external fixator on my hips for 3 months because of 3 major infections and 4 hip dislocation surgeries following 2019 surgery
2021, January: lost my brother suddenly and developed heart issues requiring hospitalization for a week; my hip dislocated again a week later
2021, April: amputation, followed by an open wound infection after surgery lasting until September 2022
2022: Historic cancer free scan! Began working with prosthetic in the fall. Still working with it!
You might look at this list and say that I must be a strong person to make it through it all but really, it is a list of what God has brought me through and what He has done in my life.
God kept placing people in my life and sometimes I wondered why. But all along, He knew what he was doing. He was providing people to help me overcome my battles and spark my faith and trust in Him when I didn’t know how.
For example, I left teaching at the end of the school year in 2018 and began working at a church as director of children’s ministry. You know how you see or hear of people who have a life-changing experience that is just perfect for them? That’s what this was for me. I became part of a larger family of people I would later depend on to get me through the hard challenges.
The morning of my hip replacement, vein repair and tumor removal, I walked into surgery prep laughing with Joel at that silly hair net I was wearing and him snapping a photo of me. Even though I was about to have a huge surgery, I felt as if I didn’t have a worry in the world. We knew the possibility of the nerve damage, but it wasn’t weighing us down. It wasn’t our focus. Our focus was finding a way to improve my health so that we could go on living the life we had planned with our little girl.
However, after a very long successful surgery, I no longer had the use of my right leg. Although there was a possibility I would regain use, complications followed, and it was not to be. This meant that I wasn’t going to be able to walk and hold my little girl or walk and hold my husband’s hand. But God again placed people in our lives to become His hands and feet.
For the next year and a half, I had multiple infections and took multiple antibiotics, followed by multiple surgeries to replace my hip which was dislocating without a known cause. A painful external fixator was placed as a last effort to correct the problem. Another infection developed and the procedure was unsuccessful. Another option, which we had determined offered little hope for success, was still a possibility, but at that point, I was exhausted. I was tired of trying and failing at fixing myself. I just wanted to be able to “physically” be a part of Charli’s life. She was then 2½ and I felt I had missed out on so much already. I was ready to live without the fear of when the next dislocation or infection would happen. The best option was to have a hemipelvectomy. Simply put, this was an amputation of my right hip and leg.
I can see now how God was growing my faith through all I had been through and prepared me to make this decision. My faith in God was the calm to my storm and brought peace and relief. The surgery went amazingly smooth.
Again, our community of believers were there for us, praying, providing meals, finances, help with our home and with Charli. It was that support that held us through the surgery and afterwards.
My health has been so much better, including being cancer free longer than any period since my diagnosis 10 years ago. And this past summer I began the process of prosthetic fitting. This fall, I walked (using my trusty walker), with Charli into her preschool classroom and recently received my prosthetic. Yes, there are still challenges, but there is no fear. I know that I’m going to be ok. God has been faithful through it all. I knew then and know still today that He isn’t going to leave me. He is forever faithful.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27
