Faith | A dark cancer forecast brightened after heaven-sent ‘rescues’

The forecast for his survival looked hopeless. A gloomy cancer prognosis. A predictable end. With certainty, Chuck Watson knew it would take a heaven-sent rescue ... again.

This wasn’t the first-time death’s dark scenario had brought waves of emotion.

“The worst down is the diagnosis, but then you adjust, you learn, but the bad news is still a bummer,” the former elementary school principal said, recalling the first time he’d heard he had incurable cancer back in 1999. “I was never the type to be depressed, but I was then.”

At 48-years-old, his urologist’s news that he had prostate cancer and only three to six years to live had sent him into the depths of despair. Like a drowning man, the fear of dying had pummeled this typically strong man in the darkness of night.

“I woke up at least once, maybe twice a night and I’d be bawling,” Chuck said, remembering the dread he had felt about the journey ahead. “I tried to hide it, and I’d crawl into a fetal position,” he said, hoping to not disturb his longtime bride.

Yet in front of students and staff, a calm exterior had never betrayed his turmoil. Chuck bravely faced surgery while cards of encouragement poured in, notes that often mentioned prayer on his behalf.

Even so, he barely stayed afloat.

“I was still waking up having panic attacks and I realized this was something I couldn’t handle—and I’d always been able to handle stuff, and I was proud of it,” Chuck said, a man who wasn’t into faith back then. “One night I was thinking about the cards and I decided to pray—and I wasn’t good at it, but I said, ‘God, this is beyond me and if you’re real, I need you.’”

Sleep came within moments of his prayer. Then in the predawn hours he awoke, expecting fear to grip his heart, but instead he felt lifted from a sea of anxiety.

“And along with this sense of peace was this message, ‘Whether you live or die, you’re going to be okay,’” Chuck said about this spiritual moment. “I’ve never had a panic attack since,” he added.

That peace still buoys him during the bleakest of times—moments when it has seemed there is absolutely no “rescue” in sight. Like the time Chuck’s surgeon had first told him chemotherapy was pointless. The cancer was incurable.

The news had left him adrift. Wasn’t there something he could do to better his health, add years to his life?

As if in answer, Chuck serendipitously met someone with a similar prognosis—terminal—and who was healthier after homeopathic treatments and a holistic diet. This approach was a godsend and held the cancer at bay for quite some time.

But eventually, Chuck had needed another “rescue”.

“God has placed people in front of me who have had a huge impact on my treatments, doctors who were willing to think ‘outside the box’ with unusual—at the time—treatments,” Chuck said.

He still smiles about a consultation he’d sought with a new doctor who’d offered Chuck a controversial option. Feeling unsure about the treatment, he’d stepped away to pray, asking God to show him the right direction.

“I suddenly remembered the joke about the guy on his roof and it’s flooding all around him and God says, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll save you.’ But he drowns and blames God,” Chuck said, retelling how a boat and helicopter had come to rescue the man, but he’d refused them because God was going to save him.

It was the “boat” Chuck needed. As a result, his health was buoyed with the treatment for a number of years—far beyond anyone’s expectation. Then in 2013 “out of the blue” a CT Scan showed the cancer had metastasized to his spine, hips and skull, he said. The future looked hopeless ... again.

But providentially, a man living in Utah learned of Chuck’s story in an earlier online Light Notes column. Rance Jones recognized him as his son’s principal from years earlier when Rance had worked in the Hanford Area.

“You did well with my son and I want to give back a little bit,” Rance had said in a phone call, offering to send Chuck “Body Strong Minerals”—a product that Rance believed could enhance Chuck’s immune system. “And I’m paying for it,” Rance had assured him.

Rance, who had a cancer diagnosis, as well, had been introduced to the minerals by chance—a blessing he calls it—and it improved his health. Brimming with enthusiasm, he wanted to pass the news on to Chuck.

Could it be a possible “rescue” again, the retired principal wondered?

After consulting with his doctor, Chuck began taking the minerals as he continued his bone cancer radium therapy, a procedure for pain relief. Oddly, as he followed the mineral protocol, he never experienced the expected bone pain even though it was in his skeletal system, including his skull. Then over time, Chuck’s CT scans began to look better.

Astonishing results came from his oncologist in late 2020.

“I went in to get the results of my scan and he said, ‘Well, Mr. Watson, I don’t understand this, but I’ve got good news for you.’ Then he showed me the screen. ‘It’s gone,’” Dr. Lawenda of Northwest Cancer Clinic had announced about the bone cancer.

Nevertheless, cancer is fierce and Chuck knows that active cells still circulate in his blood. Today there are two cancer spots in his bones that his oncologist continues to monitor. These spots remain smaller than what he initially had a year and a half earlier, and he feels God’s peace and is grateful.

“I’ve never felt more content and I thank God and my family for that,” Chuck said about his more than two decades-long cancer journey. “I’ve been blessed to live years beyond the original prognosis and I’m so thankful for that. Some call this a miracle,” Chuck added.

Or more than one heaven-sent rescue.