Is it possible for someone’s life to get better after a cancer diagnosis? For most people in this world, it is preposterous to even suggest that life could improve after getting diagnosed with cancer. Everyone wants to avoid being diagnosed with cancer and many people do not want to talk about their cancer trials either for a variety of reasons. Most people, including me, would agree that “cancer sucks” for all the obvious reasons. However, in this issue of the Cancer Support Chronicles, I am going to share a story which directly challenges the “cancer sucks” perspective we see referenced so often in our world today.
Before I share a story about a friend’s life getting better after being diagnosed with cancer, did you know there is a website called cancer sucks (www.cancersucks.com). Here is what their website states they are all about:
“Cancer Sucks, which is a charity with an attitude, was established out of the pain and frustration that comes from losing a loved one to cancer, combined with the desire to do what we can to prevent anyone from experiencing the same loss. The 1996 death of Donna Holland White was a devastating event and one that will never be forgotten. While undergoing treatments, surgeries, and the emotional roller coaster that comes with cancer, Donna still had time to think of others by making arrangements to have her body donated to cancer research at the time of her death. Cancer Sucks is a living memorial started by her family and dedicated to Donna. The organization is run by volunteers that have all been touched by cancer and focused on raising as much money for cancer research as possible. Corporate partnerships fund our overhead expenses allowing us to donate ALL the proceeds from our events to cancer research. For more information on Corporate Partnerships, volunteer opportunities, merchandise, donations, or to start your own Cancer Sucks fundraising event contact us today.”
Obviously, this “cancer sucks” charity is doing amazing work to help fund cancer research. I have no idea how much money they have made, but they are to be commended for their efforts. My main objective here is not to focus on their organization or what they do, but to just point out that “cancer sucks” is an extremely popular perspective today. It is often referenced in social media and other communications we see about people who are either battling cancer or recently passed away from a cancer trial.
This blog post is about my friend, Sheri Sannella, who was diagnosed with lung cancer four years ago. Before I share more details of her amazing story, I would like to start by saying this is the hardest blog post I have ever written. I have written over 30 of these blogs so far, and this one was extremely difficult and emotional for me to write. Why? Sheri’s husband, Steve, is one of my best friends. He and I have been friends since middle school, and we talk or text all the time. When he calls, he usually starts off by singing “Top Jimmy”, which is a Van Halen song we all listened to in high school. We both played on the same golf team in high school, and we remained good friends in college, even though he went to Purdue, and I went to their biggest rival, Indiana University. He helped get me my first sales job over summer break in college selling China plates door-to-door. Even though I hardly made a dime that summer, it was an amazing experience for me, and I am grateful he dragged me along for the ride. Ever since we graduated from college in the late 1980’s, we still wager $5 on each of the IU and Purdue basketball and football games each year. When you consider how dominant Purdue has been in those two sports since we graduated, he has gotten the better of me on those bets over the past 36 years. As you might expect, it is not about the money wagered each game, but it is about maintaining our relationship. Steve is one of those types of friends that are hard to find in this world because he is loyal and truly cares about me. In a lot of ways, he has been a much better friend to me than I have ever been to him. He has been there for me in some of the lowest parts of my life, supported me in my numerous medical trials (including my 22 surgeries) and is usually the first to text me on my cancer anniversary to congratulate me on another year of surviving cancer.
Not only are we good friends, but I also had the unique privilege of introducing him to Sheri in 1991. Sheri was going to the University of Toledo (5th year senior) at the time and Steve was in his first job at Comerica bank in Detroit. Sheri was the best friend of the girl I was dating at the time. They were on the dance team together at high school in Brecksville and they both went to the university of Toledo where they majored in exercise science. Steve and Sheri met when the girls and I went up to Steve’s house in suburban Detroit for a Halloween party in 1991. Then they started dating immediately after the party. Over the next two years, I watched them fall in love and get married. I was the best man at their Cleveland wedding on October 17, 1992. After the wedding, Steve got a new job and they moved to Charlote, NC (they live just over the border in South Carolina in the greater Charlotte metropolitan area) where Steve continued his banking career. They ended up having two beautiful children, Michael and Ava. Sheri is from Cleveland, where I have lived most of my life, so Steve and I would often see each other when they came back from South Carolina to visit her family in Ohio over the holidays.
Steve has always been there for me when I needed him the most, so it broke my heart when he called me four years ago to tell me that Sheri had been diagnosed with Stage-4 lung cancer. When he called, I believe he said to me that “Sheri has joined my club”, a reference to me being a two-time cancer survivor. I remember thinking to myself, how could this be as Sheri has never smoked and she is one of the healthiest people I know? Not only did she earn a degree in exercise science from the University of Toledo, she also taught exercise classes, including Zumba, for decades. She is the last person in the world you would ever think is going to get lung cancer.
As we spoke over the next few weeks, I remember him telling me everything he read about her type of lung cancer was depressing. Websites like Web-MD and others did not offer much hope for surviving such a diagnosis. Sheri had stage-4 lung cancer, meaning her cancer had metastasized to other organs in her body. Lung cancer causes more deaths than any type of cancer in the USA and the stage-4 lung cancer survival rates are extremely disheartening to consider. They both read these websites and articles about her type of cancer and understood her prognosis, from a worldly medical perspective, was extremely bleak.
I have been ministering to people with cancer for years and I can promise you a stage-4 cancer diagnosis will turn your life upside down and inside out unlike any trial you have ever faced in your life. Such a diagnosis will cause you to ponder your own mortality more than you ever have before. We all have dreams and plans for our lives. However, when the doctor diagnoses you with terminal cancer, it is only natural to feel like your dreams are slowly fading away and you suddenly find yourself in what appears to be a hopeless situation. I have seen all sorts of different responses by hundreds of people to a cancer diagnosis. If you were in Sheri’s shoes and if you think you know how you would respond to a similar diagnosis, you are not being honest with yourself.
Steve has always read most of my Cancer Support Chronicles blogs, and I know he shared some of them with Sheri. If you have read my blogs before, you will know that I attempt to utilize the platform of cancer to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who are hurting and looking for hope in their cancer trials. Since we were in a pandemic with many of our members immunocompromised, via zoom, Steve & Sheri both attended in 2020 the cancer support group I lead at my church a few times. I could tell God was working in Sheri’s heart.
In September of 2022, Steve texted me a video of Sheri sharing her testimony at her church. It was her testimony before her believer’s baptism. Before I talk about Sheri’s video, believer’s baptism follows a confession of personal faith in Christ; it is an expression of communion with Christ (an individual’s spiritual union and identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus), an indication of being set apart as holy with Christ (obedience to His commands), and a look forward to eternal home with Christ in heaven.
Christ commanded the church to baptize (Matthew 28:19-20). The consistent practice of the early church was that as people heard the Word preached, they responded in faith, they confessed that belief publicly by being baptized and became part of the local body of believers. If we obey the Lord and conform our practice to New Testament patterns, we are to do the same, although baptism is not a pre-requisite for getting into Heaven nor does it have anything to do with our salvation.
In that video which recorded her testimony before her baptism, Sheri said the following (paraphrased for easy reading):
“I (Sheri) started attending a new church after a woman (who I did not know previously), who was a member of the church, approached me in a public situation when she heard me talking about my health issues and started praying for me. The woman told me she was worried it was going to be awkward approaching a stranger like me and offering to pray, but I was deeply touched by her prayers. I was so touched by the woman’s care, concern and prayers that I started attending this woman’s church. That is when I began to realize that my life had changed for the better after my cancer diagnosis. How could this happen? It had become abundantly clear to me that Jesus walks with me every day by lifting me up and giving me hope.”
I will talk about what she said in that testimony more in the rest of this blog post, but isn’t it incredible that Sheri said that her life actually got better AFTER her cancer diagnosis? I am incredibly grateful that God brought that woman in her life and used her as a conduit to get Sheri involved in a church and growing in her relationship with God. If you listen carefully to what Sheri said in that video, the evidence points to her having a life changing encounter with Jesus during her cancer trial. Ephesians 2:13 tells us:
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”
The preceding verse tells us that those who commit their lives to Christ are brought near to God because of the sacrifice Jesus made for all sinners. Only God knows if any of us are saved, but I would like to point out that Sheri made a public proclamation in front of the congregation at her church that she was a follower of Christ. As I mentioned earlier, this is one of the purposes of baptism. No one participates in a believer’s baptism ceremony unless they have made a public confession of faith in Christ. Furthermore, to have a perspective of your life getting better AFTER a serious cancer diagnosis, you have to have a very clear understanding of the Gospel message. It is not possible to make such a comment unless you completely trust Christ and His plan for your life, including the outcome of your cancer trial. As Steve told me recently, Sheri’s story is one of total rebirth.
When you receive a terminal cancer diagnosis like Sheri received, you become almost overwhelmed by the weight of the diagnosis. Suddenly, you do not care who is going to win the election or where your next vacation is going to be. In fact, most of the things we spend our days worrying about suddenly become meaningless. Why? The Bible (Hebrews 2:15) tells us that death scares us more than anything in this world. Therefore, when a medical professional tells us that we have terminal cancer and are likely going to die, it is only natural for us to be scared and to then try and figure out a way to live. In trying to figure out how to live, terminal cancer patients come up with all sorts of ways to try to “beat” and/or respond to their cancer diagnosis. Some just ignore the medical professionals and pursue crossing off accomplishments on their bucket list. Others become depressed and crawl into their hole and hope their doctors are wrong. Still others fly all over the world pursuing second opinions or cutting-edge medical treatments in their efforts to find someone who will tell them they can save them. Finally, others like Sheri, turn to God when they discover that He is the only one who can save them.
From my perspective, Sheri was a good steward of her medical care during her cancer trial. More specifically, she was able to be treated with some of the latest and greatest treatments for her type of cancer, including being given Tagrisso (targeted therapy pills) and targeted radiation. She also tried numerous, I mean numerous, holistic approaches to help herself as well. Even though she was a good steward of her own medical care, she also realized that God was in control of both the outcome of her cancer trial and her eternal destiny. For all my years of ministering to people with cancer, I wish you I could tell you more stories of people making a public profession of faith in Christ during their cancer trial. I have seen it happen over the years, yet I yearn to see it happen more than I have thus far. That is why I spend so much time writing these blogs and that is why Sheri’s story is such a good one to share as such a public statement of conversion (for someone who was not already a born-again believer) does not appear to happen as often you think it would.
One of the blessings of a prolonged medical trial is that it gives the cancer patient time to ponder their own mortality and to consider what will happen to their soul if they do not survive their cancer trial. Sheri had almost four years to consider her diagnosis and she ended up choosing to surrender her life to Jesus. If you read some of her social media posts, Sheri often referenced 2 Kings 20:5 (KJV) which tells us:
‘Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of
David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.”
The preceding verse does not promise us physical healing, but it references spiritual healing. More specifically, the promise of healing on the third day in 2 Kings 20:5 draws a direct connection to Jesus Christ, whose resurrection on the third day brought ultimate healing and life to all who believe. Just as Hezekiah (The king who is referenced in 2 Kings 20) experienced physical restoration, Jesus’ resurrection brings spiritual restoration and eternal life to all who believe and trust in Him. JESUS PROVIDES HOPE TO ALL CANCER PATIENTS (AND ANYONE ELSE) WHO BELIEVE IN HIM. Why? No matter the outcome of their earthly cancer trial, the cancer patient who is a follower of Christ will have eternal life. What does it mean to have eternal life? The bible says Christians will experience eternal peace and joy in the presence of God, where the redeemed of the Lord will live in perfect harmony with Him and each other (Revelation 21:4).
Yes, Sheri prayed for physical healing. Many cancer patients pray for healing, but it is ultimately up to the Lord if He heals any one of us. I certainly prayed for healing when I had my two cancer trials. Even Jesus, before he was betrayed by Judas and sent to the cross to die for all sinners, asked His Father (God) in Luke 22:42 to remove him of his suffering he was about to endure before saying not my will but your (Father’s) will be done. Yes, none of us, including Jesus wants to suffer and die, but we ultimately need to submit to God’s will for our lives just like Jesus ultimately submitted to His Father’s will.
The following is an excerpt from the October 3, 2019 article titled “10 Important Things the Bible Says about Death”, which was posted on biblestudytools.com:
“When we believe Christ is who He says He is—the sinless Son of God—and did what He said He did—died for our sins and rose from the dead—Scripture says we receive entrance into heaven. We’re granted unhindered, relational intimacy with our Savior. He who holds the universe in His hand holds our lives, now and forever more, as well. This means, when our bodies fail and illness invades, we can rest knowing we’re secure in God’s unshakable, unbreakable love.”
Romans 14:8 tells us:
“If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
If you consider the picture I posted of Sheri on the cover page for this blog post, Sheri is wearing a shirt which says, “By His stripes I am healed”. In this context, I did not know what “stripes” meant, so I had to google the phrase to understand what it meant. I discovered that “Stripes” is a synonym for “wounds”, which is how it is worded in the ESV version of the bible which I study. When I conducted my internet search, I also learned that the phrase on her shirt is a paraphrase of Isaiah 53:5 where it says:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
The preceding verse refers to the suffering of Jesus Christ, who was "pierced for our transgressions" and "crushed for our iniquities". The punishment (for our sins) that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes or wounds we are healed. This phrase, “By His stripes I am healed”, is used as a promise of spiritual healing through Jesus' stripes for all who confess Jesus as savior and Lord.
If you are reading this and are thinking to yourself this is all a bunch of nonsense and the telling of a bunch of old fables, I can promise you that you likely do not know how you would respond if you were in Sheri’s shoes. If you are ever told you have terminal cancer, are you just going to sit back and let it happen? If not, what are you going to do? Who or what are you going to turn to? How will you respond? Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has put eternity into each man’s heart. He uses trials, including cancer trials, as opportunities to remind us that we cannot conquer life on our own and that we need Him. Matthew 11:28 tells us (Jesus is speaking):
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
The preceding verse refers to Jesus providing eternal rest for our souls. God loves each of us dearly and He wants us to come to Him by accepting Jesus as savior and Lord. Unfortunately, when life is going great, we all tend to put too much emphasis on our own abilities and accomplishments and ignore God. However, when we are diagnosed with terminal cancer, we start to realize that we are not going to live forever and that we all have an expiration date.
Cliffe Knechtle, Senior Pastor at Grace Community Church in New Canaan, speaks about Christ on college campuses. He has a Facebook page called “Give me an Answer” where he encourages students to take a stand for Christ. Here is what he said recently in one of his videos:
“I do not tell a lot of people this. I have a recurring nightmare. The recurring nightmare that I have is that I have not gone to class at my university, I have not studied, and I have an exam tomorrow and I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Why? Because I realize I am totally unprepared and totally unqualified to take the exam tomorrow. Guess what friends…That’s called waking up to reality. Ultimately, I am unqualified to determine the purpose of human existence. To really define what is right and wrong. I am totally unqualified to bring life after death 100%. When I play the game that “I am in control”, it does not take too long for me to realize, oops, that I am not really in control.”
As Cliffe summarizes in his preceding quote, it comes down to control for humans to determine if they believe in God or not. Not only do we all have to determine if we believe in Him, but we also need to determine if we believe in what God has to say in the bible where it says all scripture is breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16). The world tells us that we are captains of our own ships and in complete control of our destiny. However, when the doctor walks in and tells us that we have terminal cancer, we suddenly realize that we are not in control. As a result, the big question in the room is “are you prepared to take the exam which Cliffe Knechtle referenced in his preceding quote”? Since we are all going to die, we all have a judgment day before God. That judgment day is the final exam which Cliffe is referring to. It is the final exam which we all need to be prepared to take when our time on earth comes to an end. Romans 14:12 tells us:
“So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God”
The gospel message was designed by God to be good news to all who hear it. Unfortunately, many people find it offensive because it says we are not in control, but God is. Many people do not like hearing they are not in control and run from God because they are unwilling to give up their perceived control over their lives. Yes, some people are afraid of committing their lives to Christ because they are apprehensive of admitting to such a change in front of their family and friends. Others find the message of the gospel to be too hard to believe or intellectual foolishness. Others are unwilling to bow before the Lord and confess Jesus as King. Finally, others enjoy their sinful life and are content with it and see no reason to make any changes. There are many other examples of why people reject the message of the cross, but they all illustrate people being unwilling to give up control of their lives by trusting in Christ as savior and king. I do not have time to get into a detailed explanation of what happens to people who fail the exam referenced in Romans 14:12, but the bible (Matthew 8:12 and elsewhere) says there will be “eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth”. I do not know about you, but “weeping and gnashing of teeth” sounds just awful to me. To make matters even worse, if we end up being separated from God because we fail the final exam, the weeping and gnashing of teeth will continue forever.
Recently, at church, I heard a story about a man who was dying of terminal cancer. He was a Christian and he was always talking in his hospice ward about his faith in Christ and the hope which Jesus provided him. After he died, his family was able to review his medical chart and one of his nurses had written in his chart a comment which said that he was “inappropriately joyful”. Wow, can you imagine reading that comment about your loved-one who died? Why would the nurse write that “too much joy” comment in the man’s chart? The answer is she does not understand what the bible has to say about death and eternal life. I Corinthians 1:18 tells us:
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”
The preceding verse tells us the message of the Gospel is absolute foolishness to those who do not believe. However, in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, we find our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Jesus offers everyone who believes in Him hope, which should produce extreme joy. Unfortunately, the nurse who wrote “inappropriately joyful” did not understand is that she is the one who is perishing (referenced in 1 Cor. 18) and not the man in her hospice ward. The nurse had been trained that all the patients in her care were dying and in a hopeless situation. Therefore, when she started to care for a patient who was joyful and did not act like the other patients she cared for, she thought he was crazy and had lost his mind. When he tried to explain the reason for his joy by sharing the gospel with her, she considered what he said to her to be absolute foolishness. Yes, the word of the cross is irrational and preposterous to all who do not believe. If you believe it to be complete foolishness as well, please pray and ask the Lord to open your eyes.
If you think I am making too much out of one nurse’s comments written in a dying man’s chart, please google for me the “top ten funeral songs” and see what comes up. “My way” by Frank Sinatra and “Somewhere over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland (when she filmed the Wizard of Oz) are on most of the lists which I read. It is shocking to me that people actually play these songs at funerals. ‘My Way” points to the control issues which Pastor Cliffe Knechtle pointed out in my earlier quote from him. As to the Judy Garland song, do people really believe their loved one’s soul is somewhere over the rainbow? As evidenced by the amount of people who play the rainbow song at funerals, it is obvious to me that people believe this to be true. Playing these songs at their loved one’s funeral shows a complete lack of understanding of what God says about death in the bible. When people play these songs at funerals, they are either willingly or unwillingly saying they do not believe in God.
In September 2024, they found out that Sheri’s cancer metastasized into her brain. In October, she had to go into hospital for treatment and then she was sent to hospice care. Unfortunately, she never returned home. It is with a tremendous amount of sadness that I let you know that Sheri Sannella passed away from her cancer trial on October 18, 2024, at 12:25 AM. She had just turned 57 the day before, which was also her wedding anniversary. She left us twenty-five minutes after her birthday and anniversary. I cannot adequately describe with words how painful this is for me. I am not going to dwell on my feelings other than to say that I have shed a bunch of tears over everything that has happened to her over the past 4 years. Sheri loved her family. She loved Steve dearly and she loved her children, Michael and Ava, with all her heart and soul. She loved spending time with her family, including her mom, dad, sisters and extended family. She also loved animals. If you went over to the Sannella house, there were usually many cats and dogs roaming around. Some of her cats lived inside whereas others lived outside permanently. She loved to dance, teach Zumba and exercise. She had many other interests as well. However, when you consider we all enter this world with nothing and we leave all leave this world with nothing, the only activities which matter for any of us, including Sheri, are the ones which bring Glory to God. The Westminster catechism tells us the chief end of man is “to bring glory to God and to enjoy him forever”. Did you catch the “enjoy him forever” part? Therefore, the most important event to happen in Sheri’s life is when she was converted and became a follower of Jesus Christ. As unlikely as it might seem, God used the horrible circumstances of her cancer trial to humble her heart to the point where she became receptive to the Gospel. When the stranger from Church approached her, prayed for her, shared the good news of the gospel with her and became her friend, Sheri eventually put her complete faith and trust in Christ. It totally changed Sheri’s heart from the inside out. In her baptism testimony, she went on to say that Jesus was the only way she could have any hope in her stage-4 lung cancer trial. Absent her cancer trial, Sheri also realized that she would NOT have become a follower of Christ, which is why she said her life became better after her diagnosis. It is amazing to me how God used the horrible circumstances of a cancer trial to change her heart and to bring Sheri absolute clarity about her faith in Christ.
My heart breaks for the Sannella family. My good friend Steve just lost his mom to a stroke a few months (July 2024) ago, and now he is dealing with the death of his wife, partner and best friend. He is such a good friend, and it pains me to think about what he is going through right now. Sheri’s children are hurting as are her extended family and friends. While I am mourning her passing, I am grateful she is spending eternity with her savior. I am also comforted by the fact that God’s purposes, no matter how difficult they are for me and others to understand sometimes, are perfect. I am also encouraged by the fact that His love for all of us, including the Sannella family, never ceases. Please continue to pray for the Sannella family.
So, why would I write this blog post? There are several reasons why I wrote this post. The first reason is to let everyone know how Sheri came to faith in Christ during her cancer trial. It is good news that she is with her savior now and is no longer suffering physically. Her story of how she came to faith in Christ through incredibly difficult cancer trial circumstances deserves to be told again for others to consider and ponder. As she stated in her testimony in front of her church congregation, your life can change for the better after a cancer diagnosis as it is an opportunity to come to faith in Christ or grow closer to the Lord if you are already a born-again believer. Secondly, I also want to point out that her passing is a wake-up call to the rest of us. We all have an expiration date, meaning we are all going to die, and Sheri’s passing at relatively young age is a reminder to each one of us that we are mortal human beings. Some of us will be here one second and gone the next second whereas others will have time to reflect on a dreadful medical diagnosis. None of us know how we are going to die so the question I pose to you today is “have you studied and prepared for the final exam which we will all take when we sit in the judgment seat before God?” You may or may not have extended time to prepare for this exam, which the bible says is the most important exam any of us will ever take in our lives. The bible tells us that faith in Jesus is the only way we can pass that exam. Sheri’s passing is a wake-up call to all of us that life is short, and God wants you to come to saving faith in His son, Jesus. He is our only hope. All who trust in Him can continue to live eternally, no matter the outcome of their earthly cancer trial. Yes, Sheri’s faith in Christ allowed her to ultimately conquer her cancer trial.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
Jim Risk, a two-time cancer survivor, is the volunteer Ministry Coordinator for the Cancer Support Group (CSG) at a non-denominational church in NE Ohio. Jim and his wife, Kristina, have participated and served in CSG, a Christian ministry, since 2007.
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