Thursday, January 31, 2008

Dallas pastor on an anti-cancer crusade

By Sheron C. Patterson of The United Methodist Reporter

I am a woman fighting breast cancer who happens to be clergy. It makes life very interesting.

I pastor a congregation in the ways of faithfulness and holiness. As their pastoral guide, I must maintain power and strength. But when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I thought I had lost my power and strength.

Being sick was new to me. I've only been hospitalized twice, when I gave birth to my sons. I did not know how to be sick, and cancer is super-sick -- serious-sick.

I did not know how to be a pastor while sick. It embarrassed me.

I had routinely encouraged my flock toward a healthy lifestyle. "Eat more fruits and vegetables," I'd say. "Cut back on the red meat and pork," I urged. "Most of all, get up off your sofas and exercise," I prodded.

I encouraged all of these things because I was doing them myself. I was their healthy-living role model. But with a diagnosis of breast cancer, how could I encourage them toward health when I did not have it? Why should they eat healthy if I ate healthy and still developed cancer?

The sickness sent me into a panic. My power and strength were really gone now. My doctors informed me that I had stage 0 breast cancer -- non-aggressive and non-invasive. This was good news. But it's hard to see any cancer report as good news.

Panic and shame

I wondered if I would die. As a pastor, I had made hospital visits to pray for people with cancer, and they died anyway. Was I next?

Perhaps my embarrassment and panic had biblical roots. In biblical times, the sick were shunned. It was assumed that they had done something wrong and were being punished by God.

Blind Bartimaus begged by the side of the road, lepers were relegated to a colony and the demoniac lived in a graveyard. But Jesus did not shun them; he healed them. He did not condemn them, so why was I condemning myself?

Help came to me in chapter five of the book of James, where sick people were presented in an affirming light, brought into the center of the community and empowered: "Is there any among you sick? Let them call for the elders of the church and let them pray..."

It is the responsibility of the healthy to cover the sick with prayers and support.

The doctors recommended a mastectomy to remove all the cancer. That way, I wouldn't need chemotherapy, radiation or tamoxifen.

I decided not to live the rest of my life worrying if cancer would appear in the other breast, so I opted for a double mastectomy on May 8, with reconstructive surgery. My healing has been rapid. I credit the prayers of the righteous. I am back at church working with joy and gladness.

Lessons learned

Breast cancer has been my instructor, but I was the reluctant pupil. There were lessons I learned with sickness that I would never have learned in perfect health. The primary lesson? That the power and strength did not come from me, but from the Lord. In fact, I became stronger when I was weakest, due to Christ.

Now I know that the embarrassment, panic and breast cancer were merely meant to enhance my ministry. I can now say I am stronger, braver and wiser due to my battle with cancer.

I'm an advocate for healthy living again. And I've broadened my audience beyond my congregation.

I started a program called The Patterson Pledge. It is a promise made to yourself and to me that you will actively take care of yourself. It has four parts: get an annual mammogram; eat healthy; exercise regularly; and think positive thoughts.

Will you take the Patterson Pledge and encourage others to do the same?

Dr. Patterson is pastor of Highland Hills UMC in Dallas. See the Patterson Pledge at www.drsheron.com.

Pegasus News content partner - The United Methodist Reporter

Related stories

• Dallas pastor raising awareness of breast cancer (Feb. 25, 2008)
• Breast cancer survivors needed to build a brighter future (Jan. 30, 2008)

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• Disease / Illness