“This cancer is not a mistake.”
GRUNTHAL, MB—"I feel so good, yet I have a deadly disease," Jake Wiebe says with a huge smile. He's sitting at the table, where his Bible rests next to a cup of pills.
Jake and his wife, Erna, a home care worker, are both regular volunteers at Grunthal's MCC thrift shop. They're active, enjoying numerous holidays to Puerto Vallarta, where they quickly found a place where they could invest in others' lives. "Families at the Dump" became their ministry focus while they enjoyed a reprieve from Manitoba winters.
Now, because multiple myeloma has returned, Jake recognizes that it would be unwise for him to go to the dump and to be exposed to the southern sun, but he is not about to give up on life or on serving.
Just over two years ago, there was little to suggest Jake would be able to take on any new challenge. He had severe back pain, and suspected it might be due to problems with his sciatic nerve. He wondered if chiropractic treatment might help. X-rays alerted the chiropractor, and he insisted Jake see his family doctor.
The same evening, Jake was in the emergency room. His whole system had shut down. Before long the diagnosis revealed multiple myeloma. Fortunately for Jake, he was within six months of the cut-off age, so he qualified for a stem-cell transplant. The round of medication began in August, and so did the pain. That's when Jake found out that pain is a positive sign; it means the chemotherapy is effectively killing off cells. That meant Jake could be called in for a day of harvesting cells.
He was scheduled for a six-hour procedure, which required 15 litres of blood to be drained. The nurse was amazed, "This guy is absolutely loaded [with cells]. We have to recalibrate. I don't think we'll need that much blood." It took only four hours to get the 12 liters of blood. Jake remembers most clearly the "God blessed visit" he had with the nurse who oversaw the procedure.
In October, things went downhill. Jake had a blood transfusion but that did not seem to help. Five of the top cancer specialists discovered that Jake had contracted a T-cell. It could have resulted from a blood transfusion, but they suspected it could have come from one of his own cells. When someone has a compromised immune system, the T-cells can't differentiate between the good and the bad cells.
Yet Jake insists, "The good Lord has my expiry date recorded, and it isn't here yet."
And it has led him to embark on a new mission. Jake says he believes his cancer may be useful in a test study, so that perhaps his children or grandchildren's generation can have a cure for cancer.
Depending on his health and the outcome of the study group option, Jake even dreams of going south for a brief holiday.
"When you're on steroids, you find yourself losing sleep. I have had hours of thinking, but I was never anxious. My train of thought was always guided. The power of the Holy Spirit has never let me worry," he says. Instead of being fearful, Jake looks forward to helping others, despite his cancer.
As yet, there is no cure for the form of cancer Jake has. But he is adamant, "This cancer is not a mistake. If there aren't enough Jake Wiebes around, there won't be enough people to make the research project viable."
So, Jake keeps on trusting God for every day. He doesn't want to miss out on what God has planned for him.
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