BY LOUIS C. WARD
LEESBURG – “But God” is the mantra that Sharon Taylor, an eighteen-year breast cancer survivor, has clung to since she went into remission from the disease in 2005.
One evening at a Red Lobster restaurant during dinner with her mom, something in Sharon’s spirit directed her to check her breast. She felt a lump. The next day, she immediately contacted her primary care doctor, whom she had just visited a couple of days ago. Her primary doctor got her an appointment for a biopsy. The biopsy was positive for breast cancer.
Sharon was diagnosed with an aggressive type of breast cancer. Her first reaction to the positive diagnosis for breast cancer: “Why me? What did I do wrong to deserve this?”
Right away Sharon was scheduled for chemotherapy treatments every twenty-one days. “I was a sick ole girl.”
“It was a rough time” for Sharon, a mother of two sons, “especially the side effects from the chemo treatments. I was weak. The only thing I could eat was banana popsicles. I kept throwing up a lot; I couldn’t put anything in my stomach.”
Her mindset was set on fully “scared.” Whenever she heard that someone she knew died of cancer, her fear would increase. The chemo treatments’ effects were devastating on her body as well as her mindset. She began “to give up. I didn’t want to do anything. I’m done! I can’t take this!”
Sharon was “giving up on myself. But God, my faith and my sister Pamela’s encouragement:” pulled her through the life wrenching ordeal “You fitting to get out of this house and do what we used to do. You’re not giving up!” Her sister Pamela commanded her.
Also, visit from Reverend Arthur Middleton, Sharon’s former pastor at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Leesburg, inspired Sharon. She began to think “God is not through with me yet.” Her sister’s constant inspiration was a catalyst in her cure, and Sharon readily credits her for that.
Sharon’s will to live and fight was beginning to make a way for her. A positive attitude is important when dealing with a disease like cancer. She began pushing to “keep myself going, doing what I had to do and of course keeping my faith.” Sharon didn’t let anything stop her.
Now, Sharon is a happy cancer survivor, who’s willing to tell her story to new cancer patients and anyone needing to know that God is the ultimate healer. If God healed her, He can heal you, too.
“Keep your faith!” Sharon tells everyone dealing with cancer. Don’t let nothing stop you and believe you can have a “but God” healing as well.
