I have written many, many letters to you since we began doing mission work over 11 years ago. This letter, though, is the hardest one I’ll ever write.
Before I get into the sad news, our family wants to extend a huge and grateful THANK YOU, to each of you who have prayed for and with us, who have sent donations in to support our work, who have given Bibles, school supplies, etc., and who have given your time helping on the plane, with various projects, and listening when we needed someone to talk to. Thank you all so much.
A few months ago, Todd began having pain in his right lower abdomen. We consulted with a physician friend who agreed that it sounded like it could be appendicitis. But before we made an appt to be seen, the pain went away.
December 31:
About a week or so ago, the pain came back, worse than before. Yesterday, Todd tried going to the walk-in clinic but they sent him right over the ER. I met him near the clinic and drove him to the ER, where he got pain meds and a big blood draw.
His blood came back perfectly normal, so they ordered a CT scan. We expected to hear he had appendicitis or a kidney stone – maybe a large one based on how much pain he was in.
What we heard next took our breath – and our hearts – by storm. They found cancer in Todd’s abdomen. The largest mass, 10 cm, is crushing the tube from his kidney to his bladder, so his kidney is unable to empty properly. That is the pain he is feeling. They took him back for more scans, and we were discharged around 2 am. We have an appointment to see a oncologist on Monday.
We saw the oncologist and they are scheduling more tests. We still have no new information. The cancer is a rare cancer called Sarcoma and is growing off his psoas muscle in his lower abdomen.
We are still making plans for the near future, and we honestly don’t know when or if we will be returning to Guyana.
We know some of you have made some pretty substantial donations so that our airplane could be purchased and rebuilt. We want you to know that your sacrifice was not in vein and we will still be sending a great mission plane into the mission field of Guyana. Even if we end up not able to return, our hearts will still be in Guyana – and so will our plane. 🙂 We are proud of the work we’ve done on the plane and thrilled that Guyana is getting a wonderful plane that won’t require any major maintenance for years to come. If this is our contribution to the work there – we’re proud to have been able to do it.
I am going to stop sending out monthly emails, as these emails are meant to be an update on our mission work, and that is on hold at the moment. We would appreciate your prayers over the coming months very much. If you’d still like to stay in contact with us and follow our new journey, I have a Facebook page that you can like and follow, called “At Home With Millie and Sam.”
We don’t know if this journey will last weeks, months, or years. We do still consider ourselves missionaries, but have been delayed from service for a time.
Thank you all again for your prayers and support over the last few years. I will write again when we are ready to return to mission service. Until then, please be praying for our family.
Blessings to you.
With much love,
The Anderson Family
