As the name of my blog – HEALTHY Simplicity – implies our family tries to live in a health-conscious way. This past summer we’ve had so many things that we believed about health turned upside down.

Last June my husband started experiencing symptoms of what we assumed was kidney stones. This puzzled us because he had none of the lifestyle/diet reasons for having kidney stones.

There were several trips to the hospital with my husband in a lot of pain. Scans never revealed any kidney stones so we were told he must have passed them.

Off and on he saw the doctor and took pain meds all summer. He also started to steadily lose weight (40 pounds since the end of June). He stopped going to the gym because he was tired all the time. We kept our family vacation low key and prayed for healing.

Finally near the end of September my husband was back in the hospital again. After a couple of days we heard the results of the further tests that were run – kidney cancer.

To say we were shocked would probably be an understatement. Shocked but calm. We had started to suspect cancer through research we were doing. Since the diagnosis my husband’s surgeon has told us that kidney cancer can mimic kidney stones in the early stages which is why it went undiagnosed.

We have since learned that kidney cancer is not common. In fact, my husband really doesn’t have any of the risk factors for it – smoking and old age.

Curiously enough this makes me feel more calm. I KNOW God allowed this cancer since my husband doesn’t fit the typical profile. We are hoping that whatever purpose God has in this we will obedient to it.

My husband has taken a temporary leave of absence from his secondary job. We have church in our home on Sundays since being in the car aggravates the symptoms. On November 15^th my husband will have his kidney removed, and we will find out whether the cancer has spread. We are trusting God to have kept it contained.

I never thought we would experience cancer because we have always tried to live in a healthy way. God saw otherwise though so now we are trusting Him to bring us safely through this trial with our faith in Him stronger than ever.

We would appreciate your prayers as we walk down a road we never imagined we’d be on.