Cathy Suitor Riley
Cathy Suitor Riley decided to write this book during her treatments for bi-lateral breast cancer. It seemed to help to put her experiences on paper and she was hoping that her story would inspire and strengthen anyone that was going through any type of trial, not just breast cancer.
It is obvious throughout this book that God was ever present during her journey and carried her when she couldn't carry herself. The faith that Cathy was taught during her childhood from the two Christian parents she was blessed with is what made all the difference in her life. She knows that without those teachings and lessons in faith she may have given up from the very first day of her diagnosis.
Cathy had always said she didn't see how any woman could go through breast cancer because she would have to give up her hair and breasts, the two main things that make a woman feel feminine. It is obvious now that the way a woman gets through this is from the strength given to her by God. Only God can carry any of us through the trials we will face in this life, and there will always be trials as long as we live on this earth. It is this authors hope that this book will give you strength, hope, faith and the knowledge that your God is always with you and He is waiting for you to seek Him and depend on Him for everything. He is as close as our next breath and He is our very best friend. Always draw near to God and He will carry you through all things of this world....
May God bless you as you read and meditate on this book!
Cathy Suitor Riley is a 56 year old woman who was diagnosed with bi-lateral invasive and non-invasive ductal carcinoma when she was 54 years old. The day she was diagnosed it was found that she had several tumors in both breasts and in her lymph nodes and she felt like her life would end very, very soon...
Cathy is a woman of strong faith and her faith has grown even more during this breast cancer journey. This is her first book but she plans to write more books in the future. Cathy is very aware that her type of diagnosis does not hold a very good prognosis according to all medical statistics, but she also knows that Her God is the same yesterday, today and always. God healed in bible days and He can do the same today.
This author is praying that God will heal her and keep her healed from cancer so that she can declare the works of the Lord. She is working for the Lord by singing and witnessing for Him every chance she gets. Cathy cannot get enough of telling others how good God has been to her all of her life, especially during this journey. It was so obvious that God sent friends, family and even strangers at exactly the right time to deliver messages of hope from God. The pastors and congregations of Coopers Chapel Methodist Church, Hawkins Memorial Methodist Church, Wesley Chapel Methodist Church and Christian Fellowship Church were faithful encouragers to Cathy during her illness, treatments and surgery. She knows they were all "God Sent"....
She has a grown daughter, Karen, and a grandson, Cody, that give her the will to live and with God's help she will live a long and healthy life.
Now it was October, 2005. It still was not time for my annual mammogram yet, it was not due until November. Again as I lay down one night to go to sleep I felt that ominous knot in my left breast. I wondered, could there be something wrong? Some people say if it hurts it is not cancer and some say if it doesn't hurt it isn't cancer. Which is it? All kinds of questions were sweeping through my mind. I felt so scared and so uncertain, yet I still had a peace that I could not have cancer. Not me.
The next morning I got out of bed and when I was in the bathroom getting ready I noticed a"dimpling" in my left nipple. I thought "oh, no", I could also feel what felt like a knot in the lower part of the nipple. I immediately went to the den and showed my husband. He looked at me and said "there is a knot in there." I said, "I know, I think I need to call and get my mammogram appointment soon."
I got to thinking that maybe something was wrong. You know children are very perceptive and it hadn't been but a few weeks since my grandson, Cody was spending the night with me and we went to bed one night and he put his little arms around my neck and pulled me up really close to him and said, "Memaw, I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you". Was this a premonition?
Also, Cody sat down in the recliner with me one night after I found the knot in my breast. He accidentally bumped my left side and I told him, "be careful baby, Memaw has a knot in her breast". That precious little boy turned and looked me striaght in the eyes and said, "you probably have breast cancer." Could I? Where had he heard that? Then I remembered it was October and it was Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there had been a lot on television about that. Maybe that was just a coincidence that he knew about something like that.........
