Imerman Angels is an international program that recruits mentors to provide emotional support for cancer patients and their caregivers, matching them with someone going through the same type of cancer and treatment. I signed up to be a Mentor Angel and was matched in 2014 with Kay in Colorado. We talked fairly often by email and sometimes by phone.
“How do you fight depression?” she asked one day.
“I look at how far Chris has come and how God has taken care of us every step of the way. We’ve been blessed by friends and family in every way imaginable. I’m thankful for each additional day that God has allowed me to share with Chris, especially when statistics say he shouldn’t, couldn’t, and wouldn’t be here more than six to nine months. When I count my blessings, one by one, it’s difficult to be depressed.”
Kay and DeLayne - 2018
Although Kay’s husband passed in 2015 from lung cancer (also a never-smoker like Chris), we continued to stay in touch, and she became my mentor as I entered her world of widowhood in 2016. We still stay in touch and have visited in person a couple of times. I count her as one of my many blessings.
Have you stopped to count the many blessings in your life?
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. —1 Thessalonians 5:16–18