Micah's Story

It was such a long time ago that I wrote this story for the first time. November 7, 2026, will be the 19th anniversary of me finding Micah's tumor.

In that time, we have had two more girls. We moved to Grand Rapids as a family for four years for Ken to go to seminary. Josh is a correctional officer and has been married to Riley for five years. Micah is in his second year of teaching. Natalie just got married to Austin in August. Josiah is dating Danae, and they are working and going to Redeemer. Grace is in Grade 11 at PRC, and Tessa is in Grade 5 at home. This past August, three of the kids moved to the Niagara area, so we only have the two girls home.

This story feels like it could have happened yesterday, yet it feels like it was from another life.

Micah was born on January 7, 2002. On November 7, 2007, I felt a growth in his belly. It was half the size of a loaf of banana bread. After an X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, and a meeting with a surgeon, the plan was to remove the tumor. The tumor was malignant, and he was diagnosed with Stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma. Even though his first surgery got the whole primary tumor out, it had already spread to his lungs and liver.

On December 28, 2007, he started chemo. Along with 15 months of intense chemo, he had 30 radiation treatments. Micah finished treatment in February of 2009 and was cancer free.

On December 7, 2009, a tumor was found in his lungs. After discussions with the doctors, we decided not to do heavy treatment because we had no new drugs to try. The probability of the drugs we had used the first time working was very slim. So Micah was given oral chemo with the intent of shrinking the cancer so we could try surgery. That was the best-case scenario. If the tumor didn't shrink, we were hoping that it would slow the growth and possibly keep him comfortable for longer. 

At this point, his breathing was labored, and he was having pain in his lungs.

The chemo did not shrink the tumor, and it continued to grow. On March 22, 2010, we were informed that the tumor had started to grow at an increased rate. We had to make the decision whether to have surgery as a last chance effort or to stop treatment and let the Lord take Micah to be with Him.

On March 25, 2010, Micah went in and had half of his left lung lobe removed. Amazingly, they got all the cancer out.

For the first two years after his lung surgery, Micah had scans every three months, then every six months and then once a year. In March 2014, he moved to aftercare. That means no more scans and an appointment once a year that focuses on how his body has handled the trauma of the cancer and the treatment. 

The doctors expected the cancer to come back, possibly even within months of his lung surgery. If it had come back, there was nothing that they could have done for Micah.

Here we sit, 19 years later, with six healthy children.

Through these years, we have continued to see the Lord's faithfulness to our family. 

This page of writing is all facts. If I could pick one post for you to read that really tells our story in depth, it would be this one.