This page will have testimonies from 
people who are christians and how they came 
to Christ. If you would like your testimony 
on this website, please e-mail the webmaster at autumncv@designforministry.com 

  TESTIMONY OF TRACEY WELLS  

I used to never believe in Christ. I never thought God could have made the Earth.I thought it was impossible. Then my friends, Ashlee and Autumn ,brought me to their church for Cappuchino Christmas.It was really fun. It was a Christmas party that their church was 
having.After that I wanted to go again and again to their youth group. I wanted to understand more about what the whole Christianity thing was all about. Around Easter time,the youth group had Ugly Easter, which was a Easter youth outreach their youth group was doing. There were skits on Jesus and how he died 
for us.Ugly Easter was really inspiring. Autumn kept asking me that night, "Do you want to accept Christ?" I was so new to this thing I had to say no. I had to 
think about it. After that night I started thinking. The next day Autumn started talking to me again about accepting Jesus. I was now ready to do it. I had no clue why I didn't at Ugly Easter. Then Autumn helped me allow Jesus into my heart by praying with me. I was so happy after that. I now had Jesus in my heart.  
After that, I started believing a lot more in God. I didn't have a bible, so Autumn got me a Bible so I could learn more about God and Jesus. I try reading it every night and I pray every night. My mother used to have to drag me to church .Now I am more interested in Christianity than her. I have Autumn and Ashlee to thank for it.  I feel now that he's always here for me and that now I am never alone. 

TESTIMONY OF KATIE LAMB 

 Hey everyone I am Katie Lamb. I have 
had a life full of ups and downs. I grew up 
in the church life style, but I always dreaded 
going. It was boring and I just couldn't stand 
it. So I just all of sudden stopped going. I 
had problems with friends at school and things 
just weren't fitting into place. Everything 
was getting all messed up: my hopes, dreams,
and beliefs. One day a friend of mine came up to
me and asked me if i wanted to go to her youth 
group. Well being where I was I said that I 
was not really interested and I just did not 
feel like it. She talked me into it anyway 
and I ended up going. I was scared to go 
because I thought it would be just like my
boring old church.Well I was wrong! It was 
great.I met tons of new people and we all 
became friends. And to this day, I am still 
friends with them and I even have more. I could
not be where I am today without all of them.  
But anyways, I remember praying with this 
one girl and my life changed.  I opened my 
heart to God and asked him to fill it 
with love, warmth, and just to fulfill me. He 
did and I am so greatful. I thought I was 
a lost child and I felt like it.  It showed 
and you could tell. To this day my relationship
with him has grown and it is getting stronger. 
I love to go to youth group now and I love 
this new church that I have been going to. 
My mom is getting concerned, because I am 
different on Christianity than before. She 
thinks that what she taught me will change 
and is worried about that. She is uneasy with 
it all, but she can not make me stop. God 
has shown me more in the past year than anyone
has in my entire life time.  As a person I
have changed and people can tell. I am happy
to say that I am living through God and I 
hope that my relationship will get better 
and better as I grow and change.

HEALING TESTIMONY OF LORIE VINCENT

Thank you for the opportunity to share my cancer journey with you tonight. This luminaria ceremony causes me to reflect on the lives of my maternal grandmother who discovered breast cancer at age 84 and my paternal grandmother who beat colon cancer in her thirties and lived until age ninety two when she lost her battle with multiple melanoma. Her success at beating cancer and living another fifty years gives me courage to face the odds I face everyday. 

In the spring of 1999 living near South Bend, IN, I struggled with heavy menstrual bleeding that was taking its toll on me physically. After participating in a prayers for healing service one Sunday morning at church, I resolved to stop the work I was doing in ministry long enough to take time off to have the hysterectomy I needed to again regain the energy and health I lacked. 

In August following surgery, my surgeon entered my room to discharge me. Thirty minutes later she returned with the pathology report in hand declaring she had good news: the cancer found in my uterus was contained within the surgical margins and I would be just fine. When she left seconds later, my head was spinning trying to comprehend the impact of the past two minutes. Her upbeat response was reassuring and I quickly convinced myself I was just fine.

Several days after surgery my mom, a nurse, returned home after caring for me and ran into a pathologist friend of hers who casually asked how her daughter was doing. Upon hearing the diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma, his face fell and broke the news to my mom that I was far from fine. She called me and gingerly shared the devastation of this rare from of cancer, experienced by only a handful of people in the US at a given time, no one surviving it. I did agree, however, to ask my surgeon at my two week post-op visit for a referral to an oncologist. She referred me reluctantly restating that the surgical margins were clear and therefore the cancer was completely gone. Again I was reassured and walked with great confidence into Dr. Ansari’s office. He looked at my chart, made several calls, and bleakly described the rarity and aggressiveness of this type of cancer, its resistance to chemotherapy, and likely resistance to radiation. He had scheduled me for x-rays, CT scans of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis, and referred me to a radiation oncologist. So much for a relaxing recovery from surgery and not much of a way to spend ones 36th birthday. The radiation oncologist was in the first years of practice and amazed at seeing a rare case of leiomyosarcoma so early. He excused himself and came back several minutes later with his medical textbook pages referencing leiomyosarcoma, all five of them. It was then I heard for myself the devastation of this disease. After consulting with four other specialists he concluded radiation in my case would cause more harm than good so I left his office with no treatment plan and the statistic of 20-30% recurrence in my head. I felt like a walking time bomb. 

Several months later, an elderly woman in my church discovered she had ovarian cancer. Her husband approached me in church and told me that God put on his heart to suggest I see the gynecological oncologist his wife met, but ultimately did not even go with. I took the suggestion seriously. Days later at my six month post op follow up, I asked my surgeon for a referral to Dr. Sutton at which point she told me she would get back to me. It was several days later when her nurse called to say she would refer me if I insisted. Because I sensed God was leading me to this point, I made the appointment. Dr. Sutton ran the x-rays and CT scans, examined me and declared he could have done chemotherapy six months earlier, but would not now since the cancer had not recurred though the likelihood was 50%. I liked the 20-30% odds I heard six months ago much better. I continued with these follow up visits every three months. In March 2001, eighteen months after my original diagnosis, a CT scan of my lungs showed metastasis to my right lung. I was immediately referred back to my original oncologist and a cardiothorasic surgeon. Within three days, I had a right lung resection and thoracotomy. Again chemotherapy was not suggested due to my poor prognosis. I was told nothing more could be done other than CT scans to monitor the progression of the disease and that I should get affairs in order. By June we had sold our home in Indiana and bought a home in Mukwonago where my sister’s family was living, about 80 miles from where my parents and brothers were living. I continued follow up visits in Indiana and by July two tumors had recurred in my right lung. I began taking tamoxifen, but by October the growth had slowed a bit but was still progressing and this treatment was stopped.

With the end of the year approaching, we faced yet another dilemma, health insurance. With COBRA about to end, we were able to obtain health insurance at an astronomical cost, but insurance none the less. With the change of insurance came a change of doctors. On December 20, I met Dr. LeMarbre, an oncologist highly recommended by everyone in the medical community I had met since moving to Mukwonago. In our initial visit he was patient listening to my cancer story to date. I went resigned to the fact I was losing the battle to cancer. He told me about a protocol he had developed and was convinced it could help. Because I did not want to have chemotherapy in my last days of life and harm any quality of life that remained. Dr. LeMarbre said he could have me see another cardiothorasic surgeon, have the tumors removed and then do chemotherapy on the tumors in the lab to see if it responded before administering it to me. On January 3 of last year, I had another set of CT scans prior to my pre-op with the surgeon. When the surgeon saw the scans he determined he was not able to perform surgery since the metastasis had been very active and now nine tumors, not just two, had spread throughout both lungs and my pelvis. Dr. LeMarbre agreed to see me the next day to devise another plan.

The plan included a mix of tamoxifen and chemotherapy  96 hour continuous infusion inpatient treatment for six months. Without it, I was given six months to a year to live. I really trusted Dr. LeMarbre and as a family decided to pursue this aggressive treatment. My mom moved into our house with us for the next six months. Mark’s mom and dad came twice for a week to provide some time for my mom to take a break. Our new church family brought us meals every other day for six months. All of this enabled Mark to continue this work which provided the income for our family and insurance expenses and gave our two children, Autumn who was an 8th grader at Park View and my son Zach who was a 6th grader at Section some stability at home. When mom was not with my family, she was at my side at the hospital during my forty four days of hospitalization over the six months. Five of my six month chemo rounds required additional hospitalization for treatment for various types of infection, one bringing me near death. Scans throughout these months showed the protocol was working famously and by July of last year the tumors weren’t just shrinking, they were gone. Though I was managing a blood clot and began another cycle of chemotherapy though this time as on outpatient for a much shorter length of time, I was regaining my strength, regrowing my hair, and reclaiming my life. The week before my last round of my chemotherapy, I developed a severe upper respitory infection along with a nasty cough and pain in my chest. Since I had pain, a CT of the chest was ordered. No pneumonia was present but another tumor on the right side of my lung had reared its ugly head. It was days before Christmas. This time the treatment plan included radiation. I met with Dr. Richardson, my radiation oncologist. I then got my tatoos and had radiation simulation. Because our family had a much needed two week family vacation planned and the tumor was already sizeable when the last scan only weeks before was clear, Dr. LeMarbre decided to treat me with another type of out patient chemotherapy with the intent to slow the tumor growth until radiation could begin. Upon my return, another scan showed the tumor had already reduced by 50%. Dr. LeMarbe and Dr. Richardson conferred and decided to continue the chemotherapy along with the daily radiation treatments though this chemotherapy drug. Gemzar, did not mix well with the radiation. I finished the radiation by March and continued with chemo treatments as my blood counts allowed. Three weeks ago, CT scans revealed the tumor is again gone and though I have one more round of chemo next week, I am again cancer free - for the fourth time.

Where this journey will lead and how it ends is unknown. What I do know and what I am confident of is this. I am God’s. He knit me together in my mothers womb and he knows the number of hairs on my head or lack there of! Jeremiah 29:11 says it best: "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". May God be praised!