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Editor’s note: This is part of a monthlong series on the battle against cancer in Butler County.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. — Psalm 23:4
By the time her mother answered the phone, Rhonda Jordan was already in tears.
“I have cancer,’’ Jordan, 44, of Hamilton remembers saying.
“I cried. I cried and cried. And she cried. Then she said, ‘I’m going to be with you throughout it all. You’re going to make it. There’s nothing too hard for God.’’’
Days after celebrating New Year’s, Jordan was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer.
She was advised to decide quickly on surgery options: a lumpectomy or mastectomy to remove cancer that had lodged beneath her underarm and spread to two lymph nodes.
“I was stunned,’’ Jordan said.
Jordan, who attends church services regularly and sings in the choir, had faith in God.
But this was her toughest test yet and at times fear crept in.
“Even though I was praying and believing in God, the day before (having a lumpectomy) I just got shook up and couldn’t stop crying.’’
Her mother, Gayla Hall of Springdale, assured her she would be fine and kept her promise to stay by Jordan’s side.
Hall was among about 20 family members holding a prayer vigil in the waiting room at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati during the surgery.
She sat with Jordan during doctor’s visits, eight chemotherapy treatments and radiation treatments.
Hall, who gave birth to Jordan at age 16, said she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’re very, very close. I don’t think God could have given me a better daughter,’’ Hall said. “I had to stay strong for her.’’
When undergoing a chemo treatment aptly named “Red Devil,” Jordan leaned on her mother and God and the scripture:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. — Proverbs 3:5-6
She suffered dizziness, nausea, heart palpitations, joint pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, severe headaches, hot flashes and numbness and tingling in her feet.
The treatments also robbed her of all of her hair.
“During chemo I wanted to give up. I felt like giving up. But you can’t,’’ Jordan said. “Chemo is no joke. You really have to be strong to endure. You have to trust God. Because when you’re going through that pain nobody knows how bad it is but God.’’
Jordan’s chemo treatments ended in July and she completed 20 radiation treatments Oct. 15.
The radiation treatments caused severe burns on her neck, chest and underarm.
“My skin felt like it was on fire,’’ Jordan said.
The mother of a 22-year-old son and grandmother of a 2-year-old girl looked at herself in the mirror.
The scarf and hat that are fixtures on weekdays and the wig she sports during Sunday church services were off.
And for the first time she allowed near strangers to see her hair, just barely coming in and she wasn’t ashamed.
“I feel like if I can conquer this there’s nothing that I can’t conquer with the Lord’s help.’’
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2180 or tlatta@coxohio.com.
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2:03 PM, 10/21/2009
Crystal
11:05 AM, 10/21/2009
LOVE YOU MUCH!!!
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