The plane was full of lds missionaries coming home in coach, but sitting in first class was 1 lone missionary. Our Auzzy! This meant that he would be getting off the plane first….
We were not prepared! Steve and Aubrey were at the wrong terminal so they weren't even there! We had posters made that were never displayed, cause it was sooo fast! I was so short he didn't see me! But standing in the very front waiting were 2 of his best friends Brock and Brandon. The three of them have been together since before kindergarten. It was a sweet, emotional reunion and meant to be.
His suit! You can't see it in the picture, but it is a borrowed suit. He left so quickly he left his suit coat in his apartment in Mexico. So he is wearing an abandoned suit that was left in a closet. It was about 3 to 4 inches too short for him.
He was sweating and shaking like crazy. It made me worry. But it was so good to see him!
The next day we had an appointment with a lung specialist.
We were expecting to go to a
surgeon and remove the tumor. Have him recoup for a few months and then see him
go back out on his mission somewhere in the states until his release date at
the end of January.
But a strange thing happened. There was a Doctor who knew
about Austin through the missionary department. He couldn’t sleep at night and
had the feeling that he had a certain type of Cancer.
This busy specialist called our Stake President and asked if
he could call us. Austin came home in the afternoon on Wed. August 6th
and we were in his office at 9 a.m. on August 7th.
What a great man. He said he didn’t want us to wait months
to see who we needed to, he wanted to get us in to who we needed to see that
day. And after an amazing office visit he walked us up to a Cardiothorasic
Surgeon who came in just for us. So we went from test to test and Doctor to
Doctor. It was a busy day.
The next day I received the phone call saying that not only
was it cancer but it was a very aggressive rapidly growing, rare cancer.
Photo of tumor after chemo treatments (it's the big grey mass that needs to be removed)
Austin had been playing basketball outside with the family.
And I was lamenting how to go about telling him. I was dying inside. But when
he came in I was busy in the kitchen and so in the middle of a conversation I
just casually said, “Oh by the way….it is cancer, so we’ll be starting chemo
next week.” He just said, "Ok" like it was no big deal and went on with things….
He laughs now about how he found out.
We know it was a miracle they found the type of cancer so soon. I
know it was found as a result of an educated talented man who cares. A man who
lives a clean life enabling him to follow promptings from God.
And I am so grateful to him
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