Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
Kim Waddy's 2015 did not start off with a bang. She was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer on January 2. 2015 looks to end much better, as she is set to end it cancer-free, a miracle straight from God. The ten months since her diagnosis have been filled with trials, fears, faith, redemption and rejuvenation. As we mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, please read Kim Waddy's story and take hope if you or a loved one is touched by this disease.
Kim Waddy is a busy woman. The school teacher is married to a pastor, and they have three children - one in middle school, one in high school, and one in college. Like most families, they look forward to Christmas, as it is a time to gather and celebrate the birth of Jesus while sharing the company of the people they love. A short period of time, before Christmas, Kim went for her physical, including a mammogram. Everything seemed normal.
Not long after, Kim began to feel a burning sensation underneath her arm, but she blamed her exercise routine. After a few days she sensed that it was not the exercise, so she went back to her doctor. Her doctor had the same uneasiness, so Kim went for an ultrasound. That revealed cancer in her breast and lymph nodes. Kim received the news two days into the New Year.
"I could see the expressions on the doctors' faces. They called in a radiologist, so I knew something was going on," Kim recalled. "Something was not right."
Like any mother and wife, Kim's thoughts rushed to those she loved the most.
"Who is going to take care of my parents? Who is going to take care of my kids?"
"And my husband? Surely not another woman," she laughed.
Even though Kim recalls being consumed by such thoughts, there came a point where she knew she would not die.
"I read the Word more than I ever had, and my faith grew stronger because of this," Kim explained.
"I kept repeating that I will live and not die."
The next six months of Kim's life included four months of chemotherapy, 33 radiation treatments, and surgery. Her hair fell out and her skin darkened. They were apt symbols, for Kim was being put through a trial by fire, yet her faith never wavered.
Those who see God's hand know both where to look and what to look for. Things others try to explain away by science or chance are seen by the believer for what they truly are.
"Even being sent for the ultrasound - God gave the physician the wisdom to send me for testing," Kim explained.
"It could have been a pulled muscle. My records showed no link to cancer."
Kim received an immediate referral to the best physician in the state of Mississippi, one who has a long waiting list. By June she had undergone surgery. Surgery was successful. The tumor is gone, as is the cancer in her lymph nodes!
Kim knew that, while medical science was the avenue, God is the Healer. She knew "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights." (James 1:17)
"Wisdom and knowledge are from God," Kim stated. "Medicine is a gift from God. If chemotherapy works it is God's plan."
God was saying, "OK, Kim. You won't burn up. You are going through fire but you won't be burned.”
For so many people that would have been the end of the story. They would have been grateful and maybe even come through a changed person, but many would still have gone their own way. Not Kim Waddy. She knew God had a larger purpose for her.
"God saved my life so I could encourage someone else," Kim said. "God gets the glory."
Kim publicly shared her testimony for the first time this September at a woman's conference in Atlanta. She said she knew in her heart she brought encouragement to people based on the responses she received from audience members. Kim will continue to share her message with others. Whatever they are going through, she is proof they can make it, she tells them.
The message of staying the course also resonated at home. Kim's son wanted to drop out of college to stay with her, but she would not let him. He would have been home alone for much of the day anyway, for Kim did not take time away from work.
"People ask me how I did not miss any work," Kim said. "I tell them I was not willing to lie in bed with the blinds pulled down.”
"I was going to fight."
Still Kim knows there will be people who will attribute her healing to happenstance or earthly wisdom. May their hearts be prepared to receive.
"I know it was God," Kim stated. "I cannot apologize for who I know touched me. What He did for me, He can do for you too."
"He has the same gift for anyone who believes in Him."
