Judah Wins

Don't give up, don't give in! If you don't quit, you win!

How Judah Beat Leukemia in 2002

In April, 2002 we received news that rocked our world and started us on a journey with our then 22 month old son, Judah, our third child. We had just had our fourth child, Josiah, who was two months old bringing, our quiver to 4 lovely children 6 and under.


Judah had not been feeling well for 3 weeks with fever off and on. His appetite wasn’t real good and the doctor wanted to see him. The doctor’s concern led us to blood work. He called back later and said that Judah’s white and red blood cell counts were really low. He said it could be a viral bone marrow suppression and the virus just has to pass from his body, OR it could be Leukemia – although he really didn’t feel it was that.


They decided to admit him to the hospital to start antibiotics right away in case of infection. Judah had a bone marrow test to see if there were cancer cells or if it was just an infection. The initial look at the bone marrow didn’t look like leukemia, so they wanted to do a CAT scan to look for a tumor, but there was no tumor.


The weekend following those tests was quiet and the elders from our church came to anoint Judah for healing. It was a time of real faith-building for me as God spoke through people about Judah’s healing.


That Monday they had to repeat the bone marrow test so we were praying for a miracle in this second test. A few days later, the team of doctors came in to tell us the results of the test showed AML Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, the more rare form of leukemia in children. This cancer was classified as M7 in Judah, very aggressive, needing aggressive treatment. They started chemotherapy that evening.


I heard Bill Johnson say, “We are born into a war; we’re not born into a vacation.” The battle is against the enemy of our souls, not what we can see, but the unseen enemy who hates us.


We knew we had to grow in and build up our faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God.” (Rom. 10:17) Now we were thrust into a journey of discovering the report of the Lord. A dear friend had given us a little booklet with verses as prayers to speak over sickness for healing. I wrote out each verse, inserting Judah’s name and sent the document to our growing number of intercessors. Eric and I would take turns being at the hospital with Judah. Whenever we could, we would put Judah in the stroller and armed with the verses and declarations, we would walk the halls of the hospital for hours declaring truth. With every step I declared the enemy under my feet and that every place I set my feet I walked with victory. I was determined to establish a healing atmosphere!


We would write emails on an almost daily basis to intercessors, sharing what we were learning about healing, about the report of the Lord, and what we were declaring over Judah and asking people to stand in agreement with us.


We were given a number of books and resources at the hospital about childhood cancer, how to cope, more statistics and information than I could have possibly absorbed or processed. We never read any of it. From the day the doctors came in and told us what Judah was facing, as well as grim statistics, we decided that we will believe the report of the Lord and not entertain anything else in our minds or hearts. We knew that in the building and growing of our faith, doubt and unbelief could so easily flood in if we opened the door even a little.


We clung to Heb. 11:1 “Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.”

From my Journal (Deborah Dombach) — May 14, 2002

Today, we’ve been in the hospital 26 days. Some days I FEEL full of faith, strong, confident in the Lord. Other days, like today, I FEEL discouraged and frustrated with no miracle yet. But I’m learning that my faith needs to be in anchored in a superior reality – that of God and His Kingdom. What my eyes see or my feelings feel is, according to the Word and what I’ve been learning, not the reality in which I’m to trust. As the storm continues to rage around me, God has given me the tools for peace amidst the storm and for victory OVER the storm. What do my eyes see? No hair, not eating or drinking much, weight loss, the chemotherapy regimen the doctors have laid out, moodiness, sadness, and just not my little Judah. What does my heart and spirit know? “The God of peace crushes satan under our feet.” We are victorious! Judah’s healing is already settle in Heaven, it’s already a fact, already a reality.

So day by day we battled to keep our minds and hearts focused on the Report of the Lord as we declared the truth over Judah’s body, commanding his body to line up with the Word of God.


The first round of chemo seemed to have worked and they declared Judah’s in “remission.” This was very exciting, considering the aggressive form of Leukemia and the advanced stage he was at. After 6 weeks of being in the hospital we went home, very happy to be all together again.


Skipping over alot of details, due to time…


A few months later, after some alarming bloodwork which he had been getting regularly, we were sent to the hospital for a bone marrow test that confirmed the leukemia was back in full force, even worse then before.

From my Journal (Deborah Dombach) — November 5, 2002

Words can’t really describe fully how I feel right now. Angry, disappointed, confused, sad, would all be a good start. I don’t know what I really believe right now. I thought we had been hearing from God – promises, prophetic words, scripture, passages, etc. God said, “it’s done.” Well, I’m weary. I can’t persevere anymore. I don’t know what to ask anymore. I don’t know if I can even hear God clearly. I was so sure he was going to be healed already. But Eric has helped give me perspective. God hasn’t changed. He still wants to heal Judah. We still need to keep doing what we’ve been doing – PUSH Pray Until Something Happens!

Soon after this, a friend of ours had a word of encouragement: Eric told him, “I thought we defeated the giant.” He said that yes, you defeated the giant. But the giant had a brother. (2 Samuel 21 talks about another couple of battles that David and his warriors had against giants – and WON!) Our friend said, “You defeated him once, so you need to strap on your weapons and fight again.”


During this second time in the hospital Judah was very sick and had some very adverse reactions to the chemotherapy in the first few weeks. The doctors would come in daily and say that at anytime a fever can come, indicating infection – that he would most likely get infections due to low white blood cell counts. It was like they were expecting it each day they walked in. After they would leave, I would immediately declare, “NO! I don’t accept that for my son – he is healed by the stripes of Jesus.” We would continually declare the truth of the Word, the report of the Lord, over Judah just like we had several months earlier. Finally one day I told the doctor “we are not expecting that so please stop saying that.” He never did get a fever indicating infection! Time and time again, various complications would threaten, but they would quickly resolve as we continually declared the truth over Judah’s body.


Judah was in the hospital until right before Christmas when he had improved enough to go home for the week. Following that, he had a few rounds of chemo to prepare for a bone marrow transplant. Judah handled these next rounds of chemo so well, the doctors were continually amazed at how he would tolerate the medications, saying he had a stomach of steel, and that he doesn’t seem to know what he is in here for.


The move to the bone marrow transplant floor happened February 11, 2003 where they do heavy duty chemo. in preparation for a transplant. We had heard that the nurses called the transplant hall the “death hall.” So Ps. 23 became my prayer. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

From my Journal (Deborah Dombach) — February 13, 2003

There certainly is the shadow of death here in the bone marrow transplant unit. Death lingers here, waiting to devour those who will give in to it. Yet, I walk around with such peace and confidence. I proclaim what the Word says. I walk around with the devil under my feet. We are victors not victims of a disease and drugs and side effects. They said with chemo. each child may be different, but with a transplant they can predict what will happen. But, like a friend said to me, “they haven’t seen Judah yet!!” Ps. 31:19 says “You have done so much for those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world. You hide them in the shelter of your presence.” When fearful or anxious thoughts come, I rebuke and resist them because I don’t have to sit passively by and be assaulted by the devil who wants me to agree with his lies.

Transplant day came on February 21, and our oldest son, Jeremiah was the bone marrow donor. What a brave 7 year old he was! It all went very smoothly and the wait was on to watch the bloodwork as Judah’s body received the new marrow.


By March 3, less than two weeks after the BMT, a nurse told me that they were already finding healthy cells and “the doctors are ecstatic about how well he’s doing.” The doctor remarked to me how well Judah was doing, saying that he is definitely one of the more extraordinary cases. They said since he had not experience any serious side effects, the process of getting him discharged will be much quicker than for most everyone who’s in transplant! Judah was sailing through transplant!! One doctor said Judah doesn’t even know the seriousness of what he is in here for.


Judah’s blood cells were steadily growing and the day of his discharge was getting close. I was looking so forward to being home and having this intensity behind us, then…

From my Journal (Deborah Dombach) — March 5, 2003

Yesterday Judah’s temperature spiked up, and everyone knew a fever was dangerous, possibly even deadly at this time. The nurse said if it hits a certain level, they will start antibiotics and do cultures to test for infection. My stomach was in knots and I was trying to have faith and resist the devil and his lies, hearing him say, “see, it doesn’t work”. I just wanted to curl and up and cry. I called Eric and he said, we just need to fight. So we spent some significant time praying on the phone. I felt my faith rise again even as we prayed. After a couple of hours Judah felt cooler, no fever! It was awesome to see how we resisted and the devil was run off. I know he is just trying to hinder progress and delay Judah’s discharge with an infection. Our battle is not against the physical, but is truly in the spiritual and when waged with spiritual weapons, it will manifest with victory in the natural. I was getting weary and this victory sure was a boost!

I will conclude with this. On February 11, Judah was admitted onto the bone marrow transplant floor. I had asked a nurse how long the process usually takes until kids can go home. She said best case scenario was four weeks. So I decided that would be us.


Sure enough, four weeks later, on March 11, Judah was discharged and I brought him home, never to be admitted to the hospital again!!

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