A Witness to Faith: Lynette Hoppe
Saturday, January 29, 2005
After a medivac of one of the children of The Children's Home of Hope I needed a little time to recuperate and reflect. Thank God the operation was a success and the child is back in Albania. By the grace of God I find myself at a blessed monastery on the holy mountain of Greece, Mount Athos, called the Pantokrator. With the operation a success and the hospital in Athens absorbing the cost, I should be elated. Unfortunately, my heart and mind are as stormy and turbulent as the sea outside my window. I am looking at the miracle working icon of the Theotokos called the ‘Gerontissa' and wondering if she would work another miracle for our Lynette Hoppe.
On December 19, 2004 while reflecting, as I often do, on how painful it was to lose the Veronis family six months earlier, I received a call from Lynette. In her classic style she asks about everyone and before hanging up the phone she says, “Oh by the way, Charles, I have a painful mass under my left arm; is that something to be concerned about?” The feeling I had at that time I would not wish on the darkest of people, and to my horror that feeling was to greatly worsen.
In rapid succession, as if the Archbishop Anastasios built the Orthodox Clinic only to evaluate Lynette, she underwent mammography, x-ray, ultrasound, physical exam, and fine needle aspiration. Results: infiltrating carcinoma, with a lesion 5 cm in greatest diameter. I can now testify to why doctors should not treat family. I was now telling my best friends, Nathan and Lynette Hoppe, that she had breast cancer and much worse yet, it looked aggressive. As a surgeon, I have told more people than I want to remember they have this dreaded diagnosis and have found that this news tends to strip people of their façade and societal persona. Those that know Lynette will not be surprised to hear of her response. No one has ever responded like both Lynette and Nathan. First, she consoled me as if I had to engage this struggle instead of her. After a moment to consider what I had just said, she followed with this reflection of her heart: “Well Charles, now I have the blessing of showing the Albanians that we are serious when we say that suffering is an important part of our spiritual growth.” In fact during this entire process she has remained powerfully motivated to witness to her faith in God and her trust that His grace is sufficient.
The OCMC has done well by her missionaries by obtaining insurance that allowed Lynette to be treated by some of the best in the world: the Mayo Clinic. I had hoped that my diagnosis was wrong, and that they would find that it was some benign process. Again in rapid succession Lynette underwent fine needle aspiration, mastectomy, bone scan, and, CT. Results: Lobular Carcinoma, 18/20 lymph nodes positive, with metastasis to the thoracic spine. I was the ‘update' person for our beleaguered mission team and the multitude of Albanians who dearly love Lynette and Nathan and continuously ask me about her. With each phone call from Nathan reporting on how Lynette was doing I found more and more difficulty passing on the news as so many un-hoped for results were becoming a reality. I have been inspired by Nathan's strong faith and stability in dealing with his beloved wife's illness and prognosis. After an operation removing the tumor and complications with infection, Lynette and Nathan met the oncologist and discussed all the options. They resolved on the following treatment: focus beam radiation to arrest the growth of the thoracic metastasis and an oral medication to only slow the growth of the tumor.
At the time of writing of this article Nathan, Lynette and their two children, Tristan and Catherine are with Lynette's parents deciding on how they will spend the remainder of Lynette's blessed life. This brings me back to why I am on this holy mountain staring at a print of a beautiful miracle-working icon of the Theotokos (mother of God). I ask you to lift up Lynette in prayer. We know that “…all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
O blessed Theotokos if it is within God's will, please do one more miracle of healing for Lynette. We could really use one right now.
