Scared and Depressed with news that I have rare deadly family cancer gene.

How can you deal with life knowing you have 40 to 70% lifetime risk of
developing deadly pancreatic cancer? Genes were identified for
hereditary pancreatitis which increases risk tremendously from
developing the deadly disease. My mother passed away at 49 and
grandfather around the same age.

I've been a hypochondriac my whole life, dealing with heath anxiety
issues. Visiting the various doctor over 30 times in 4 years. I
thought I had brain/neck/lung/testicular/liver/oral/skin cancer. All
came back negative. Now the new findings literally left me on the
floor crying for hours.

I am only 30 years old with a 4 month old boy who I adore. I can stand
the thought of leaving him behind and not being able to see him grow
up. I already suffer from extreme health anxiety which with new
findings that are now leaving me in a deep depression. I find even
hard to look at him without crying.

My life is slow and boring. The thought of laying in my death bed
regretting all the things I could have been or should have done to be
happy. I never live in the moment. My life consist of sitting around
working on websites all day.

Please someone help me with tips, words of wisdom or anything! To top
it off, I have the worst insurance for mental health, which is Kaiser.
Only group therapy is offered and you're able to see counselor once
every 6 weeks

Every article I read -- and I read many of them, all point to the
increased risk. It's on my mind all day and night. I cannot eat due to
my nerves. Even when I'm having a good time, it's still in back of my
head.

You would think knowing this info would help diagnosing something
early, but it's unlikely. My dream come true would to live to be 90
like my other grandparents.

Hello. Can I call you Johnny?

I do have great advice/words of wisdom to share with you, such that you will not find in any article because it comes straight from the Word of God and the help that He provides. I can answer from many different angles as well because you bring up a lot of topics from your short post that should be addressed individually. It is my understanding from reading what you wrote that you did not actually receive a diagnosis, but rather you are worried from the findings of your research that shows your high susceptibility to pancreatic cancer, is that correct?

I will be writing soon. I work 50+ hours and am in school. Certainly by this weekend I would be able to respond to much of your post. Will try before then.

If what you said is true, you have a 30 - 60% chance of never developing the cancer. If you fall into that category, then it would be best when your day is really near to look back on your life with joy knowing that you did not live all your days fearing that your days would be cut short, but rather enjoying each and every day that God has blessed you with. It would be good to set your mind optimistically that you will fall into this category (it's called living by faith). And then life your life to its fullest. The "I Am" God. The Yahweh God, wants you to live in the eternal Am--that is, the eternal present. God said that His name is I Am. God isn't living in the past or the future, though He knows what is in the future, and has come from eternal past. He wants you to be content with the now, looking at today's blessing; not worrying about whether or not He will continue providing health for you tomorrow. The bible says, "THIS is the day the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Will talk soon.

Statesman63 wrote:

Hello. Can I call you Johnny?

I do have great advice/words of wisdom to share with you, such that you will not find in any article because it comes straight from the Word of God and the help that He provides. I can answer from many different angles as well because you bring up a lot of topics from your short post that should be addressed individually. It is my understanding from reading what you wrote that you did not actually receive a diagnosis, but rather you are worried from the findings of your research that shows your high susceptibility to pancreatic cancer, is that correct?

I will be writing soon. I work 50+ hours and am in school. Certainly by this weekend I would be able to respond to much of your post. Will try before then.

If what you said is true, you have a 30 - 60% chance of never developing the cancer. If you fall into that category, then it would be best when your day is really near to look back on your life with joy knowing that you did not live all your days fearing that your days would be cut short, but rather enjoying each and every day that God has blessed you with. It would be good to set your mind optimistically that you will fall into this category (it's called living by faith). And then life your life to its fullest. The "I Am" God. The Yahweh God, wants you to live in the eternal Am--that is, the eternal present. God said that His name is I Am. God isn't living in the past or the future, though He knows what is in the future, and has come from eternal past. He wants you to be content with the now, looking at today's blessing; not worrying about whether or not He will continue providing health for you tomorrow. The bible says, "THIS is the day the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Will talk soon.

Thanks so much for taking the time. I was never experienced pancreatitis attack in my life and my ct scan last year was negative. Im not sure if I have the genes however I do have family members who are heavy drinkers that developed the disease. There is familial pancreatitis which leads to pancreatic cancer lifetime risk.

I'm trying to stay strong for my family and looking to get my life back in order.

Hi Johnny,

I want to start with the most difficult topic that we need to cover, but yet it is very important to understand in order to be able to accept whatever God has planned for your life. When we understand this truth in its fullest meaning, we will be able to say like Jesus, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” We may not want to hear this truth, but it is inescapable truth whether or not we choose to tune our ears toward it; and, it would be a lie if I were to tell you that by no means will you not experience the very thing you are fretful of. Stick with me, once we get past this then we can get to how to put your fears behind you.

We are stewards. God is the owner of everything. When we realize and understand this truth, it makes it easier and allows us to be at peace and hand back over to God what He so graciously handed us that was not ours to begin with anyways. We come into this world with nothing, and we leave with nothing. Everything in between is given to us from God. Everything we have is on loan. Job understood this. That is why he was able to say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; [and catch this last line:] may the name of the LORD be praised.” Job understood that what he had just lost, was on loan as a gift from God and that he, like everyone else will have to give it all back to God one day. God wants us in the meantime to be good stewards of what He blessed us with. He does not want us to be anxious about losing something that belongs to Him that he only loaned to you for a time. He wants you to be thankful that you have been given the time you were allotted to have with those items, people, family, etc. They all belong to Him and not to us. We must understand this truth because it makes losing loved ones easier to bear when we realize that they were lent to us and belonged to God. They were a blessing that God has given us a set time to have. Job actually experienced the very thing that you are fearing, except instead of their children losing their father, their father lost his children.

So be a steward and manage His possessions well with the time that you were given and blessed to be lent them. Instead of worrying of losing them, God wants you to just do your job well and be thankful. That is what 1Ti 3:12 says, “He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.” Luke 12:42 says, “The LORD answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?” The manager is not the owner! We are to take care of what God gave us, knowing that we must give it all back to Him who really owns it. Realize that God is Sovereign and that He is Owner. And the bible says that in everything be thankful. Note it does not say "for" everything be thankful. It wouldn't be right or logical to be thankful "for" losing a loved one. But it is right to be thankful "in" the situation that you are in. Paul and Silas rejoiced and sang songs while in prison waiting on their death sentence. They were thankful in their situation and not for their situation. God wants you to find some reason to be thankful. There is always, in every situation, no matter how bad, something to be thankful for. God still gave you breath in that bad situation; you still had a meal that day; you were clothed. Be thankful IN everything: 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Secondly, did you know that all of your thoughts are not your thoughts? Satan is able to instill his thoughts to us. He whispers into our ears. Picking the forbidden fruit was not Eve’s thought or idea. It was Satan’s thought that he whispered into Eve’s ear and then she adopted his thought that then became her thought. Satan wants you to focus on the one tree: that is, he wants you to focus on the one issue that is outside of God’s plan for you that will hinder you from accomplishing God’s plan for your life. Your forbidden tree, in your case, that Satan wants you to draw all of your focus on is dying early from cancer. Don’t forget, before God spoke of the forbidden tree, God said, “From every tree you may freely eat, except…” God wants you to focus on what He has freely given you to enjoy now. Satan wants you to focus on the exception. Satan wants to focus you on what God might not give you. To enjoy the Christian life, and to enjoy this day with your children, you must take your mind off of the forbidden tree or exception that Satan wants you to meditate on and start focusing on all the hundreds of other trees that God has freely given you to partake of. Note also, that what was given far outweighs what God held back. Yet, Adam and Eve, focused on the minority thing, when they had the majority freely given to them. Start realizing all of your many blessings that God has given you in the now: in this moment. Don’t think and worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow has its own worries. See and enjoy today’s blessings. Enjoy your family now. Do not live worrying about losing them.

Meditate on the peace-giving Scriptures of the bible. John 14:1 says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” You know you can let or allow your heart to be troubled. Or you can stop it from being troubled. Jesus said to stop letting your heart be troubled and to start trusting that He has a good plan in store for you. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future.” Meditating on that last verse should bring joy to your day.

Concerning the particular thing you fear: there is actually a promise that you can pray back to the Lord in prayer and request that promise to be granted on your behalf because God said it. Are your parents still alive? It doesn’t matter if you are an adult and moved out of your parents’ house. If they are still alive, God has a promise that you can fulfill. God said, “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you” Deut. 5:16. Honoring your parents is the first command in the bible given that came with a promise. And the promise is longevity, and it going well with you in the land. If your parents are alive, honor them. Respect them and do good things for them, and then you will have access to God’s promise. Then pray God’s promise to Him and tell Him how you are honoring your parents. If they passed, honor their memory.

Look up these Proverbs: 3:1-2, 4:10, 3:16, 28:16, 16:31, 10:27, Psalm 34:12-14, and Ephesians 6:2-3.

Finally, learn to be content in every situation. Be content in the present with what you have. That requires not meditating on a future that you don’t even know how it will turn out. It could go well, or God, being Sovereign, could have different plans. Even if it goes like how you dread, Romans 8:28 still applies to your situation, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His promise.” God works out whatever situation for the good. The superlative “all” includes the seemingly bad things as well. But watch this: what seems bad to us, may be bad, but only temporarily so, because God is working that thing out for the good. Even death is worked out for the good. Don’t you know that this is not the end? If you were to leave your children today and step into eternity, one day, you will rejoice when you meet up with them again. The death will not be remembered then. Not only that, but you will be given a new body and will be on a totally new Earth. We will not be floating spirits in that day. It will be like this physical world, but remade perfectly without sin. Eden will be restored and we will eat from the tree of life that was banned from man after Adam and Eve sinned. You will be on a New Earth and in a new resurrected-Christ-like body with your children and family living for eternity. And don’t you know that Death will be destroyed forever? You will rejoice in this day. Sin lost the battle, and Death lost its sting. The pain of Death is no longer extant because absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.