Breaking the silence:
Pushing the Boundaries has had to take a lower place in my priorities for the past twelve months as a new commitment of managing my cancer treatment was thrust upon me. In October 2008 I was diagnosed with colo-rectal cancer with extensive secondaries in the liver. The prognosis was not promising but I was admitted to a SIRFLOX trial to lessen the metastases in the liver.
We tried (unsuccessfully) to continue our ministry work while at the same time managing the cancer treatment and trying to ease the burden for Bronwen whose heart problem also requires careful management.
On medical advice we resigned from the pastorate of St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Hanmer Springs and moved to Nelson at the beginning of March. Since then we have also been busy doing necessary renovations to our house.
Our children have visited us from USA and Australia and that has been a real blessing. At the end of June, Bronwen, James (our elder son from USA) and I traveled from Nelson from to Christchurch for a scheduled CT scan and consultation with my Oncologist. The news they gave me overwhelmed us.
Initial answers to prayer:
The radiologist and oncologists found no sign of cancer in the liver. The liver had returned to normal size and was in what the radiologist described as "pristine condition". The Oncologist showed us the original scan alongside the latest scan so we could make comparisons. When the first scan was taken, the metastases were right through all segments of the liver and the cancer was larger than the remaining functioning liver. There was now no sign of disease at all in the liver. The oncologist stated that she could count on her fingers the number of patients she has seen over the years who have shown such dramatic response. The official report states, "Radiologically complete response." The Research nurse who oversees the trial I have been on said that this is the best result she had seen. Both she and the oncologist used the word 'miracle'.
Further CT scans taken in mid-July and mid-September confirmed the result.
We are not out of the valley yet though. A sigmoidoscopy and an MRI taken at the same time as the follow-up CT scan confirmed that the Primary cancer in the rectum had not disappeared and was still active. We returned to Christchurch for six weeks of concentrated chemo/radiation therapy from 25th August and are now recuperating before resection of the rectum in Nelson Hospital on 24th November. The Primary cancer is being dealt with now because of the vastly improved state of my liver.
With the liver functioning normally again and when I have recovered from the AP Resection, I am not going to presumptuously rush back into our old hectic lifestyle. I continue learning to rest as we await the further unfolding of God’s plans for our lives. We are thanking the Lord for the total healing of the liver and trusting Him for a complete recovery.
He certainly used strong measures to get my attention: I don't want to waste my remaining time on earth by missing the lessons learned in "the valley of the shadow of death". On the way home from my last scans and further diagnosis I was struck by the thought that though I am in that valley, for those in Christ there may be tears, but there are no terrors!
Bronwen and I have a deep sense that whatever means, medical, natural and/or spiritual God has used so far, it is purely His mercy and His grace that has given me this present encouraging outcome and will be with us over the coming months.
Thanks again for your continuing love, prayers and support.
You can keep up to date and read reports, thoughts and poems on my progress and recovery by visiting my blog-site:
http://dougduncan.info
Changes for Pushing the Boundaries
Someone said, “What appears to be the end is often a new beginning.” Of necessity there will be a radical change in my ministry direction and operation, but not in my emphasis. The how of the ministry will change for as long as God grants me breath and will probably not involve so much traveling.
The newsletters will also change. In early 2010 the website will be drastically overhauled and revamped. It will continue to challenge conventional humanist thinking against Biblical perspectives. It will draw on my own and others’ views on different topics of news, world-view, and business practice. Instead of sending out a regular newsletter to a subscribed mailing list, as I have done in the past, those who are interested in what we are doing should be able to access items via RSS or by casual visits to the site.
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST)
After many hindrances and hold-ups, the DPRK government has granted permission for the dedication of the PUST campus and for President Kim to be installed as the first operating president at PUST. That ceremony was held on 27 August 2009. I was thrilled to receive an invitation to attend the investiture but for obvious health reasons was not able to be present.
Norma Nichols, Director of the International Academic Affairs Office at the parent institution, Yanbian University of Science and Technology in Yanji, China, wrote to me as follows:
“Now is one of the most crucial times. The buildings are built, the plans are well laid, but we have to "occupy the land," in a matter of speaking. There are still some crucial negotiations with the host country that have to be done so that the program will really work well. Despite all of the past meetings, we still do not really have all the information that we need to do our best towards meeting the educational needs of the students. Also, we continue to need financial support at a time when the economy is not good and some of our former supporters are growing weary. … In a sense, this ceremony will install President Kim and set up the foundation for the real work of the university, but the dedication will signify the end of the construction phase. Now the reason we will be there is to educate the students.
Please continue to pray, and if possible, give generously to see this exciting vision come to full fruition.
Is Modern Science an Emperor without clothes?
Modern science seems to be unashamedly moving towards putting more faith in computer models than empirical observation, and appears to be predetermining what the outcomes of empirical observation should be based on its evolutionary presuppositions and collective brainwashing. This is seen most clearly in the Environmentalism hysteria.
“The distinguished earth scientist James Lovelock, originator of the imaginative ‘Gaia’ theory, whose views of the likely consequences of man-made global warming is at the extreme end of the spectrum, has written: ‘I see modern science as like the mediaeval Christian church, burdened with the intricate theology of reduction. Observation and experiments are out of fashion; most evidence is from the virtual world of computer models. The technique of inquisition is not the rack but the peer review: a well-intentioned instrument for sifting good from bad science that has become the great upholder of conventional wisdom.’ (Prospect, December 2007, p68.) … the same issue of Prospect carried a brief report of a meeting at London’s Royal Society … at which ‘several well-placed participants agreed that current funding review procedures in both Britain and the US prevent this kind of highly interdisciplinary work from thriving in the public sector, for peer review typically promotes the mediocre at the expense of the visionary and daring.’ These flaws are compounded when the peers are friends and colleagues of the author.” (Nigel Lawson, An Appeal To Reason, p108, The Overlook Press, USA 2008) [Emphasis added by me]
Doug Duncan
"We were most impressed by the research and thought that Douglas put into his presentation of The Power of Music."
M. Bennss
School for Seniors, Tasmania