I did not mention anything about it to my wife or anyone else for that matter. This feeling came and went for the next few days.

That Sunday, I went up for prayer at altar call, still not mentioning the way I felt. Apostle Rocky prayed for me and gave me a Word from the Lord. He said that the Lord says, “Something would be removed from me that will bring my family closer.”

The following day I finally worked up enough sense against my stubbornness to go get checked. I thought it might be a sinus infection because I had a history of them over the past few years. After giving the Physician’s Assistant (PA) my symptoms, I was surprised that she didn’t give me some antibiotics and send me on my way. She insisted on running a CT scan to check my head and requested my medical insurance’s approval. I agreed to it as well but only after some convincing on her part.

Midway through the CT the atmosphere started to change rapidly. Looking down my body as I laid in this huge medical tube, I could see all these nurses hurriedly coming into the room, but their chatter was not distinct. I knew something wasn’t right. Finally, a nurse said that she needed to inject me with a contrast, and I am not to move because the machine is still running its test. Needless to say, I agreed. After the test, the CT nurses ask me to go back upstairs for the results.

I walk back upstairs, 5 flights of stairs, to my Dr.’s office and she meets me in the waiting room and she is balling her eyes out and says that a large tumorous mass was found in my head and I needed to go straight to the hospital for removal and they are calling me an ambulance to take me there. I was floored!

By this time, it was close to noon. I called my wife to tell her of my newfound news. She answers her phone excitedly and suspects that I’m calling to set up a lunch date with her. I could hear her facial expressions change as I gave her the news. She was in disbelief (remember, I never mentioned it to her before), so I snapped a picture of the CT report and sent it to her while we were still talking to each other. We agreed to meet each other at the hospital.

My wife’s very next call was to our home church. She knew that we had to get the intercessory prayer team petitioning the Lord on our behalf ASAP. She asked for prayers of a complete healing for me and for peace and strength for herself. The Lord promptly brought back to her remembrance that HE still had prophecy in her husband’s life that has not been fulfilled or come to pass, and that HE is not a man that HE should lie. She hung on to that with everything she had!

Apostle Rocky and Pastor Bobbie, immediately started speaking life and encouragement into our lives via phone calls and text messages along with encouraging videos. We sat in the ER looking for every positive thing we could find and thanking the Lord for it as we waited for the Neurologist.

Dr. Rogers, the neurologist comes in to speak with us. He says that size and location doesn’t look too bad and that it’d be a pretty routine surgery. After taking an MRI at the hospital on a little better equipment, the surgery looks to be more difficult due to its size and location. The tumor is so large, that one side of my brain is compressed to about half of its normal size and it is causing my brain stem to kink 12mm at the base of my brain. At this point the Dr. can’t even understand why I still have any let alone, all of my motor and speech skills and why I am not paralyzed from the neck down. He was dumbfounded and flabbergasted! To make matters more interesting, he states the he doesn’t do surgeries anymore and we have to see the neurosurgeon. When we met with the neurosurgeon, he states that he can do the surgery with confidence and the hospital just got bought out and he would no longer be an employee the following week. I was not to excited to let someone cut into my head knowing that he was treating it as “aloha ball” at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Dr. Rogers then says the best news I heard all day. He said that with our family’s medical plan, we could choose any doctor from anywhere that we want to do the procedure. We immediately start calling around and checking Doctors references. Mel, my wife reached out to my cousin who works at that same hospital I was in, to reach out to her contacts. My cousin gets back to Mel with the info that she had gathered and at the same time, I was on my phone with Apostle Rocky. Their suggestions came back to us the same,” Straub Medical Clinic!” Even though, they both have no prior experiences there. My wife and I knew immediately that God was work for us.

In the meantime, I get admitted to the ICU for brain swelling caused by the tumor. Apostle comes in to visit me and deliver a message from God and says that God told him, that God had already interceded for me. Which he stated was not normally the case because Jesus intercedes for us, but God specifically said “God interceded” I cannot even begin to explain the peace that was over my wife and me at this time. Which was perfect timing because the doctor came in with some predictions as he went over the diagnosis with us. He said that “undoubtedly” given the size, location, and all of the tumors intertwining’s. I would perhaps have quite a dense degree of weakness. I would have to go to Hale Makua for at least a month of physical and speech rehab, and that he wasn’t even sure if the whole tumor could be removed due to how it adhered to the brain. He looked at me and said that there could be a miraculous chance I’d be fine, but we should expect all of the issues he went over with us.

I have an appointment set 2 weeks out with Dr. Gerber at Straub and I am told by Dr. Rogers that if I don’t get my tumor out by then I will die as a result of it. I was then moved out of ICU into a regular room because they said that I was doing, “surprisingly” well. Then I was released after a few days of admittance to await at home my upcoming surgery which would take place on Oahu. Apostle then gave me my 3^rd word he got from the Lord. He said that God said,” When they get in there, it will not be what they are looking for.”

My wife spent many trips to the sanctuary, laying on the altar during the week to follow. My mother and sister flew in from the mainland to spend time with me. Along with all of my cousins coming by before the surgery. My dad and his side of the family started coming around as well as all of my friends. I could feel their fear of the unknowing. Fearing the “what ifs.”  What if they’d never get to see me again? But I was in complete peace and I knew that I was surrounded by God, Jesus, and a ton of Angels.

It’s finally time to go to Straub and meet my operating surgeon. We hit it off immediately. God’s peace immediately filled the room and changed the atmosphere. I even read a note that he wrote down stating that I am surprisingly in good spirits and at peace. Only God!!! He went over the procedure the previous doctor did and said that I can expect the same outcome the other doctor mentioned. My wife and I understood what they were telling us, but we refused with all of our heart to receive any of it. He also said that the procedure due to its location would take all day, 8-10hrs. and they had me scheduled to be in the OR from 5am to 3pm.

I got admitted the next morning at 5am, and everyone is there to support me. My mom, dad, wife, apostle Rocky, aunties and uncles. They all said that they were going to wait in the waiting room until the surgery was over. Apostle had his Scripture Keys book out and said that he’d be praying for me and my family the entire time and that the church body was at home praying for me as well.

At just about the 4hr mark, a nurse comes out and lets my family know that, “they are already closing up and surgery went great.” The surgeon comes out about 20min later and his exact words were, “it couldn’t have gone any better!” He said that the tumor was not what they were anticipating and that they were able to get almost all of it out. There was just residual left.

To everyone’s surprise, I came out with extra weakness and none of the expected symptoms. There were a few challenges during recovery. I had 2 seizures the night of surgery but it’s all a part of the process. I did 6 laps around the ICU the day after surgery and ate a full breakfast. I was released the following day with just 49 staples in my head and 1 stitch and a walker.

For the next year and a half, I had to get a CT scan every month to check the healing process and to make sure that the residual left in my head was not growing back into a tumor or into cancer. No growth was evident, and my brain expanded into the void the tumor removal left. My brain shifted back over to the left 12mm, centering itself in my skull. And my brain stem is no longer kinked.

Every word spoken over me from God through my Pastor during this time has come to pass. A tumor was removed from my body, which in turn drew my whole family closer, not only to me but to each other as well. God interceded for me with everyone I would meet along this journey. Presetting the atmosphere, preparing their hearts and filling it with peace. And the tumor which every doctor suspected to be so hard and dangerous to remove with devastating and life changing side effects, turned out to be non-cancerous and easier than expected to remove.

Every day is a new gift of life, that is why it is called the present. It has been over 3 years since my tumor was found and I do a follow up CT scan every 18 months to see if there is any unwanted growth from the residual that was left in my head. None has been found. I am not epileptic, nor do I have to take any medication. Every time I walk into the doctor’s office for my checkups, they are amazed that I am alive. They always tell me that I am a miracle and I always come in agreement with them.

To God be all the glory. I am forever grateful for Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. I am thankful for my Pastors and church family who stood in the gap interceding for me. And to all the leaders of Word of Truth Church, who selflessly brought my family dinner every night for a month. To anyone who had a part in this process, thank you and I love all of you.