A Different Kind of Makeover

“In a world obsessed with makeovers of every kind, I discovered a different kind of makeover – a lasting one – a makeover of the heart. It would change everything about me that really mattered,” Candy* wrote in her book Face of Faith.

What really mattered then, and still does today, is Candy’s desire for God to be glorified in her life.

* Her real name is used with her permission.

Sinus Problem Wasn’t Going to Rule Her Life

It all started in the spring of 1981. Candy remembers a persistent and painful sinus headache for weeks that led to feeling fatigued. “It was spring, so sinus problems seemed normal for that time of year, but when it lasted through the summer, I became concerned.”

Near the end of August, an ENT doctor inserted tubes in her nostrils to drain the sinus cavity.

When the tubes were removed, an x-ray showed the right side was clearer than the left, which surprised Candy as the pain was predominately on the right side. “Could you have the x-ray backwards on the screen?” she asked. “Do I have cancer?”

The doctor assured her it was just sinus problems. With that in mind, Candy decided a sinus problem wasn’t going to rule her life.

Still No Answers

Two weeks later, Candy woke up with a blood-soaked pillow. Cauterizing her nose once, twice, three times, and then a fourth over the next few weeks caused Candy to feel uneasy about being in public the next time her nose gushed blood unexpectedly.

By Christmas of that year, she was popping twelve Tylenol a day to try to relieve the unbearable pain. Allergy testing resulted in her ENT doctor prescribing a diet free of carbohydrates and yeast. Ten pounds quickly dropped off her already petite frame.

Her sinus struggles persisted, so in desperation, she went to the eye doctor, an endodontist, and a gynecologist, hoping one of them could explain her struggles. Still no answers.

Something Was Wrong

Candy’s doctors recommended she breathe in the crisp, clean mountain air in Colorado. The idea that the clean air may relieve her symptoms gave Candy a glimmer of hope.

“I reached the top of the snow-covered mountain and made a pillow out of my jacket. With my head on the pillow, I looked up at the sky and talked to God. I reasoned that bad things happened to other people, but not to me. Besides my headaches, I told God I was really fine.”

But deep inside, Candy knew something was wrong. Really wrong.

Rarely Found

A last ditch effort in May of 1982 with a team of ENT doctors finally yielded answers. “There is a cyst. It needs to come out yesterday,” Dr. Poynor said.

A tomagram revealed a golf ball sized tumor in Candy’s sinus cavity. A biopsy taken the following day looked like it might be osteosarcoma. “We are sending it to the Mayo Clinic for confirmation,” her doctor said.

[NOTE: Osteosarcoma is typically found in the extremities and treatment is often amputation. Bone cancer is very rarely found in the head.]

All of her doctors were dumbfounded. Candy’s doctor explained, “It’s like finding a turnip in the ocean. It looks like a turnip, but turnips are never in the ocean.”

Breaking Point

Candy didn’t really know the implications of that diagnosis. When her doctor pulled out the packing gauze from the biopsy, it was excruciatingly painful and scared her. The seriousness of her diagnosis became crystal clear.

“When Dr. Poyner left, I sobbed for hours. I was by myself, and the reality that I couldn’t do this alone hit me really hard. This was my breaking point. I finally admitted to myself that I’d been stubborn – going above and beyond for a year to tough it out. I never asked God for guidance. I relied on all MY resourcefulness and none of God’s. This moment was the total end of me. I surrendered to God,” Candy shared.

Grade-Three Osteosarcoma

Within a week and a half, the pathologist at the Mayo Clinic confirmed the diagnosis. “It’s malignant – grade -three osteosarcoma. Unfortunately, this type of tumor doesn’t respond to chemotherapy and radiation,” he said. “It typically has to be removed surgically.”

Candy experienced a myriad of feelings – sad, empty, discouraged, yet also a bold determination for whatever lay ahead.

In a conversation with her momma, Candy said what would become prophetic words: “I’m going to go through something so horrible that people won’t believe it, but it’s going to be okay in the end. I’m not going to die.”

As shocking as those words were, they didn’t fill Candy with fear. Instead, it was if the Lord chose to give her some knowledge of what lay ahead, as well as some assurance and relief that she would overcome.

An Extensive Surgery

Candy’s cranial-facial surgeon, Dr. Jackson, explained what all the tests revealed: “The tumor is the size of a baseball and is in every crevice of your sinus cavity. It is a very aggressive, fast-growing tumor.”

Because the tumor invaded the main vessel to her brain, Candy’s doctors warned her that she might lose her right eye and possibly the left.

Without the surgery, Candy’s life expectancy was six months.

So in June of 1982 when Candy was 30 years old, she underwent an extensive cranial-facial surgery at the Mayo Clinic, which included cutting across the top of her skull and down the middle of her face.

With Candy’s cutting-edge surgery paving the way for others, her doctors were extremely pleased with the outcome. Additionally, they saved both of her eyes.

Brain Went into Overdrive

Candy was pleased too, but excruciating pain mixed with extreme tiredness filled her days while recovering at the hospital. “Fears of someone accidentally touching or hurting the open cavity on my face made me extremely nervous. My brain went into overdrive thinking about all the things that might go wrong while I was healing. My emotions were all over the place.”

Gratitude for the successful surgery and all the wonderful care givers at the Mayo Clinic filled Candy’s heart. “Leaving the security of the Mayo Clinic was truly terrifying. Would I be able to do this on my own?”

Recovery at home, though painful at times, went well. By Christmas, things changed. “I was hurting more than I did before my surgery.”

A Serious Infection

In January of 1983, a culture of her nose revealed a serious infection had developed in her head.

Terrified by the intense pain, Candy headed back to the Mayo Clinic for treatment. She KNEW there was something wrong again.

During her five weeks there, she underwent four more surgeries. The skin on her forehead necrosed and had to be removed. The bone in her forehead was removed and her scalp was rotated to access healthy skin. When some of that skin necrosed, an extensive skin graft from her thigh replaced the dead skin on her forehead.

Recovery was a lonely time as Candy couldn’t interact with anyone. Her open wounds were potentially contagious to other patients. “My imagination would often go wild. I look back now and know Jesus used that time of isolation as a boot camp for me to learn total dependence on him.”

Cancer Free

Check-ups and painful biopsies every three to six months revealed a few concerns over the years, but were thankfully uneventful until May of 1985. A small tumor – the size of a raspberry – was found in Candy’s right sinus cavity. Surgery to remove it went well.

From that point on, Candy has been cancer free! Almost 35 years!

As tough as the words of Psalm 119:71-72 are, Candy couldn’t agree with them more! They say, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”

Makeover on Her Heart

Some might say Candy underwent an invasive and life-altering physical makeover due to the many surgeries she’s had. She would agree.

But, to her, the makeover on her heart by God is the one she sees when she looks in the mirror. “He broke through my self-reliance. I needed total dependence on His strength and peace to get through every single day of my cancer diagnosis and surgeries. And every single day since then.”

Candy’s faith is everything to her. She believes, “Apart from a relationship with Jesus, everything in this life can be taken away. No one can take Jesus away from me.”

“The best advice I can give to anyone who is struggling is to surrender to God. He is in control.”

More Beautiful Today

After her tumultuous marriage of twenty-five years ended, Candy decided she’d had it with men. The next nine years would be dedicated to her children and to her healing.

“In God’s sovereignty and timing, He brought John into my life. My heart was healed and open to love again.”

Once while at Candy’s house, John looked through a photo album from her college days. He looked up at her and said, “Candy, it’s no doubt you were a beautiful girl back then, and I hope you don’t take this wrong, but . . . I think you’re more beautiful today.”

She didn’t take it wrong at all. In fact, those were definitely the right words.

Candy and John, surrounded by friends and family, were married in November of 2006.

Leave a reply (below): Candy believes, “Overcoming is rising above your circumstances and depending on God’s strength.”

Even all these years later, Candy experiences a great deal of pain. When the pain is really bad, she keeps doing what she’s always done: depend on God’s strength to get her through.