Published: April 08, 2008 01:08 pm            

Strength in numbers

BWOODBY@CULLMANTIMES.COM



In October 2005, Larry Rainey felt a knot on his neck he thought might be a swollen gland. Doctors diagnosed it as cancer.

Whatever it was, it didn’t matter to Larry.

“It’s no big deal,” he said. “Cancer is no different from a common cold for God.”

Armed with prayer and an impenetrable shield of positivity, Larry and his wife Diane, both 58, began a trying journey of faith as each waged separate battles with cancer.

Larry’s 2005 diagnosis was only the beginning. Doctors removed 80 percent of his tonsils to extract the cancerous tissue and Larry underwent 39 radiation treatments in the 18 months following. Still, he shrugged off any notion that the disease might overtake him.

“Most people hear cancer and they think ‘I’m going to die’,” Larry said. “I never gave death the first thought.”

Larry was off work for five months following the first surgery but then went back full-time. However, his remission did not last long. In May 2007, his doctor discovered the scar tissue around his throat was too hard and the cancer had returned, this time malignant and spreading upward to his brain.

“It had gotten quite a bit bigger by the second time,” Larry said. “The tumor turned out to be as big as a lemon.”

Larry underwent a second surgery, this time cutting through his lip and jaw and pulling muscle tissue from his chest to replace what was taken from his neck. Doctors removed most of his soft palate and much of his tongue.

Larry’s prognosis was grim with physicians telling Diane her husband may never speak again.

Diane, who had witnessed her husband’s strength and determination throughout their 30-year marriage, knew better.

“She told the doctor, ‘You don’t know who you’re dealing with,’” Larry said. “I have one goal in my mind, and that is 100 percent recovery.”

Weeks after his second surgery, Larry began learning how to talk, swallow and eat again. Four months later, he was back to work and back to his life as a husband, musician, father-of-one and grandfather-of-three.

Still, there was more in store for the Raineys.

Less than a year after Larry’s second surgery, Diane had an accident at church and broke her collarbone. Weeks passed and the break did not heal. Her doctor referred her to an oncologist in Birmingham.

“I felt scared,” she said. “I actually was overwhelmed by the fact I might die.”

While Diane had stood by Larry through his treatments, the roles had reversed and Larry stayed by his wife to encourage her and remind her of God’s promises.

“I didn’t take her diagnosis any differently than my own,” he said. “God doesn’t change, and I know the same God who was with me is with her. I just try to uplift her.”

Diane underwent a stem-cell transplant and chemotherapy and remained in the hospital for 25 days.

“I really don’t remember a lot of it,” she said.

“She had the transplant and it put her in remission, but I know God can remove it for good,” Larry said. “It’s all on His timing, not ours.”

Larry underwent another surgery March 27 to repair the damage the cancer caused. Diane is waiting to undergo another stem-cell transplant, this time infusing her body with stem cells donated by her brother. While her cells put her in remission, doctors have told her that her brother’s cells could heal her.

In the mean time, Larry and Diane said they are both learning to lean on God for His guidance and strength.

“I never imagined we’d both be diagnosed with cancer,” Diane said. “We get our strength from our friends and from prayer. God has always seen us through. It’s hard, because we’re humans, but God is in control and we’ve had to learn there’s really nothing we can do about it.”

“God has a work for us to do that is greater than both of us,” Larry said. “This is just a trial. His plan will be fulfilled.”

Larry and Diane still remain active in their church, leading music during worship services and teaching an adult Sunday school class. But their main ministry is being there to encourage each other.

“I understand what she’s been there because I’ve been there too,” Larry said. “You can’t explain it to someone if you haven’t been there.”

“This is the toughest trial we’ve ever faced,” Diane said. “But it’s brought us closer. You see things through a different glass. You wake up every day and thank God for everything you have. I think more of life.”

        

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