Anne Graham Lotz to begin radiation treatment to ensure cancer doesn't return
Evangelist Anne Graham Lotz has announced that she will begin radiation therapy at the end of March in a bid to ensure that her breast cancer does not return.
In a letter to supporters this week, Lotz, the 70-year-old daughter of famed evangelist Billy Graham, explained that it was their prayers that helped carry her through surgery and seven chemotherapy infusions over the last six-plus months.
“Praise God! Most of my battle with cancer has been won!” Lotz, who heads AnGeL Ministries, wrote. “Even as I have struggled with severe side-effects, I have experienced deep peace, unceasing joy, and great expectancy of blessing to come!”
Get Our Latest News for FREE
However, Lotz explained that her battle against cancer is not yet over and solicited continued prayers.
“Now I face a month of daily radiation beginning around the end of this month,” she wrote. “I also will continue an infusion every three weeks until October 2019 to help [ensure] the cancer will not return. As so many of you know, cancer is a wicked disease. As God brings me to your mind, I would treasure your continued prayers.”
Lotz’s brother, Franklin Graham, who leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, took to his Facebook page to solicit prayers for his sister.
“So many people have asked how my sister Anne Graham Lotz is doing as she undergoes treatment for cancer,” he wrote. “We thank God that she has finished her chemo and is scheduled to begin radiation in a couple of weeks.”
“While she has had some difficult side effects from the chemo, she continues to count her blessings and praise God for all He is doing,” Graham added. “She has been so encouraged and strengthened by the many, many prayers. We are grateful for each one who lifts her up in prayer—thank you!”
In February, Lotz posted to her blog that she thought God had healed her following her fifth chemo treatment.
“While praying with my two daughters following my fifth chemo treatment, God seemed to indicate He had healed me. Cleansed me. Removed cancer from me,” Lotz wrote. “I pondered in my heart what I believe He had said.”
“The numbers from my blood draw before the sixth treatment were all remarkably good. So after my sixth treatment, I began questioning whether or not I should continue chemo if, in fact, I was already healed,” she continued. “The weakness and weariness have been debilitating. The side-effects have been daunting. I did not want to continue treatments if they were unnecessary.”
Lotz explained that one morning she decided to pray specifically to ask God to confirm from His Word whether or not she was healed.
On that day, her daughter shared the story of 2 Kings 5 in which an army commander named Naaman was healed of leprosy after washing himself seven times in the Jordan River as instructed by a prophet.
“I could hear the clear whisper of the Spirit, answering my prayer, confirming that I was to continue chemo…my next and last full treatment would be my seventh time!” Lotz detailed.
Lotz's cancer diagnosis last summer came on the third anniversary of her late husband’s death.
Despite the circumstances, Lotz assured in a December 2018 interview on the “The Drew Marshall Show" that her faith in God has remained strong and vibrant because the “blood of Jesus trumps death, disease [and] the devil.”
“Whether you work for the Lord or whether you don’t, people get cancer, people have their husbands die, people have their daddies die; that’s part of life,” Graham said. “Life isn’t about being easy, about being comfortable, about … taking no risk. Life is about triumphing over the obstacles.”
Lotz released a downloadable e-book on her battle with cancer called My Cancer: A Journey of Faith.
Follow Samuel Smith on Twitter: @IamSamSmith
or Facebook: SamuelSmithCP
