'Bible Answer Man' Hank Hanegraaff Cancer Update: I Have Tumors Throughout My Entire Body
"Bible Answer Man" Hank Hanegraaff shared an update on his cancer: he has tumors throughout his entire body. When he heard that from doctors, the news hit him with the "force of a sledgehammer."
Still, the Christian Research Institute president and chairman said that he remains optimistic, and recalled how one Christian woman with the same condition told him she felt intimately closer to Christ like never before.
Hanegraaff, who earlier in May said that he has mantle cell lymphoma, a rare form of cancer that will require aggressive chemotherapy, explained that he was traveling in a car in New York, when he received a call from his doctor.
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"He told me that I had tumors throughout my entire body. He started talking about tumors in my neck, under my arm pits, in my lungs, in my stomach. The more he talked, the more vacant I felt. At the time I had no frame of reference whatsoever what it meant," the "Bible Answer Man" said in a Facebook video on Monday.
"It hit me with the force of a sledgehammer — how could that be possible, when I got my physical a month ago" and such tumors were not discussed, he asked.
"Now the reality is really setting in for me."
Hanegraaff noted that his doctor warned him that he has a rough road ahead battling the cancer, but told him that it's not "the end of the world."
The CRI president thanked all the believers who have been praying for him and sending him encouragement, and detailed the biggest source of encouragement he has received so far, in the form of an elderly woman at church with a similar experience.
Hanegraaff revealed that the church lady, who takes care of 10 special needs children, told him that once she was in the exact same situation, and had to undergo intense chemotherapy after she was diagnosed in her late 60s.
On Mother's Day on Sunday, the woman celebrated her 10th anniversary of being in remission, however, and told him that the most important "C" in "cancer" is Jesus Christ.
"She told me something I never thought I'd hear from someone who has mantle cell lymphoma: 'Hank, I would not replace my experience. It was tough, but I would not replace it for anything. In fact, I would go through it all over again,'" Hanegraaff recalled her saying.
What is more, she told him that she had found an intimacy with Christ that she had "never experienced before."
The "Bible Answer Man" said: "I have optimism in my heart at this point, that God will give me years to continue to do His work," adding that he does not want to waste any moment.
Earlier in May, when revealing the initial news of his cancer, Hanegraaff said that he places his trust in God's hands whatever happens, and that he has been "enveloped in peace" despite the diagnosis.
"Obviously, finding that you have cancer is a blow to the solar plexus. It is a bitter pill to swallow. But all of that becomes very contextualized when you recognize that our dear Lord holds every breath and every moment of my life in His hand," he said.
