February 2017   Testimony of Alex Cheung - healed of cancer:

Here is the photo in Sept 2016 after I failed the first chemo drug. You can see light spot ( cancer activity) spread to neck. 

Here are the two photos : one was taken when tumor discovered , another one is now.  No more light spots. 

Has anyone thought of having cancer? Would anyone expect dying in plane crash? I guess nobody would think about it. The fact one never thought of it does not mean it would never happen. Think about the Brazil soccer team who died in crash? For me, nobody in my family has cancer, so it never passed my mind, but it happened to me.

In July 2014 I began to feel chest pain. After two months, the pain persisted so I went for medical examination. The doctor found out I have hyperthyroid, but could not identify why I have the mysterious chest pain. The doctor recommended I took hyperthyroid medicine for a while and then assess if it would help the chest pain. After taking the medicine for 8 months, thyroid condition was under control, but the chest pain increased. During the time, I began to take painkiller. Starting with minor painkiller like Panadol, I switched to stronger painkiller. Without painkiller, I could not concentrate as the pain would be hard to tolerate.

I went to see cardiology doctor for CT-scan. The result did not reveal anything. I then went to public hospital to see Endocrine Specialist, they could not tell why. And I was referred to rheumatoid doctor, who also could not find out why. I further went to consult Gastro specialist, he found out ulcer in my stomach so I thought the cause of pain was found. As it turned out, after treatment for 3 months, stomach ulcer was healed, but the pain did not go away, the cause of pain remains unknown.

My company sent me to Shanghai (SH) for secondment in August 2015. In SH, the works were busy and stressful. My condition was stable in the first 5-6 months, afterwards it got worse. It came to a point when my back was completely stiff, so was my neck. I could only sleep one or two hours at night due to back pain. When I crossed street, my neck could not turn, so I recognized something seriously wrong. In SH, a medical professor diagnosed my condition as spondylitis ankylosans. When I went to HK, I checked with my Gastro specialist who gave me drug to relax chest blood vessel. After taking only 1 pill I needed to go to emergency room. He was puzzled by my body response, and suggested me to go for PET scan to see which part of my body might have prolonged inflammation. When the result came out in May 2016, it startled me and the doctor to see a big tumor the size of a papaya under my chest. I was confused as to why I had such a big tumor, yet I immediately felt relieved as the source of chest pain was finally found out. I really felt I had been fighting against an invisible enemy so it annoyed me. With the report the enemy was surfaced and I knew where to fight. I also thought about during the past 2 years, when I prayed almost everyday, and there were 6-7 occasions when I felt God spoke to me clearly that " I will heal you completely". When I recounted those messages, I had no fear , just thanking God for revealing the enemy to me.

Later on, I went to see an oncologist doctor and thoracic specialist to find out the nature of tumor. The first biopsy failed , so I need an operation to take out tumor tissues for testing. After a month, it was confirmed my case was Stage 4 cancer, a rare form of cancer called thymic carcinoma, and the most toxic type by WHO definition. Of course I felt let down by the report.

In human terms, I don’t have much hope. My cancer was a rare one. There was no Phase 3 clinical trial ever done on my type of cancer, meaning there is no approved drug for it. I could only rely on two old chemo drugs, for which only phase 2 clinical trials had been done - Phase 2 clinical trials are of small population (like 20-30 patients) so the result is not representative of drug efficacy. Doctor said the prognosis is that for cancer patient of my type, the typical life span is at most, 10 years, or could be as short as one year. In my family I am the only breadwinner, with my wife not working and 3 young kids to raise up. In medical terms, some people say I should put on my hope on medical science. But in two years I encountered doctors (Cardiac, Gastro, Endocrine, and rheumatology) who couldn’t figure out my source of pain, eventually referring me to psychiatric doctor. A professor in China misdiagnosed I have spondylitis ankylosans, in need of biologic medicine. My type of cancer has no proven medicine. So, if you figure out my situation, there is not much hope but a lot of worry.

Pausing here, many friends told me I was very positive as I told them I have no fear in the journey. It is the power of God working in me and my relationship with God that strengthened me. Throughout the two years I prayed almost every day, I recalled I heard from God "I would heal you completely" more than a few times.

I began to seriously look for all the healing scriptures in the Bible. And found out it is God’s will to heal us, both in Old Testament and the New Testament. Isaiah 53:5 NIV [5] But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

In fact, you could not find in New Testament a single incident Jesus refused to heal. Matthew 9:35 NIV[35] Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Some may argue how about those patients who did not get healed. I would respond by saying, it is a mystery God did not reveal to me. I only take hold of His promise in Bible revealed to us, and take it for myself by believing it.

Even if, say I were not healed, I would still have victory as I believe Heaven is a wonderful and beautiful space beyond description. Jesus death on the cross has overcome the gate of hell.

In Aug 2015 I prayed to God as to why He sent me to SH in my painful condition. I prayed in tears, when suddenly, the music that I was listening to (on repeat mode), changed to a song without me touching it, the song is titled " I am the God who heal you" by Don Moen. I looked at my iphone in surprise. At that very moment a pigeon flown in and stayed in my opposite staring at me. I felt Holy Spirit comforted me at that moment and felt peace.

I was disagnosed with Stage 4 cancer on 6 -6-2016. Three days before I was diagnosed, something amazing happened. On 4 June, I had a clear dream: in the dream a lady asked for my help, after I helped her she told me, "Sir, God ask me to tell you, you will be completely healed. Then, she said , "My boss wants to talk to you". Another scene came in my dream, her boss called Shahan came to me. He said doctor told him he had incurable cancer and he could not live long, but Shahan said to me, "See, I am still alive. By the way, God ask me to tell you, you will be completely healed". At this point, I was awaken by the iWatch alarm. I looked at it and found out a Facebook friend’s request appeared on my iWatch, and the requester is called Shahan!" It was a strange but vivid dream, feeling like a dream and the reality combined.

On that very same day, I went to a park downstairs with my son in the morning. My son asked me if I was worried by the sickness. Without much thought, I looked at the birds in the park and told him causally, that birds did not sow nor reap, but heavenly Father took care of them, so God would so much more take care of me. In the afternoon, my church held a community event in Wanchai, there were many booths for fun or games and also a booth for prayer. I did not think of getting prayer but after a while, when kids were playing at different booths, I was left alone. A church friend saw me alone and urged me to go to the booth to receive a blessing prayer so I acceded. A man I did not know prayed for me, he told me: "I have got an impression of bird when I pray for you". I took this to heart and felt surprised. In the evening, during dinner, my wife told me her Korean friend also prayed for me and her friend said she felt seeing birds. I was astonished. Message of birds received three times in a day - could it be God telling me something? (I felt He was saying He will take care of me more than birds).

On the following day, it was a church Sunday. After the service my wife and I went to Pacific Coffee near church, when we were drinking coffee suddenly the Senior Pastor of church came in and chatted with us. My wife told the pastor my situation and he prayed for me. After prayer he said: "I feel the enemy has come to my home to steal, but enemy would leave empty handed and disappointed". Then, Pastor left without buying coffee. We felt he came in specifically to pray for us, which was very unusual and never happened before.

The day after, a Monday, I received the biopsy report which confirmed I had thymic carcinoma. As I said I felt deflated. In the evening, a church friend sent me Whatsapp message about his father’s healing testimony. I recalled he shared with me his father’s sickness a few months ago, that his father had cancer, but due to old age (around 76 years old), his father did not plan to receive further treatment or surgery after chemo. It was understandable. In the Whatspp message, he told me his father went to a ministry to be prayed for, an African pastor prayed for his father, touched by the presence of God that for the first time, his father was in tears. A short while later, his father went for PET scan. The doctor asked him to do the PET scan twice, they felt something might have gone wrong, but in fact the PET scan result report surprised them - all cancer cells previously remain in his father’s body had all disappeared, that is nothing short of a miracle. This Whatspp testimony encouraged me a lot, as I see how gracious God is to his elderly father, and I prayed and believed God can do the same to me.

After the cancer diagnosis, I started chemo treatment in June 2016. It was a strong toxic chemo and I felt weak and lost hair and appetite, etc.. After four rounds of chemo injection, the result was bad. Tumor size remains more or less the same, but the cancer in my spine spread to my neck. The PET scan doctor even called my oncology doctor urgently (a day before Mid Autumn Festival) requesting him to do radiation therapy on me to control the spread. You can imagine how bad it was as I failed the first chemo drug. My wife sobbed on hearing the bad report but my heart was in peace, still firmly believing in God’s promise and His message spoken to me over the last two years.

After 10 rounds of radiotherapy, the spread was controlled. However, my throat was hurt by radiation, so everything I ate or drank would cause me sharp pain. I knew from books that such throat injury could last several months to a year to fully recover. I was concerned and disturbed on its effect on my food intake. At that time, a Pastor from Bethel Church in the US held a worship conference (called "Encounter" Conference) in my church. I wasn’t able to attend the first night due to tiredness. I managed to attend the second day. In the worship I felt fully engaged and absorbed into the worship atmosphere, and in the presence of God I suddenly felt saliva inside my throat. At the break, I went out for food . I ordered congee hopefully it would cause less pain, and unexpectedly I could finish the congee without pain. I then ordered noodle to test if I could manage the pain, and again I could finish it without pain. I was overjoyed that finally I could take in solid food again. This was such a relief and really I encountered God.

After radiation I began to try the second chemo drug. At that time, in early October 2016, my friend Peter was organizing a Christmas evangelical event for the marketplace fellowship. Unexpectedly he invited me to share my testimony. I felt testimony should be shared by one who had been healed, but I was still in the treatment process so how could I have anything to share? But I promised to pray. When I prayed, I had the impression of a word "healing journey" passing my mind, and I felt peace to share, although I really had nothing much to share at that time.

In October 2016, I went to Korea to consult doctor after I had started my first chemo on the second drug. The Professor at Asan Medical Centre (Hyundai) gave me a gloomy prospect of my recovery and life span. I was quite disappointed. On the second day, I visited a Professor in Samsung Medical Centre, who was optimistic and told me I could try gene mapping: if there is a certain gene mutation in me, there would be a miracle drug. When I went back to HK, I urged my oncology doctor to help and he kindly agreed to arrange for gene mapping. He also mentioned I could try the marker test on hormone therapy and immunotherapy respectively, in case my second drug also failed. These potential options gave me hope at that time.

Towards the end of third chemo, something special happened. One morning after breakfast, my wife’s sister told me when she prayed for me, she uttered a word of which she did not know the meaning, and the word sounds like "anastasis". My wife said it sounds like a Greek word. Upon searching its meaning on Internet, we discovered the meaning is "removal from sickness condition, rebirth, and resurrection". I was overjoyed by its meaning and very pleased that God gave such assuring word through her to me. Later on the same day, I went to Healing Room in my church to receive healing prayer. A man I never met before came to me; his name is ‘Ma Lung". I looked at his name tag; his full name is Cheung Ma Lung. My name is Cheung Wut Lung, I was curious and told him I almost had the same name as him. He told me when he prayed for me, he sensed God would heal me, and he asked me to worship the Lord. Before we worshipped, he shared his own testimony: he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Prostate Cancer a few years ago. He fervently prayed and encountered God: he felt a warm current flowing in his body. He had similar encounter a few times in his prayer later on. It turned out that in a few months, he almost completely recovered without medication. I was amazed that another miraculous healing testimony from a man whose name is almost the same as mine, was sent by God to me. That boosts my faith a lot.

On another occasion, my wife’s sister saw a vision: in her vision she saw a round object, reddish brown in color, suddenly shrunk to very small size. She was surprised and not sure if this was her imagination. That night she slept, and when she woke up she saw the same vision again. She sensed it was real vision and felt an urge to tell me and my wife about it. To me it seems God was using her to tell me the tumor would shrink to very small size. That is again very encouraging.

After finishing the third chemo, I had a PET scan. On the day of report, doctor told me bad news: that gene mapping did not show the mutation I was looking for, marker test for hormone therapy and immunotherapy were both negative. In medical terms, that means no more drug options available for me. The good news was that my body response to the second drug, the only hope I had, was very good: my spine and neck had no more cancer activity, and the tumor size reduced by two third, with cancer activity reduced by 77%. He said if his patients were his students, then my result rank the top one or top 2 among all students. He asked me to share the good news to my wife. I thanked God that day for even though bad news came, the good news surpassed them all.

In November a friend from Singapore came to visit me. Upon knowing my cancer she prayed for me. She shared about a young pastor in Singapore is getting famous for his spiritual gift on healing. The next day she sent me a message, that same young pastor with healing gift, was coming to HK the following week holding a healing conference. I felt the timing was interesting: she gave high regard to that young pastor, and it turned out he was coming to town the following week. I sensed it was perhaps God’s plan for me to go. So I went to the conference. During the conference, he called out specifically God would heal someone with growth or tumor under the chest. I felt he was talking to me, went down to receive his prayer and felt peace.

Later in December, it was time for me to share my testimony in the Christmas evangelical event. By God’s grace, from having nothing much to share in September 2016, God gave me a lot to share about His goodness, including the signs, wonders and visions I encountered and remarkable treatment progress. God really guided me on what to share.

In passing, I should mention that in the Christmas event, I used a rhetorical question of cancer and plane crash as an opening introduction before sharing my cancer journey. Afterwards, a pastor stood up and shared a gospel message. Instead of preaching, he began by sharing his own testimony. You would not believe it: his testimony was about how he survived a plane crash in 1980. Neither he nor I foreknew each other’s topic. Isn’t it amazing our topic echoed and complemented each other ? I don’t believe it is a pure coincidence but a divine alignment. Surely our testimonies made quite an impact to the audience.

An unexpected episode is that after my Christmas sharing, one colleague came to me. He said the previous night he dreamed about me. I asked what was his dream – he told me in his dream I said to him : " I am completely healed". "Wow !". It seems like yet another sign, that by a dream given to a colleague, God told me I would be healed.

I continued with the remaining 3 rounds of chemo, finishing all in end of January 2017. In February I had another PET scan. The results surprised even the doctor: there is no more cancer activity in my body. My doctor could not even locate a tumor on the PET scan image. He said it is by grace that I had such a complete response. He told me another of his patient had exactly the same cancer like my case, using the same drug, but it had no effect on him. I knew it was God who healed me, in keeping with His promise to heal spoken to me and the various signs and wonders he revealed. Now I will need to go to surgeon to see the possibility of surgically removing the residue of tumor if any, since doctor said he could not be sure of any residue since the resolution of PET scan image is low. In my heart , I shouted Hallelujah. I felt at peace at doing whatever it may take as a medical procedure. But clearly God has already given me a miracle.

In my entire journey I had no fear at all. It is not due to my positive thinking or will power at all. God had answered my prayer by showing me signs and wonders again and again, and I felt I have to respond by faith. The Bible says it right: Faith is the foundation of all hope (Hebrews 11). In my situation there is nothing much to give me hope, except my faith.

I would like to say, my faith is built on my relationship with God over the years. Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I prayed almost every night to God, and he spoke to me.

My wife, my wife’s sister and mother, my care group members, intercessors in my church, they all prayed for me. My mother in law in particular prayed fervently for me and even mobilized more than a hundred prayer warriors in Korea Church to pray for me.

The Bible says: (Proverbs 24:10 NIV )If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength! Where does our strength come from? It comes from relationship with God built over years, not upon crisis. (Deuteronomy 33:25 NIV) [25] ...and your strength will equal your days. If we can hear God, and have a solid foundation out of intimacy with God, we will have greater inner strength to stand against enemy’s attack. If we don’t have such foundation, we are likely to be blown away in face of enemy’s attack.

If today you are a non-believer, I hope my testimony would cause you to reflect- do you think you would be better off to have an all-knowing and all-powerful God to walk with you in life’s storm and crisis. Or you still prefer to walk alone by yourself?

If you are a believer, I challenge you; do you only go to church on Sunday? How often do you pray and meditate on God’s Words? And how often you spend time to listen to God? It is not good enough just to read Bible, you need to build intimacy with God and to know His Ways by regular prayer, meditating the Words and listening to Him.

I discover it is powerful to proclaim aloud the promise of God. There is one verse I always proclaimed; Psalm 118:17New King James Version (NKJV)

17 I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the Lord.

I now stand ready to share the works of the Lord in me in front of audience.

There is another verse very powerful: Revelation 12:11

 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

When you are under attack, don’t isolate yourself. Get more people to pray for you. Don’t wait until you are recovered. Sharing testimony, even during the journey, can attract God’s presence which would strengthen you to get hold of His healing promise.

Reading or hearing healing testimonies also remind us of the goodness of God and His power and they strengthen our faith. In my journey I came across testimonies in Bethel Church website, and the cancer healing testimony of Dodee Osteen (freely downloadable on Internet) which contain amazing scriptures for meditation. These resources helped me a lot in my weaknesses.

I pray everyone who are going through trial will fight a good fight by the promises of God and His empowering Spirit.

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.[a]
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
    they make it a place of springs;
    the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
    each one appears before God in Zion.

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