Here’s something you don’t want your doctor to say… “You have only weeks to live”!
That’s what Myra is dealing with today. Myra Hooper is a single mother. She and her eight-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, are living at Hope Gardens, the URM’s 77 acre facility to minister to moms experiencing homelessness.
Myra found out in November that she has cancer. This week she found out that her cancer is stage four and is spreading rapidly throughout her pancreas and liver. She has weeks to live.
Life has been hard for Myra. Growing up in poverty, abused by a family member, trying to raise a daughter on her own, finding out her daughter was abused, and now she finds herself counting down the days till her funeral.
Yet Myra knows the Lord and has been reconnecting with him the last year at Hope Gardens. She has grown tremendously. Last May, she and Nevaeh got baptized at her church. She was so proud of this day. She showed me the video.
Today, Myra told me she is “ok” with what’s going on. She knows the Lord has an eternal inheritance waiting for her. Her only concern is for her daughter. I am amazed at the peace I see in her eyes.
Myra doesn’t want treatment that will only prolong her life a short amount and make her sick in the process. In our conversation yesterday she shared what she wanted with the remaining days and weeks of her life… “I just want to make happy memories for my daughter to have for the rest of her life.”
When I asked her what was on the top of that list, Myra said, that Nevaeh has never been to Disneyland and she’d like to take her there. I am having trouble containing my composure as I write this. I told Myra that I will see to it that she gets to take her lovely little daughter on a very special trip to “The Happiest Place on Earth” before she leaves this earth for her home in heaven… away from the precious love of her life, Nevaeh, which is actually, “heaven”, spelled backwards.
I know some of you would like to help us create that special memory and you are welcome to participate. Just click on the link to the Deed and Truth website and make a donation.
However, here’s something all of us can do that will make a HUGE impact. In speaking with Myra’s chaplain, I found out that Myra loves to get cards and letters in the mail. Would you send Myra a word of encouragement in the mail to let her know that you are praying for her and her daughter and how her story inspires you?
Myra Hooper
c/o Hope Gardens
12249 Lopez Canyon Rd
Sylmar, CA 91342
Take a look at this short video of Myra with her beautiful daughter.
Please be praying for the staff and all the guests at Hope Gardens as this news is hitting them all very hard. This is a close knit community. Myra and Nevaeh are loved. The last thing Myra told me yesterday is that she once doubted how loved she was in her past, however since coming to Hope Gardens, she now knows God loves her because all of his people have been loving on her day in and day out.