A Woman’s Courage
How God can grow hope from frustration
Never place a period in your life where God only meant to place a comma.”
Gracie Allen could not have known her words would be spoken right into the heart of Ellen Van’tHof during one of the deepest struggles of her life.
Like so many other women, Ellen, at age 49, was diagnosed with a very serious and aggressive form of breast cancer.
I remember that day very vividly, and only by the grace of God was I able to get through it,” said Ellen.
She could tell immediately that the surgeon was very concerned; he cleared his schedule that day to work with her. He assigned a nurse practitioner to stay with her through the following tests and until the final results were known. As the surgeon suspected, the diagnosis was very grim.
Within 10 days, Ellen had a double mastectomy in which 21 lymph nodes were also removed. She then endured six months of very heavy chemotherapy followed by seven weeks of daily radiation.
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But she did not place a period in her life during this time.
She continued to teach dance classes at Calvin College as she had since she was 22, even though, at times, she could hardly climb the steps to the studio. She felt God’s love and compassion through the students he placed in her life during that time. Their kindness and love were a strong support to her, and they were very dear to her heart.
Ellen fully expected God to place a period at the end of her radiation treatments to end this struggle in her life.
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She had been strong and faithful through some pretty deep valleys, so she planned on coming out of the valley to find some nice green pastures and still waters.
However, as many breast-cancer patients before her, she discovered some puffiness in her right arm and wrist. She was soon diagnosed with lymphedema.
This was the final kick in the head,” she recalls. “Why this, too, Lord?
At this point, her deepest struggle set in. God was asking her to walk with him just a little further. He knew of some greener pastures just a little farther through the valley.
Her physical therapist, Brad Kuipers, explained her diagnosis and treatment plan: Life-long lymphedema, four weeks of intensive decongestive therapy, and then you’re on your own with a nightly wrapping regimen.
Brad was a master at wrapping, but some days the bandages felt tighter than others, and they were hot, heavy and cumbersome. Ellen was down---but not for long.
A family trip to Nova Scotia gave her time to think. And while she packed her bandages, dragged them around, and went through the nighttime wrapping ritual with her husband-- think she did.
Ellen is the daughter of an inventor, she carries a B.A. in art education, and she is an impressive seamstress. She knew she had to live with lymphedema for the rest of her life, but she determined not to live with those bandages one minute longer than necessary.
If you have a problem, you figure out how to fix it,” she stated.
On returning from her trip, she sat down and designed a sleeve that could simulate the same compression of the bandages. Within 30 minutes she had a pattern, and in another 30 minutes she had a sleeve that actually fit pretty well. She made a few adjustments, showed it to her PT, and never wrapped her arm again.
Brad was impressed. He contacted Phillip March, a local physicist; and putting their expertise together they refined and perfected the sleeve.
Ellen traveled just a few more steps through the valley, and now people everywhere are benefiting from her courage and determination.
I wasn’t setting out to help people. I was very selfish; I didn’t want this hassle in my life. I was impatient, and I was sick of it.
But I am convinced that God put some expertise in my life to help other people even though that was not my intent at the time. He took something that was a real burden and is using it to help others.”
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