When Your Loved One is Terminally Ill

Keep the Heart

Francie Taylor

Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 632 Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I can vividly remember the day of my Norman’s surgery. They were removing the kidney that had a large, cancerous tumor on it. The surgeon asked my husband this question: “Are you ready to meet your maker?” The question, “Are you ready to meet your maker”? caused my husband to ask the surgeon a question: “Do you know my Maker?” They both smiled, and the surgeon said, “I sure do.” The grateful look on the surgeon’s face was matched by the recognition of a brother in Christ on my Norman’s face. They chatted a bit more and then Norman was taken to surgery. That question brought me to tears as I realized that this was yet another indicator of how seriously ill my husband was. As I sat in the waiting room crying quietly, a nurse walked in. She asked me what was wrong, and I told her about my Norman’s cancer prognosis and how this was all so sudden and hard. That’s when she made a statement that I have never forgotten: “Oh honey, she said, “We are ALL terminally ill.” She hit me with the truth. We know our birthdays, but only God knows the day of our death. My Norman had renal cell carcinoma and multiple myeloma, both stage 4. He was diagnosed in April 2017, and passed on Sept 15, 2017. When a loved one is terminally ill, there are many things to face. In this brief episode, I’ll provide suggestions for walking through this challenging time. These are not in-depth solutions. In fact, if this is not the first time you’ve had a loved one who was terminally ill, you could add to this short list easily. These are just some things I wish someone had shared with me when I was walking this road. Workplace Protections for Individuals Impacted by Cancer (mentioned in the episode) VISIT THE SHOP AT KEEP THE HEART BOOK CLUB FAVORITE: Apply: Living What We Learn--31-Day Devotional by Francie Taylor FOR COUPLES: Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions by Francie Taylor BIBLE STUDY GROUPS: ICU: In Christ Unconditionally-Heart Conditions What Do I Have to Lose: A 50-Day Devotional (Book Two) by Janice Wolfe From Overwhelmed to Overcomer by Natalie Raynes Blanton Herbs for the Heart: A Study of James by Kathy Ashley Follow Keep the Heart on Instagram Like Keep the Heart on Facebook

Transcript

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0:00.0	I can vividly remember the day of my Norman's surgery. They were removing the kidney that had a large
0:06.1	cancerous tumor on it. The surgeon asked my husband this question. Are you ready to meet your
0:12.9	maker? Welcome to Keep the Heart podcast with Francie Taylor.
0:22.6	Francie is an author, teacher, and conference speaker known for sharing biblical insights
0:28.6	that are practical and inspiring.
0:31.6	Now back to today's valuable study.
0:38.9	I had never heard a surgeon ask a question like that. The room froze for a minute. The question,
0:46.3	are you ready to meet your maker? Caused my husband to ask the surgeon a question. Do you know my maker? That's what my Norman asked him. And then they
0:57.8	both smiled and the surgeon said, I sure do. The grateful look on the surgeon's face was matched by the
1:05.5	recognition of a brother in Christ on my Norman's face. Those two bonded right then and right there at that moment,
1:12.6	and they chatted a bit more, and then Norman was prepped and taken to surgery. That question
1:18.9	brought me to tears later on as I realized this was yet another indicator of how seriously ill
1:25.2	my husband was. Stage 4, renal cell carcinoma or kidney cancer has a low
1:31.8	survival rate, and it would have been enough to just be going through stage 4 kidney cancer,
1:37.0	but my husband also had stage 4 multiple myeloma. The five-year survival rate of the renal cell carcinoma is about 17%, which means
1:48.1	17 out of 100 people may still be alive after five years. Now we all know that God really knows
1:55.1	that timetable. Some live longer, but some don't make it that far. As I sat in the waiting room crying quietly, a nurse walked in.
2:05.2	She asked me what was wrong, and I told her about my husband's cancer prognosis
2:09.8	and how this was all so sudden and so hard.
2:13.4	That's when she made a statement that I have never forgotten.
2:17.0	Oh, honey, she said, we are all terminally ill.
2:22.2	She hit me with the truth.
	...

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