Brandi: We're a pretty active family. Healthy, never really sick. Never really had to go to the doctor besides little colds here and there. That all changed. I felt a lump in my breast. The doctor felt it and was like, "Let's send you in for a mammogram." I was like, "really?" I went back to the doctor on my 36th birthday and they confirmed that I had breast cancer. That was devastating to say the least.
Spencer: We didn't know anything about cancer before we got into this. When she was diagnosed with it and she kind of followed it up with, "They say it's pretty aggressive." That was... I did get scared when she told me that.
Brandi: I felt like the world was stopped and it was just my head was spinning of all the things that you hear when you think of cancer. One of my biggest fears finding out that I had breast cancer was that my kids wouldn't have a mom because they were still so young and they're little. I couldn't imagine them being without a mom.
Spencer: I couldn't imagine losing that part of me, which is my wife. She's my voice of reason. She's the rock. It would be like cutting myself in half if I were to lose her. The impact that it would have on mine and the kids the rest of our lives would just be unimaginable.
Brandi: I'm so thankful when I did find out that I had breast cancer, that I did have a personal relationship with the Lord.
Spencer: It made everything very real when we shaved her head, that this is like the real deal. Like this is just straight up cancer. She's going to be bald and there's going to be chemo and it's not going to be fun.
Brandi: My husband got the chair and set it down in the living room. My little girl sat in front of me and held my hands and the shaving process began.
Spencer: The first thing that came to mind is, all right, you got to step up and be the man and be strong and be positive. I truly believe that God was going to use her in some way to bless others with cancer. And he did. He has. It's been unbelievable.
Brandi: I decided to start a blog just so I could be transparent. Do a one shot, tell you my thoughts for the day or the moment when I had a moment. I would just share my heart. I thought it was going to reach a small group of people, but in the end it reached a whole lot of people. I joined Medi-Share a few months prior to finding out that I had breast cancer. I was kind of nervous of how it was going to work and it has been nothing but a blessing for me and my family.
Spencer: Medi-Share was something very... It was as new to us as the cancer. The first person I talked to was in Florida. It was someone that I felt was right next door. It wasn't some call center. It was a very personal phone call calling about my wife having cancer. They immediately took it to heart and was concerned about what was happening with us.
Brandi: When I went to the doctor, I would get a phone call from Medi-Share's home office and they would say, "Hey, we know that you went to the doctor. Can we pray for you for this specific thing?"
Spencer: When the bills actually start getting paid, you receive what's called a share notice. What that is, it's an itemized statement showing exactly who shared what amount to pay your bills. I'd never seen anything like that before in my life.
Brandi: I felt it was like I had a family member in there sharing the burden. The day that I found out that I didn't have cancer anymore was overwhelming because it was that chapter of that book was closing. It was finished.
