She battled with cancer for three years
and nobody ever thought she would
live. But God delivered her. Here, Gbenga Osinaike, publisher ChurchTimes, chronicles the story of Pastor Yvonne Pelemo who refused to bow to the cold hands of death after an excruciating experience with the disease.
It started with a mental warfare. For about two years, Pastor Steve Pelemo and his wife, Yvonne were literarily drenched in a spiritual battle with the devil. Pelemo said the devil ministered to him regularly that his wife was going to die. So, he spent time binding and loosing. He and his wife never gave in to the battle. They both prayed and fasted, trusting God that the enemy would not prevail over them.
But as they were just reclining to savour the victory won in the spiritual realm, the physical manifestation of what they had experienced in the spirit realm started happening. At first, his wife started bleeding even when she was not menstruating. She reported to the doctor and it was discovered that a specimen of the placenta had remained in her womb for about one and half years after she had her last baby. According to Yvonne, it was in fact a miracle that she was able to live with the specimen of a placenta. She was operated on and the specimen was removed.
That, however, marked the beginning of another round of trouble for her. She began to grow lean while her stomach was bulging as if she was pregnant. She had to go for more medical tests and she was diagnosed as having an advanced stage of cancer of the womb. She was literarily devasted when she had the doctors pronouncement. But the Lord ministered to her that the sickness was not unto death.
Pelemo said, "When we received the news, we had to rely on God for healing. She was taken to Central Hospital Benin so that we will not cause a stir in Lagos where we pastor a church. She was operated on again in the hospital. But the doctors soon found out that the cancer had spread and she was made to understand that any attempt to remove the cancerous growth would further speed up the growth and hasten her death."
So they could not do anything about the situation. She was sutured up and wheeled out of the theatre."
Yvonne was referred to LUTH for radiotherapy even when it was obvious a radiotherapy was not necessary since she did not undergo any other operation. But rather than depend on radiotherapy, Pelemo said they had to embark on wordtherapy. This, according to him, “is a means of solving any kind of problem through consistent confession and meditation of appropriate set of scriptures several times daily inorder to build up one's faith."
She still had to go through radiotherapy in LUTH but rather than come out better, her situation became worse. She went back to see the consultant that was the head of the radiotherapy department at the LUTH, but the man refused to see her. The doctor said there was nothing that could be done about her case. Another doctor, a Christian came to the rescue and asked that she should undergo another round of operation. Yvonne recalled that going through the operation was the most traumatic period in her life. The operation, though successful did not help the situation. Her protruded tummy was filled with blood. The internal stitches after the operation collapsed. She became very pale, terrible foul smell was coming out of her. She was literarily decaying inside and stinking like a dead body. But she refused to die. She held unto life. The doctors according to Yvonne "were wondering why I was still alive. It was the word of God that kept me alive. By that time, the Holy Spirit had strengthened me and I was determined to live."
As she was facing the battle of her life, some members of her husband's church started leaving the church. They could not understand why the wife of their pastor could be held down by cancer. By that time she had lost complete control of her bladder. She would urinate on her body uncontrollably. But all that did not make them lose sight of their focus on God. Pelemo wrote in a book he co-authored with his wife, titled, She refused to die, that it was during the trial that his ministry had its major breakthrough.
In the course of working for the Lord, Pelemo started taking series of moves which later culminated in the healing of his wife. He said, “The Holy Spirit laid in my heart to organize a programme, Pray Until Something Happens.” On the last day of the programme, he became unusually excited. God then laid in his heart that He was able to quicken his wife's mortal body. All through the trial, Yvonne did not allow herself to be carried away. She prayed for the sick in the hospital and even ministered to those who were seeking salvation. Just after the programme, Yvonne had a divine visitation.
As she was sleeping a hand touched her and she was conscious of what was happening. That was exactly three years after she began the battle with cancer. She recalled, "I felt a vivid movement like a rocking movement and a rearrangement of my internal organs as if an operation was going on inside'
By the following morning, the miraculous had happened. Her bulging tummy had become flat while the offensive odour coming from her body had stopped. Strength started coming into her gradually, her bladder suddenly became normal. Many other side effects and disabilities that resulted from all the treatments she had got had disappeared.
In the 34-page book where the couple chronicle their experience, they noted that it was evidently God's hand that brought the healing.
