Surgery Canceled!
The Shalom Boyer Story
Six year old Shalom Boyer was the cheerful beloved daughter of Darren Boyer and his wife Damaris, living in Grande Prairie Alberta. Darren was pastor of a small in church in that town. But suddenly, something was very wrong with Shalom. For two weeks, she was deathly sick. Her right eye became slow, also her right hand, and her right foot would drag when she walked. There was a flu going around, but these were strange symptoms for a flu. Finally, her parents took her in to emergency where a CT scan revealed a problem in her brain. The doctor's comment was, "90% of the cases that come into emergency are not urgent, but this IS urgent." She was immediately flown to Edmonton to see a neurosurgeon. It turned out, a whole team of them were waiting, including the head of the department.
Further tests confirmed a large tumor in the right side of Shalom's brain. Including surrounding affected areas, the mass appeared to her father to be nearly the size of his closed fist--a massive area for a child that size. The doctors emphasized the seriousness of the case. It was not an aneurysm, it was a tumor, and the pressure was so intense that even a sneeze could cause it to erupt into bleeding. If that were to happen, surgery would need to start within 10 minutes, or permanent brain damage would occur.
Shalom needed to be kept calm and still while preparations for a series of surgeries were made. The Boyers were warned that the tumor could be cancerous, but even if it was not, it was possible Shalom would permanently lose speech, and the use of her whole right side.
Doctors were continuously standing by in case of the need to operate immediately, while Darren and his wife tried to keep Shalom calm as she waited in intensive care. But that was not all they did. They also prayed, and passed the prayer request on to others who knew them, and knew the power of God to intervene. Church members and other pastors began to pray, even through the night. One pastor texted in that all the young people in his church were praying.
That night, Darren was not able to sleep much. His head was pounding, and it was hard to think clearly. Guilty feelings crept in, as he wondered if it was all his fault for failing to take Shalom in sooner. Though in a dazed state, he knew he needed a miracle, and would occasionally wonder, what exactly IS a miracle?
That morning, before 8:30 AM, Shalom would need to go through a pre-surgery MRI test without moving. Darren was on hand to comfort Shalom before the 30 minute procedure. However, Shalom was in such a lifeless state she could not be anything but calm. Darren describes those moments this way:
"I stood in the same room, as our daughter lay in that machine. In that room with the nurse doing the test behind a glass wall to my back I believe the Lord met our daughter. While she was laying in the MRI and I was standing alone in that room it was like a presence was there and I was allowed to fellowship with that presence. I can't say I was praying or thinking deeply. As the machine made its noises, making a back and forth sound, I thought maybe it was because they couldn't find the tumor? It was like this hope I had and it seemed like a child-like faith, thinking it was the sound of a machine looking, but not able to find anything wrong."
The MRI test did go on unusually long. What exactly happened in those moments, as Darren stood by and the MRI machine hummed along examining his daughter? This was an urgent situation requiring immediate medical intervention. Multiple tests, doctors, and top neurosurgeons, some of the best in the field all testified to that. There was no doubt about the case. This final MRI was just for surgery prep. Actually, the MRI was unusually long because a second MRI test was immediately undertaken. Why? What was happening? Darren describes what happened next:
"About 11 am back in intensive care the team of neurosurgeons arrived. They asked if we wanted to see the results of the recent scan. As those 3 surgeons discussed the situation and were using medical terms I asked the question based on what I was hearing. 'So my daughter doesn't need to have an operation?' The head doctor looked at me and said no "I believe this is all blood and she will heal from that." As they continued their open discussion it was more than I could bear. I stepped away a short distance and began to praise God under my breath for it seemed so certain her entire condition had changed."
Whatever happened in those moments under the MRI machine, the tumor that was clearly there just hours before, was now gone! The only thing that intervened between the many tests that showed it present, and the MRI that showed it gone, was prayer. In those moments, Darren found the answer to his question: a miracle is the presence of God. It was that presence that removed the tumor in Shalom's brain, in those moments under the MRI machine.
In the days leading up to this, Shalom had been uncomfortable, enduring intense pressure in her brain, and forced to remain in a state of stillness unnatural for an active 6 year old girl. But there in the hospital that morning after the team of Doctors gave their review, she became alert, even hungry. Darren and his wife both testify,
"For the most part she recovered instantly that morning. It was completely over, at least as far as I believed and she demonstrated...she began to move, to laugh, and a sweet spirit seemed to be present in everything she did and said. The nurses said they had never seen a little girl in intensive care eat so much!"
A couple of days later a camera scope was run up her leg and into her brain, in the hopes that this might provide some explanation for what had happened. There was no explanation. When everything was found normal, the head neurosurgeon confessed, "What happened to your daughter is pretty miraculous." Doctors aren't taught terms like "miraculous" in medical school. But sometimes, medical terminology just does not fit the case.
Over the next little while, Shalom recovered just as the doctor predicted. An MRI several months later confirmed that there was no lingering problem. Her brain is now so completely normal that the doctors require no further examinations.
Let's use the doctor's term, and call it a miracle. The miracle that happened to Shalom Boyer did not happen in a secret dark corner. Doctors saw it--in fact the whole medical system witnessed it, as the neurosurgical team had been alerted to action. Many Believers including whole churches were praying. All of these are witnesses to the before, during, and after, of another instance of: The God Who Answers Back.