EP 50 Overcoming Thyroid Cancer - Ann Hatton

After a decade of gathering women together for prayer, we are inspired to bring our words of encouragement to you. This is iRefresh. Welcome to iRefresh, where we empower ordinary women like the two of us to do extraordinary things by the power of prayer and God's Word. And like I said, you've got two ordinary women here. I'm Keri Kittinger and I have Ann Hatton with us. And we just wanna be able to just, share about what the Lord has done in your life through some, maybe some circumstances that could have unraveled you and sent you in a different direction, but how we want to just talk about how the Lord has gotten you through some difficult things. So, and I'm going to just let you go. Tell us a little bit about yourself. All right. Well, growing up, I was super athletic. Um, I was totally into sports. I played softball. I played basketball and volleyball and I played like one year of soccer. Um, So we would have been friends in high school, but I would have been in the stands cheering you on. I wouldn't have been a cheerleader, so I wasn't the cheerleader type, but I wasn't the athletic. I would have been cheering you on in the stands. Aww, thanks. Yeah, I was definitely athletic. I was into working out all the time. I loved sports, so I was very, very active. Even whenever I met my husband, actually, he was a bodybuilder, and I was working out in the gym like two or three times a day, not a week, a day. Right. I mean, I was totally into the fitness thing. And that's how you and your husband met? Yeah. Not exactly. That's a different story. It sure is. Yeah. So I was working out, and so I wouldn't necessarily judge people, but I was always wondering how people would let themselves go. I mean, it was so easy to go and work out. It was so easy just to take a few minutes out of my day to try and get fit. So I didn't really understand that. Until one day. That has a way, you know, there have been things like that in my life where, again, not that you were passing judgment. Right. But you go, oh, like before I had children, I had this list of what I would do when I had children. And boy, when I had children, did I find out how hard that list was. Yes, that's exactly right. I would do the same thing. I was like, okay, so, you know, I burn calories by doing this and I'm going to do this, you know, after my daughter was born. Yeah, it didn't quite work out that way. My two kids were three and four, and my son was playing baseball and- I'm sorry, I'm gonna stop you right there. Okay. Three and four, and they're playing baseball. So you were the athletic mom, right? Yeah. I always swore I wouldn't be, but I really wanted to encourage. Oh, yes. It didn't last. So one of the other moms was starting to work out in the mornings, and I was totally, I'm a morning work out person. So 3 o'clock in the morning, 4 o'clock in the morning, when there's nobody there, yes, get me up. I'll be there for two or three hours. I'm good. You know, so it was perfect. I wasn't missing out on my kids because they were still asleep. I wasn't missing out on my husband because he was still asleep. You know, it was the ideal time. So I noticed that I was working out and working out, and I wasn't losing weight. I'm like, well, that's strange. You know, normally I could just drop it like that. And I was like, that's really weird. And so this went on probably for a couple of years. And I noticed that I was gaining weight instead of losing weight. And I'm not talking about, like, gaining muscle because obviously muscle weight weighs more than fat. But... At least that's what I like to tell myself. Yes. But I do know it's true. I'm just teasing. It is. So I wasn't, nothing was moving, you know. And so one day I finally was like, you know, I need to go to the doctor. I went to the doctor and I just kind of explained, you know, I've noticed my hair is falling out. And I notice I'm so tired all the time. And I work out and I'm so active. How can I be so tired? Right. They were like, you know, they did a bunch of blood, and the blood test came back that I had Hashimoto's disease. And I was like, whoa, okay, so what does that mean, you know? Right. I got a what? Right, right. Yeah, Hashimoto. Can you say that again? Right, right. So they started me on some medication, and then my level started getting better. I mean, I wasn't losing weight as much or as rapidly as I would have liked, but I did start losing weight. So I was on this medication for probably – two three years until I noticed it wasn't working again and I was like man you know I don't want to go get my Medicaid I don't want to have to you know at this point I didn't have a doctor that I was going to I was just never sick and it just seems like too much work you know so I just kept putting it off which we moms are prone to do at times like we would never do that for our children we would write those health things off but we're busy and exactly yes we exactly yeah So I actually ended up getting really sick and the Holy Spirit had kind of been prompting me, you know, maybe you should go to the doctor, maybe you should go to the doctor, maybe you should go to the doctor. And I was probably just not being obedient and I got really sick and probably the flu or something, you know, I mean, that kind of really sick. my throat swelled and I couldn't breathe. So much that, okay, my brother-in-law is a pulmonologist and so this is how much I didn't want to go to the doctor. I'm calling him barely able to talk. Oh my goodness. And I think I should go to the doctor. He's like, I can't even understand you. Yes. Like now. Yeah. Like emergency room. So my husband who works in Broken Arrow and we live in Bristow, flies home, picks me up, takes me to the emergency room. where they run a bunch of tests and they actually scanned my throat to see you know if there was something blocking and what to do and they did a dye test and the emergency room doctor came in okay we had been cutting up so my husband and I we we joke around a lot and so you know we do that with doctors you know what better way to deal with stressed than to joke. So, um, when he came in, he was just white as a ghost and just like, you could tell that he had seen something and we were like, okay, so what's going on? He goes, well, the good news is, is they don't, I'm sorry, this is the doctor that was the emergency room. Yes. The emergency room doctor. I was thinking you were saying it was your husband. So this was your doctor. No, the emergency room doctor comes in and is just white as a ghost. And he's like, I need to tell you that everything's okay, but you need to go see a doctor tomorrow. And I was like, I looked at my husband and I'm thinking, okay, are you seeing the look on this guy's face? Because he did not look like this five minutes ago, you know. So we were leaving and we were talking. I'm like, I think I need to go to the doctor tomorrow. Like the Holy Spirit's been telling me that I need to go to the doctor. I should probably go to the doctor. Now's the time. Yeah, yeah. I ended up going to the doctor. They basically told me there was nothing wrong with me. They didn't even know why I was on thyroid medication. Oh my goodness. And I said, I think you're wrong. Because the whole time, you know, the Holy Spirit reveals things to you and he tells you you know when somebody's telling you something if it's true or false or you get a feeling about you know I just I don't feel okay with that and the whole time this guy was talking to me he was actually a PA he was saying every time he was saying the Holy Spirit was saying this isn't right this isn't right So through this here the night before you'd had another doctor exactly goes yes exactly exactly right if using that to then have this other doctor saying yes fine Mm-hmm. So they threw some blood and he had me do a follow-up appointment. He changed my medication So a month later he calls me back in and he was like everything looks fine And you know, I don't know why you're in here and I said I need you to send me to an endocrinologist and I, with my insurance, I didn't have to have that referral. Right. But because of medical providers now, they say, you know, we want a referral. Right. He was like, I'm not going to refer you to it. And I said, I want you. I mean, I was like having to get in this guy's face, you know, like getting in his face, not getting in his face. I need you to send me to somebody. I know something, something is not right. You knew in my body. Yeah. Something's not right with how I feel. Yeah. And I couldn't just say the Holy Spirit said the Holy Spirit said there is. And I need you to, you know, that wouldn't have been right. So long story short, I, I went to an endocrinologist. Yeah. They scanned. He was like, he did the white as a ghost thing, and he was like, let's do this and this and this test. So they did an ultrasound. It came back. They wanted to do a biopsy. He wasn't really telling me anything. He just said, you know, you've got a bit of a bump here. Let's just go ahead and do a biopsy. okay you know I'm thinking nothing right I didn't even know there was anything called thyroid cancer at this point you know and so I get a phone call and it's his nurse and he's like she said we need to do a follow-up he wants to have you in to tell you what the results were of your test but he's gonna be gone for two weeks I'm like what you want me to wait two weeks no I said you need to tell me right now right and so I'm driving you know thinking you know they're gonna take this or whatever it is, you know, I'm thinking nothing about what she's about to tell me. At this point, did you know that you had some sort of a nodule? I didn't, no, no. I just thought there was something wrong with my thyroid, and I didn't even know what that meant because I hadn't really even researched it, other than I had been on medication. They need to change my medication. Right, right. You know, so, and they weren't really, I mean, the doctor wasn't really honest with me in telling me, you know, this could be what we're seeing. Probably because he didn't want to scare me, I don't know. Right. The nurse did not have that issue, though. Because she just very bluntly said, oh, it looks like you have cancer. Like while I'm driving down the road. Oh my goodness. And I'm like, excuse me, what? Yeah, what? And she goes, oh yeah, you know, it looks like you have thyroid cancer. But the doctor will tell you more when he comes back in two weeks. Oh, Ann, I cannot imagine getting that word and then having to hold that for two weeks, not knowing whether or not, okay, is this really cancer? Is it not? Is she exaggerating? Was the doctor maybe right and not exaggerating? And wow, I can't imagine. Um, at this point, I just kind of went numb. I got to our destination. I had the kids with me. So I was trying to be strong for them. I got them inside. Um, and we know the guy who was, um, our laundromat. My son works there on Wednesdays. And, um, I went inside. I told the guy that owns the place. I said, can you watch the kids for a minute? Cause I need to go out to my car. I'm sorry. Um, When a mom hears those words and you're, you know, I'm sure there's things flashing before you like, okay, I, these precious children, I want to be the one, you know, watching them walk down the aisle someday when they get married. I want to be the one when they choose which college they're going to go to or what, you know, they're going to do the rest of their lives. I want to be there. Exactly. The very first thing I did was pray. And I told the Lord, I said, you told me to do this and I'm doing this. And I didn't even have to finish that thought. He said, there's nothing for you to fear. So I called my husband and I told him, I said, I just found out that I could probably maybe have cancer, but I won't know details for two weeks. And he was like, wait, what? And so basically he hung up the phone with me and Drove 40 minutes to where we were at. And he just wanted to give me a hug. You know, I mean, he just wanted to just to be there for me. That's beautiful. And it's amazing how... You picked well, and he did too. Thank you. It's amazing how God will bring people into your path at the exact moment. I call them divine appointments. And, you know, I was talking to this lady at church. She was totally telling me her thyroid story and, you know, all this and... was like man this is like the day before I went had my my biopsy done and so I talked to her about it you know I told her what they had what they had found I didn't know anything but that was a C word and her and her husband own a recording studio and when she had her thyroid issues they had recorded some prayers and some songs and stuff like that and so they gave me to speak over me and I love how the Lord goes before us. And I love how he provided people to come alongside you and encourage you, even in that waiting time. Yes, yes. We spent the next two weeks praying. We spent the next two weeks seeking God. And did you tell your kids at this point? We did. I mean, they wanted to know why mommy kept crying. Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I cried that day a lot. But to be honest with you, I was really calm. I tried to have no fear, and not because I felt like I needed to be strong for the kids, but because I knew that God had it. That was the big thing. You know, he gave me the scripture. Isaiah 41 10 so do not fear for I am with you be not Dismayed for I am your God and it goes on but that was really a scripture that I I leaned on a lot Do not fear why should I fear about something? God's already told me he had you know, so I had full faith that he was gonna you know not go back on his word and so I And I love that scripture goes on to say, you know, the do not fear if I'm with you. I've called you by name. Yes. You know, and so he knew your name. Yeah. And he has the very hairs of your head numbered. That's what I always tell myself when I go through something difficult. I'm like, Lord, if you've got these hairs numbered, right? Both you and I probably have a different number. We've got a lot of hair. If he's got the hairs of our heads numbered and he knows us by name. And we were talking earlier, your name, Anne, means grace. You know, that His grace, I know, as difficult as that was, His grace was sufficient for you. And so we've got a few more minutes here, but I want you to tell me how... Tell me the rest of the story. Okay. So from there, it basically, they ended up removing my full thyroid. They also removed 30 lymph nodes out of my chest and my neck. Wow. And a third of those tested positive for cancer. And some of them were metastatic. So not only did I have cancer, but I had stage four. I didn't understand that it was a lot of talking back and forth conversing with my sister and brother-in-law and some of their doctor friends down there and They basically told me that it's gonna be okay. I didn't realize that it it's very rare that somebody is passes from thyroid cancer. It's just not one of those cancers. So honestly, until we interviewed somebody here, Lisa Finmore, her story was amazing. But she asked me what my victory colors were. And I said, I don't even know what that means. And she said, what are your victory colors for overcoming your cancer, for thyroid cancer? And I was like... I don't know, I just don't talk about it because I don't have bad cancer. She goes, it's cancer. Right. And so she helped me realize that maybe my story could help others as well. Yes, absolutely. Well, and you know, we talked beforehand, but, and you had not forgotten this, but our daughter had thyroid cancer. So isn't this just even amazing that this was not planned that I would be talking to you today, but how, Interesting how God will just even weave stories and weave testimonies where we can say, yeah, I've got a testimony about that one too. And I can tell you how the Lord saw us through. And you're right. I mean, cancer is still cancer. And there's a reason that they treat thyroid cancer because left untreated, it is deadly. And so, yes, we're very grateful that there is a way to treat it, but it still is a cancer. And it's still, you know, you had it in your lymph nodes. And but we're here today to testify of the goodness of the Lord. And you know what? Do you know what your victory colors are? Yes. What are your victory colors? Teal, yellow, and there's a third one. There's three colors. Okay. Teal, yellow, and purple. Yeah. Is there a pink? I think it's pink. Okay. I think you're right. I think it's pink. But you know what? Here's the deal. You know what our victory colors are? Our victory colors are red because Jesus shed his blood for us. And we know that, right? But for us to know that not only did he take our sin upon that cross, but he took everything difficulty that we would have, every sickness, every sin, every disappointment. And he took that on the cross. And you know, he's not on the cross anymore. He is alive and active. He rose again. And so we serve a living God who, because of that, we're victorious. And what a gift we've been given. So keep sharing your story. Thank you. We need it. Thank you. I'm glad you brought up your daughter. I absolutely listened to her testimony when I found out that I had it. So thank you. And isn't that neat that because she was 11, and so that an 11-year-old's testimony can help a grown woman go through something because you both needed Jesus, and you both came across an obstacle that you couldn't do on your own, but yet he was with you. Absolutely. And mention that there are another couple of stories that we've had about women who have overcome cancer because of the Lord was with them. And so if you would like to hear those testimonies, we would love for you to connect with us either on YouTube or on our podcast with Lisa Fenimore or Kelly Kittinger or both of them because they're both wonderful stories. And we'd also like to connect with you. at iRefresh Ministries. We'd love to come alongside you in prayer. And we'd love to hear about some of the ways that you've overcome. And so would you connect with us, please, on social media? Would you connect with us at iRefresh.net? And we would love to just have you be a part of our journey and let us be a part of yours as well. And so keep allowing the Lord to change you and go and change your world.