Dear Theophilus
I feel that God has done so many great and amazing things in my life, that I would like to make an orderly account of them to encourage and inspire hope in Jesus. It is truly humbling to consider the riches of his favor and how he has brought me through many circumstances up to the present day. While I have tried to give just the facts as I experienced them, please forgive small amendments made in the interest of protecting people's privacy, etc.*
IT ALL STARTED WHEN…
八年前に、次女、レマちゃんは嚢胞繊維症（CF症）の診断をうけた。
家族で人生の大きいな分かれ道に直面した。日本のために呼ばれていると思ったけど、日本にはCF症は非常にまれで、全国で15人しかいないことと比べて、カナダは3000人以上いる。いつかは肺の移植が必要になるといわれるが、肺移植の技術がカナダで開発されて、日本で移植そのものが非常に珍しいうえの、肺移植ができるところは一つの病院の一人の先生。レマちゃんが診断を受けた、その年に、寿命を延ばす、CF症特定の薬は日本で認可された。カナダでの医療の方がCF症に経験があるのに、日本に残り、神様の召しに従って、娘をゆだねることを決断しました。
その八年後に、カナダに行ったとしても同じ薬と治療を受けながら、12歳で、一年間入院しなくてもよい状態から肺の機能が一週間で完全に止まった。担当の医者もその機能しなくなる約12時間前までも気づかず、本当に突然で肺に穴が開いてしまい、二酸化炭素濃度が高くなって、血液が酸化して、ぎりぎり生き残れるレベルに落ちてしまった。（pH6.8）
たった2週間で新しい肺を受けて、手術から6週間の今回復し続けている。この手術をするのに、普通は6か月がかかるのに、手術をしてくれた医療の方々をはじめ、病院の手術室、名古屋から岡山に運んだ特別な救急バス（愛知県で一台しかない）、また何より、勇敢な二人のリビングドーナーが全部そろって、命が助かった。
今週、私の両親はカナダから来た。来る前に定期診断に行って来たお母さんは、孫の手術を話した。そしたら、カナダの先生は驚いた。そんなに急に悪化した時は、リビングドーナーの手術でしか助からなかったが、全世界でその手術ができる先生は10人もいない。しかも、ドーナーの人の一人は肺の形が変わっていて、その10人もいない中で、手術してくれた先生以外の先生は絶対に受け入れないといわれた。カナダでは、できなかった。
カナダに帰る選択もあって、その方が娘にとって良かったと見えた中、神の召しに従って日本に残ったことによって、世界で唯一この手術できた人、場所、時間などのすべてがそろった。
今日の由美先生のメッセージに感謝します。
Eight years ago, my daughter Rhema was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF).
As a family we were faced with a dilemma. While we felt we were called to Japan, but our daughter’s illness was rare here, only about 15 patients nationwide. In Canada there are more than 3,000. We were told she would likely need a lung transplant one day, and lung transplantation is a technique originally developed in Canada, while transplantation of any kind is rare in Japan and lung transplantation more so. The same year that Rhema was diagnosed, medicine that would extend her life was approved for use in Japan. Despite the greater experience of medical staff in Canada we decided to stay in Japan, knowing that God had called us here to serve him and trusting that he was in charge of our daughter.
Eight years later, using the same medicines and therapy she would have received in Canada, at the age of 12, her lungs went from functioning well enough to stay out of the hospital for a year, to completely non-functional within the space of a week. In fact, the seriousness of the situation was not apparent to the doctors until less than 12 hours before her lungs completely stopped functioning and she had a hole in her lungs with so much CO2 in her blood that it had essentially turned to acid and she was at the edge of what is survivable (pH 6.8).
Two weeks later she came out of surgery with new lungs, and is continuing to make good progress towards recovery 6 weeks later. This surgery normally takes six months to arrange, but the surgeons, multiple surgery rooms at the hospital, the special ambulance required to carry her from Nagoya to Okayama and associated medical staff, and especially two brave living donors were available to save my daughter’s life.
This week my parents visited from Canada and told me about the conversation they had had with doctors in Canada. There are less than 10 people in the world that can do the surgery that saved my daughter, and of those ten, there is no one other than the one that saved Rhema in the world that would have done the surgery under the conditions that we had.
By following our calling from God and staying in Japan, we were in the only place in the world with the doctor, donors, facilities and time available to perform this surgery. If we had feared and gone back to Canada, which looked like the better option, she would not be alive today.
Thank you Pastor Yumi for your message today.
Praise be to God. You can experience him too.