September 22, 2023 • 33 mins
What if surrendering to faith could lead you through the most daunting trials of life? Join us as we delve deep into the awe-inspiring story of Denise Dallatory, a woman who found faith amidst tumultuous life challenges. Raised in upstate New York, Denise grappled with the tragic loss of her father at a tender age of seven, navigated through rebellious youth, and encountered tumultuous relationships. A profound shift occurred in her life, not just when she became a mother, but when her son shared his startling recollection of a previous life and return to heaven. This divine revelation nudged Denise towards a deeper relationship with God, setting the stage for her life-altering journey.
In a tale of resilience and survival, Denise recounts her daunting battle with terminal cancer. She was sent home with a death sentence, but chose to embrace faith over fear. Miracles unfolded, and amidst the gruelling rounds of chemotherapy, Denise emerged victorious, her survival a testament to her unwavering faith. Denise’s story is more than just a tale of survival - it's an unforgettable journey from a death sentence to a beacon of hope and faith, a testament to the power of belief and strength of the human spirit.
After witnessing her miraculous survival, Denise embarked on a mission to inspire others battling cancer. Through her website, California Cancer Connection, she provides hope, resources, and a platform for sharing personal testimonies. Denise firmly believes that these shared narratives play a pivotal role in fostering a connection with the Creator. She further emphasizes the importance of patience and trust in God's plan, a wisdom she attributes to her own experiences. Tune in to this riveting episode to discover how Denise found peace amidst life's toughest challenges, and be inspired by her remarkable journey of faith, resilience, and hope.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
How's it going, family and friends?
I'm here on the Feeling Faithpodcast, where we encourage,
inspire and motivate people toshare their testimonies for
Christ.
I'm here with Denise Dallatory.
She has a phenomenal story.
I'm so excited to hear it.
How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm doing great.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm fantastic.
Thank you for making the driveout here.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate it yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So you have a phenomenal testimony.
I've only heard a little bit ofit.
I know there's a whole biggerpiece in art to it, but let's
start at the beginning.
Tell me a little bit about yourupbringing.
What was your life like in yourbeginning, early stages of
development, and did you haveany influence of Christ early on
(00:42):
in your life?
Let's start from square one.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
All right, I was raised in a really small town in
upstate New York and I wasraised Catholic.
Of course I went to church, butas a young person back then
especially I'm 63.
So they wrote, they readdirectly from the Bible and it
wasn't relatable to me as ayoung person.
And so I was raised with Christand belief in God, but I didn't
(01:06):
really practice my religion.
And my child, who was prettytraumatic my dad died when I was
seven and it was a car trainaccident.
So it was horrific and Iremember him leaving to go to
work that morning and I wasstanding at the window as a
little girl and I said goodbyeto him, but I didn't kiss him
goodbye that day and he nevercame back.
(01:28):
And from that point forward, mylife it was devastating for me.
I was raised by my mom.
She was a single parent and wehad a tumultuous relationship
and I left home at a young ageand never looked back.
And had God been in my life andmy father, my biological father
, been there for me, I'm sure mylife would have been a lot
(01:50):
easier.
But I was a rebel and I lookedto.
I got myself in bad situationslet's put it that way with
people who were looking out formy best interest, so it was hard
.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
The father figure, as we all know, is a very
important piece in every familydynamic, and so the lack of
having your father there and hispresence had led you to a
little bit of lack of discipline, I'm sure.
And allowed you to go a littlemore on the disobedience side of
the spectrum and severaldysfunctional relationships with
(02:22):
men because I didn't have myfather there.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
My first husband, my love of my life.
I fell in love with him in myearly 20s and he ended up dying.
He became addicted to drugs andI lost him and that was a
devastating.
And then I met my son's dad andI always say he was the best of
the worst.
Forgive me, Henry, I can'tlisten.
(02:47):
But he was a really good guy.
When my son was born, Idetermined to be the mother that
I never had and I was going tobe the best parent that I could
and nurture that young man.
And we had a dysfunctionalmarriage and I ended up leaving
him and when my son was onlyfive, again.
It was a struggle.
I struggled through my wholelife with no guidance and no
(03:08):
family there to support me.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
During that time you weren't aware of the lack of
guidance, the lack of supportand the influence that having a
father and those relationshipsthat really helped build
character and build us andcreate us into who we are.
So how did your upbringing leadyou into a place where you
(03:31):
found Christ and found like areal relationship with God?
Tell me a little bit about yourstory and what was it.
What was that critical moment?
Where you were like God, I needyou.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
God was always there.
He was always knocking at thedoor, he was always trying to
get my attention that I wasn'tpaying attention, right, god
gave us free will, and so Iremember one time one of the
women that I knew from church.
She said to me you have tosurrender.
And I said I can't surrender.
That's a sign of weakness,right?
I didn't understand whatsurrendering to God really meant
(04:06):
.
So I think one of the pivotalpoints in my life was when I
gave birth to my son.
I didn't expect to have a child.
We had a child right after wegot married, and when I held
that baby in my arms it was justso much love, like a miracle.
It was a miracle.
And I remember crying in thenurse coming in and going, oh no
(04:26):
, why the tears?
And I'm like he's so beautifuland she goes oh good, because
many women have post-traumaticstress syndrome and things like
that.
But they don't come out sogreat looking, honestly, they
come out funny looking, but hewas the most beautiful thing I'd
ever seen.
And from that day forward I hadpurpose.
I had a reason to take care ofmyself, because I had to be the
(04:49):
best mother to that little boy,and so that was a pivotal point
in my life.
And then, at the age of three,he told me about living here
before and having to go back toheaven.
And I asked him about thatbecause I didn't want to deter
him, because I knew he wasspecial.
He was born with this big cleftin his chin, right here.
He had a big dimple and when hewas born the nurse said, oh
(05:12):
look, he's been touched by anangel and I believe that he was
sent by God.
He was sent to me as a giftfrom heaven.
But he talked about living herebefore and having to go back to
heaven.
And I said what happened to you?
And he said, mommy, the twolittle tubes that go down to
your tummy.
And I said yeah, and he goes.
Something was wrong with one ofthose and I had to go back.
(05:33):
And I said did you go back toheaven?
And he said yes, and I said didyou see my dad there?
Because his grandpa would bethere, I'm sure.
And he said yes, mommy, I sawgrandpa there.
And I said did he say something?
Because now I'm really curious.
If you were there, I want toknow.
Give me more information.
And he says yeah.
He said someday you will be myson.
(05:54):
And I said, oh, really, okay.
And I go well, what did grandpalook like?
And he said, mommy, he wasbeautiful like a woman.
So I don't know how a threeyear old would know anatomy
first of all, right, because hislife was like tally-tubbies,
basically right, watchingcartoons.
And I don't know how he wouldequate a man to be beautiful
like a woman other than thateverything in heaven must be
(06:15):
just beautiful.
And I remember calling his dadwe were still together at the
time and saying hey, ricky toldme the story about being in
heaven.
And he said Denise, he's an oldsoul.
He said he always knew he wasan old soul.
So that was a pivotal point inmy life because I believed him.
He couldn't have made that up.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Like, where'd you get that from?
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And then I divorced his dad when he was only five.
We had a dysfunctional, like Isaid, he was the best of the
worst that I'd met.
I'd been with him in my lifeand I put my son before him and
before my need to be in arelationship with a man and I
devoted, like I said, my heartand soul into raising a
(07:00):
well-adjusted young kid and Iwasn't about to raise him in a
dysfunctional home and have himdamaged by our dysfunction.
When he was five years old, Iended up divorcing his dad and
that was down.
That was back in 07 and 08 whenthe mortgage crisis happened.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah, the whole economy started taking a shift.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
The market was took a crash and I was in mortgages.
I was doing loans at the time,and so I was out of a job for
about six months, and that wasdevastating.
I didn't have any money, Icouldn't get a job.
They weren't hiring loanofficers, right?
No?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
there's no jobs for you guys.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And I remember having this very vivid dream of my
father, who died when I wasseven.
Came to me in a dream and I waslooking at him as clearly as
I'm looking at you and I wasrecognized the color of his eyes
, the wrinkles in his skin and Ifelt this overwhelming feeling
of love and I remember cryingand he spoke to me and he said
(07:56):
why are you crying?
And I said because I love youso much.
And he said, Denise,everything's going to be OK.
And I woke up crying and stillfeeling that feeling of immense,
intense love.
And looking back at it now Irealized that wasn't my father,
that was Jesus, coming to me inthe image of my father, telling
(08:16):
me at the lowest point in mylife that everything is going to
be OK.
Did I still turn to God at thattime?
Was everything OK?
Did I get through it?
Yes.
Did I turn to God even afterthat experience?
No, I didn't.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That wasn't the moment.
That wasn't the moment.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
No, that wasn't the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So you had that dream , you felt the presence of the
Lord, you felt the love ofChrist, the peace of Christ, and
still continue down the samepath.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Paths destruction.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
The path of destruction and distraction.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Because that's what the enemy is good at.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
He's good at distracting us.
So tell me what, really, atwhat point in that path and in
that journey did you really cometo find crying?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
This is going to be the hard part to talk about
because it's very emotional forme, but when I was 56 years old
in 2015, I got diagnosed withcancer.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
And what kind of cancer?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
It was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and they call that the
silent killer, because by thetime you have symptoms,
typically the cancer is prettywell advanced.
When I got diagnosed I had 32tumors and they were through my
whole entire body.
So when I got the diagnosisthey said you're going to go
through chemotherapy, You've gotthe good kind of cancer.
(09:34):
I didn't know there was a goodkind.
Cancer is cancer, but what doyou mean, the good kind?
And they said there's a 60%cure rate with chemotherapy.
And I said no, I'd rather diethan go through chemotherapy.
So I'm the rebel right that Iam.
I went to a holistic treatmentcenter in San Diego and they did
mind, body and soul healing andI believe that healing is
(09:57):
multifaceted right.
It's not just medicine, it ismind, body and soul.
So I tried to address some ofmy inner demons and I couldn't
even stay the two weeks there.
The cancer flared up and it gotreally painful and I realized I
had no choice but to go throughchemotherapy.
So I left after three days anddrove home and I lived in a
(10:19):
little tiny house and LagunaCanyon as a time and I was all
by myself, estranged from myfamily.
No husband, just my young son,who was 21 at the time, and I
remember really feeling horrible, that I really let God down
because I wasn't going to try tosurvive and I realized at that
time that it wasn't up to mewhether I live or died.
(10:41):
It was up to God gave me lifeand when my days were numbered
and my time is up, he's going totake me home.
So I got down on my hands andknees on the ground and I
screamed out his name and I saidJesus, please save me.
I said I am so sorry that Ididn't want to live because it's
not up to me and please don'ttake me away from my son.
(11:03):
That boy needs me in his lifeand I feared leaving my son more
than the chemotherapy.
So that's when I decided tofight.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Love it.
Yeah, love it.
Obviously that was probably themost pivotal moment in your
life and in the experiences evengoing through the hardships
with losing a father anddivorces and that.
But those are all hard things,those can all be traumatic
experiences, but it tookliterally a death sentence.
(11:36):
It took a death sentence foryou to really call it.
Get on your knees.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Surrender, surrender, surrender.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And just give it to God.
This is your life.
God you gave me life.
I love that.
That's amazing.
So tell me a little bit aboutlike that experience, how I
could only imagine how you werefeeling.
Like, how did you overcomethose emotions and what?
Obviously your son was apivotal piece and component of
(12:04):
the fight and your willpower tocontinue to live.
But, like, how were you feelingduring that time, like when you
got the diagnosis and you wereworking through all of this in
turn?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I will have to say it was devastating.
It was the most devastatingthing I'd ever gone through,
when I was petrified, right, butI call them my God stories.
Every day I would pray, everyday I would wake and thank you,
thank Jesus, that I was alive.
If I had a question, somebodywould come into my life with the
(12:36):
answer Complete strangers.
We lived across from the parkand I had a puppy at the time
and I would walk my dog in thepark and I remember one day I
was worried about the radiationtherapy.
I thought, oh, radiation isgoing to kill me, and I
radiologist.
I ended up meeting her and sheended up talking to me and
whatever question I had, godbrought somebody in my life with
an answer for me.
(12:57):
And I went through chemotherapy.
I was supposed to go throughfour rounds and the cancer was
going to be gone and I, by theway, I never got sick.
I did lose all my hair and myeyelashes and my eyebrows, but I
never once was sick.
And I've talked to people whowere couldn't lift their head
off a pillow during chemo, but Iwas never sick, which was a
miracle.
A miracle.
(13:17):
And after the four rounds ofchemo they said okay, you should
be clear.
I wasn't clear.
I had a partial remission.
I was through two 96 hourinfusions of chemotherapy,
straight infusions, hooked up tothat machine, for a week
straight and I was hospitalizedboth times, never got sick,
walked out of the hospital andwent to work the next day and
(13:40):
then I went in to get the PETscan, thinking oh for sure, now,
right, god has cured me, right.
I know now, after two 96 hoursinfusions, that it's gone.
And so I walked into the examroom and met the doctor and she
couldn't look me in the eye andI knew, when she couldn't look
me in the eye, that it was badnews.
So I said to her I can tell bythe look in your eyes not very
(14:03):
good news.
And she said she just shook herhead, no, and I said what are
you saying?
I have a 21 year old son athome.
And she said you have sixmonths to live, make plans.
And so I was alone there and youwould think, yeah, you would
have thought I would havecrumpled up on the ground in a
ball and cried, but I didn't.
I got angry and I looked at herand I pointed at her like this
(14:24):
and I said I have a question foryou Do you believe in God?
And she looked at the groundand I said no, I demand you
answer me while I'm in this roomand I'm your patient.
I want to know do you believein God?
And she said no.
And I said why?
She said because I'm a medicaldoctor.
I said OK, I'm going to tellyou something.
I believe in God.
(14:44):
Where there's God, there's hope, and I'm going to keep fighting
this disease until there's nomore hope.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And then I got my all of my records and I walked out
and never went back to her Wow,that is phenomenal and good for
you for sharing that and havingthat willpower and that strength
and that time of no hope andfor somebody to give you that
type of information.
That's got to be devastating.
To tell you you have six months, figure out your life and go
(15:14):
live it Like because that's allthe time you got.
I think that's so amazing andit's a little sad cause.
There's so many probably a lotof our viewers right now are out
there that have had similarexperiences and then when you
hear those words from somebodyand you accept that as truth,
like that's gonna kill you aloneif you accept that right.
(15:34):
You're just gonna give up, throwit in the towel and wave your
white flag and say I'm done.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I had a 0.001% chance of survival, so I'm pretty sure
99.9% of the people out therewho got sent home to die are not
sitting here talking to youtoday, and that's why it's so
important for me to let peopleknow that if you surrender to
God and you have the faith andthe wherewithal, he will give
you the wisdom on what to do.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Hey, man, that's so true.
So after that experience, youwalked out.
You said, okay, this fight isnot over, this is not over, I
will continue to fight till theend.
And then what happened?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
The next miracle happened.
Right, it was miracle aftermiracle.
So the next God story is that Iwas in real estate at the time
when I was going through thechemotherapy.
I happened to be talking to aclient and I was too sick to
show the property.
And so I said, ed, I'm reallysorry, I went through chemo
today and I just don't feel upto showing the property.
Do you mind if I just sit inthe car and let the other agent
(16:36):
look at the home?
And he said sure, and so heknew what was going on.
And he said I have this articleI wanna share with you.
But okay, so it was an article,and I'll never forget the dates
.
I was diagnosed in June of 2015,close to the 14th, which was my
birthday.
I was sent home to die inDecember of 2015.
But in October 18th of 2015, hegave me an article that was in
(16:58):
the LA Times about a clinicaltrial that was being held at
UCLA and it was called CART-cell therapy.
It was the first of its kindimmune therapy, where they
actually genetically engineeryourselves to kill the cancer.
And so when he gave me thatarticle in October, I said I'm
gonna hold on to this, just incase, just in case I need it.
(17:18):
But the chemo's gonna work,because they told me you have a
good kind of cancer, chemo'sgonna work.
So then the chemo fell.
So I pull out the article andthen I called the National
Cancer Institute of Technologyand I said, okay, I need to get
in this clinical trial.
And I said who?
What hospital in California hasit?
And there was only two 25across the nation and two in
(17:38):
California.
So I called the first one andthey had the slot filled.
They called it a slot position,right.
And then the next one was UCLA.
So I called UCLA and I said Ineed to talk to whoever's in
charge of clinical trial.
It took me four tries.
They kept putting me on holdand then another person would
get on the phone.
And then they put me on holdand I said listen, I just need
(17:59):
to talk.
I don't have time to I onlyhave six months to live.
I need to talk to somebody whoknows about this trial, please.
And so then the next personthat got on the phone was Dr
Timmerman at UCLA and he wasrunning the clinical trial.
And I said hi, dr Timmerman,I'm Denise Dolatory and I'm the
perfect patient for your CAR Tcell clinical trial, and he
actually laughed at me, rightCause that's not how you get in
(18:22):
a clinical trial, right?
You don't.
The patients don't do theresearch and then call you.
So, anyways, they were enrollingJanuary 18th, failed the
chemotherapy end of December,enrolling in this miraculous
clinical trial January 18th, andI got in, and I had to qualify
to get in too.
So I had to have the perfectblood work and then everything
(18:42):
had to be perfect, right.
So the timing had to be perfect.
I had to live in SouthernCalifornia, how UCLA had to have
the trial.
It had to come about right whenthe chemotherapy failed, and
then that doctor had to answerthe phone.
Right, I had to have thetenacity to not say take no for
an answer and get through tothat man.
So I was the first patient inthe clinical trial, and that was
(19:05):
in April, I think.
I went through the clinicaltrial of 2016 and eight years
later, here I am.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Here you are, here I am the walking miracle.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It is a walking miracle.
It's a miracle.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Some divine appointments right, Like we
discussed before.
Divine timing and just allGod's timing.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
It's God's timing right and I always wanted to
tell my story from a spiritualaspect.
I've done a lot of interviewsabout the medical technology,
but I know that if it wasn't forGod, I wouldn't be here.
First of all, he gave me thewill to live.
He brought me a miracle childinto my life, and he kept giving
(19:45):
me signs all along the way.
I just wasn't listening.
And so my son said to me Mom,do you think, are you mad at God
for giving you cancer?
And I said no, honey, becausecancer was the best thing that
ever happened to me.
It changed my entire life.
Yeah, the best thing that everhappened.
I never thought I would saythose words, but it I was slowly
killing myself and I'm not thesame person that I was before I
(20:07):
got cancer.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
That's incredible Renewed hope, renewed faith,
renewed relationships.
I'm sure I could only imagineyour perspective now and tell me
a little bit.
You've got to have moreappreciation for the times you
do have with your boy and withyour friends and the rest of
your family.
It's got to just be such adifferent lens you're looking
through right.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yes, the veil has been lifted and my eyes have
been open to the Lord, our God.
Every morning, when I get up, Ilook at the sky and I say thank
you, jesus.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
That's the first thing that I do.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
And if I don't say it first thing in the morning, I
say it later in the day and sayoops, sorry, I didn't tell you.
I read a passage every morning.
Now I have two dogs that I walkevery morning and there's a
yellow rose bush on my path tothe park and I always stop and
smell the flowers.
The sky looks a little bluer tome now.
The ocean is a little bit bluer.
I look at the fresh grassgrowing.
(21:03):
We get so caught up in all thethings going on in the world
that we don't look at all thelittle tiny things that are the
miracles, the beauty that Godhas provided to us on this earth
.
And I know now that when mytime does come, that I am going
to go to spend eternity inheaven with the Lord, and I
already know how beautifulheaven is going to be, because I
(21:24):
felt that immense love it'shard for me to talk about and
put into words, because thatfeeling of God's love is so
powerful and so immense.
So it's just, my eyes have beenopened to the beauty of God's
love.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, and it all came through relationship right.
And what I love about yourstory is it wasn't somebody
coming smacking you around witha Bible telling you hey, you got
to do this, you got to go tochurch, you got to follow these
commandments or anything likethat.
It was through your personalexperience, your personal
testimony and what God hadallowed you to go through right,
(22:04):
because God allowed it for thebuilding of your character and
truly of your faith, which isthe essence of life, when you
look at it like that's why we'rehere is to build in our faith,
share our personal testimoniesand to be a person who
encourages and inspires andmotivates other people to grow
(22:24):
closer in their relationshipwith God, our creator.
And so I love that.
So tell me now what, speakingof purpose, what is your new
purpose?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, while you were talking, I was thinking about it
and I just wanted to say itlike out loud that I think God
not only did he give me renewedhope, right and faith and
inspiration.
What I want to do is offer thatto other people.
Now I have this burning desirevery down deep inside to offer
hope and inspiration to otherpeople.
(22:53):
I'm starting a little website.
It's going to be calledCalifornia Cancer Connection.
I'm looking for funding now andfiguring a way to get that up
and running, but I want to offera resource to cancer patients,
because it is such a devastatingthing to hear the word cancer.
You all think you think you'regoing to die, whether they tell
you are not.
A good percentage of peopledon't make it right, especially
(23:14):
a lot of children too.
But there's a lot of resourcesout there.
I happen to be very resourcefuland I'd like to be able to help
other people.
That's my goal now.
I am a realtor and I probablyalways will be a realtor, but my
hope and dream is to be able toinspire and give other people
hope when they feel that thereis none.
If I can do it, they can do it.
(23:36):
If I can do it, you can do it.
And healing is multifaceted.
It is a mind, body, soul,experience.
I would absolutely not have hadthe will to survive if God
hadn't been present in my life,through even the turmoil that I
went through, the loss of myfather, the end of my marriage,
(23:56):
but the birth of my son and himtalking about being in heaven,
those are things that you justcan't make up.
Those are undeniable signs fromthe Lord.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah, it's true, it's very true, and that's why we
started this podcast so that wecan hear amazing stories and
testimonies like this and getthe perspectives that people
don't really hear too often.
I truly feel that's what we'recalled to do is to share our
personal testimonies.
We're not here to go preach atpeople and tell them why they
(24:26):
have to do this or why they haveto do that.
I think we're here to share ourstories and what God has truly
done in our lives and how he'stransformed our hearts.
And your story is just verytouching, amazing.
So many God things happen inyour life.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
My God stories.
I had miracle after miracle andI think, god, sometimes we need
to quiet our mind.
That's what I've learned.
We need to quiet our mindsbecause we're so busy, right,
and you can't hear God speak toyou.
When you're constantly yourmind is going right, you need to
just quiet your mind, andsometimes he speaks in a whisper
(25:00):
.
I didn't listen to the whisper.
He had to give me a deathsentence for me to listen to him
.
But I would prefer for peopleto try to learn from my mistakes
right In my horrific experienceand not have to go to that
point to turn to God.
It would my life would havebeen entirely different if I had
known him sooner.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I know that for a fact your path was not something
that you planned, but God knewwhat was happening and he
brought you home right.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
And he's gonna bring you home home one day, and in
his timing, and the doctordoesn't get to say when that
clock that's right and overthat's absolutely right and I
can't tell you how many peopleI've talked to you who who have
lost all hope because of theirdoctor.
As a matter of fact, threeyears after they sent me home to
die, that hospital called me tocheck up on me and I asked to
(25:51):
speak to the medical directorand I said you hadn't, she had
no right telling me that.
And he said what was themessage that you want to get
through to me, denise?
And I said that woman had noright taking away my hope.
Just because she didn't believein God Doesn't mean that I don't
believe in God.
And where there's God, there'shope.
Hope is the anchor of the soul.
So I I may say, were you angrywith her?
(26:11):
People say you should call andtell.
I said no, I pray for herbecause she doesn't believe in
God and she's gonna have atragedy in her life we all do,
and she's who is she gonna turnto?
So I do pray for her.
I have no animosity or hatredin my heart for anyone, because
that's of the devil.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Okay, that's right, I love that.
You said healing is Mind, bodyand soul, and that is so true.
And it all begins in the mind.
That's right and that's rude.
That's where the enemy wants toattack.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
That's right.
That's his little tools and hislittle tactics, and the devil
is the great deceiver.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
That's right.
Get in the mind and then I cancontrol.
That's right here I can controland that's not of God.
Fears not of God.
And another thing that youmentioned to was Quieting our
mind.
The Lord says to be still andknow that I am God, and that is
so important.
I've experienced in my ownpersonal life and personal
(27:08):
testimony is that when you'restill and you quiet your mind
and you go just spend time withGod, getting out in natures, the
best thing you can do get awayfrom the distractions, away from
the computer, your phone, turnit off, get away from all of it.
Go spend some time with God andhe'll speak to you.
He will open up his word andhe'll speak to you.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
It's absolutely true.
There's so much dad going on inthe world today, but I feel that
there's a lot of hope in a lotof good too, and I think what's
happening right now is a lot ofpeople are becoming more aware
of God, and that's what we needright now.
We need stories of hope, weneed stories of perseverance.
Faith is something you have topractice every day.
That's one thing that I'velearned.
(27:50):
It takes practice, and it'sokay if you mess up, it's okay
if you make a mistake, it's okayif you fall into that old
pattern of behavior and thinking, because we're all human, right
, but you have to practice andand believe and know, and the
knowing is what gives you thestrength to endure, the knowing
(28:10):
that God is there and he's notgonna let you fall.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
That's right.
The Bible says faith is asubstance of things hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.
That's right.
Faith is a substance of thingshoped for and the evidence of
things not seen, and you have alot of experience of the unseen,
and that faith has given youthe hope right, and so it's just
super amazing.
So what is your biggestencouragement as we we get ready
(28:36):
to wrap this up?
What's your biggestencouragement to somebody who's
going through Cancer?
Maybe they just got a diagnosis, maybe they've been living with
cancer for years.
What is your biggestencouragement to them?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I think that the thing that I struggled with I
think the most is like we worryabout the unknown.
You need to hand your cares toGod, and I am grateful for every
single day, every moment.
I think God wants us to begrateful and just acknowledging
him on a daily basis, and I doread a passage of the Bible
every morning and I just startmy day out thanking Jesus.
(29:11):
He will give you the strengthif you ask and just whisper his
name.
I cried out pretty loud, jesus,pretty darn loud.
But if you just whisper hisname and have the faith of a
mustard seed, that's all youneed to endure.
God will take care of you.
He placed his hand on me.
There is no doubt in my mindthat God has his hand on me and
(29:35):
when you know that and you'rewalking hand in hand with God,
you can endure anything you wentto school to be a model, I
believe.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Is that is that right ?
Okay, yes, I did.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
I was a rebel and I left home.
When I was 18 and I grew up ina little country, cow Put it on
town and I went straight toMiami to fashion college right
to become a model.
I never made it.
It was never a Christi Brinkley.
I think Christi Brinkley wasthe model of that era.
But when I turned 61, I madethe cover of Cancer Health
magazine Amazing and I said Godmust have a good sense of humor
(30:06):
because I never thought I'd beon the cover of magazine at 61
years of age.
So he does have a good sense ofhumor as well.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
That is awesome.
That's amazing, and you'reright, he does have a sense of
humor.
He created humor.
It is fascinating to see how hecan breathe things.
That was a miracle.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Let me tell you, being on the cover of a magazine
at 61 was a miracle, and thatalso gave hope and inspiration
because it was distributedacross the whole United States.
So it was in waiting roomswhere people could read my story
.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Amazing.
That's amazing, and your storyis still going strong.
It's going to go even strongerand I'm confident that the more
you continue to press into yourpurpose your new found goals and
your vision for this newcompany and website and really
building and bridging those gapsin relationships for other
cancer patients and helping themfind hope through Christ is
(30:57):
only going to glorify andmagnify God more, but it's also
going to push you to a nextlevel in your faith.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Thank you so much for having me and listening to my
story.
It was all in God's timing,right 100%.
It took eight years for me totell my story and, by the way, I
had one tiny little tumor thatkind of never went away, and in
September of this last year Igot the all clear.
So I'd been really really stillfighting the disease, and so
(31:25):
the thing.
The other thing is to bepatient.
I learned to be patient.
It took eight years, but Inever gave up the hope and faith
in God that there wouldeventually be an all clear.
You only need one person inyour life and that's God.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
You only need one person in your life, and that's
God.
We put our faith and trust inpeople, and they're going to let
us down sometimes out of 10.
We're sinful as just our nature.
It's okay, right, because JesusChrist died on the cross for
our sins and he's here torestore us and have a
relationship with us and reallybridge that gap of our
(31:58):
brokenness and fill that void inour hearts.
And so you're right, 100%.
We just need one person andthat's.
That's God, awesome.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast.
Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (32:10):
If you just Google my name, Denise Delatory, you can
find me.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Any social media channels.
I'm starting a.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
YouTube channel, but I haven't gotten there quite yet
.
Again, I'm just trying to waitfor God to give me the answers
on the next thing to do, because, now that I've surrendered to
him, I don't always know what'sbest or what's next.
So I'm just waiting for him toopen the next door for me.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Patience is a virtue.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, I learned that I learned to be patient.
I never used to be very patient.
Most people in California arenot very patient people right
but I have learned to be patientand trust, yeah, so I'm not
quite sure what's next.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
All right, I love it.
I'm excited to continue tofollow your journey.
Thank you, and continue to seehow God uses you for his kingdom
.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
And I wish you all the best too, and if I can come
back, maybe I'll have even moremiracles to talk about at a
later date.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
We will definitely have you back on at some point,
so we'd love that.
Thank you, guys for tuning into the Feeling Faith podcast,
where we encourage, inspire andmotivate people to grow closer
in their relationship with Godand share their personal
testimonies.
Make sure to follow us,subscribe and tune into the next
one.
We'll see you there.
How's it going, family and friends?
I'm here on the Feeling Faithpodcast, where we encourage,
inspire and motivate people toshare their testimonies for
Christ.
I'm here with Denise Dallatory.
She has a phenomenal story.
I'm so excited to hear it.
How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm doing great.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm fantastic.
Thank you for making the driveout here.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate it yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So you have a phenomenal testimony.
I've only heard a little bit ofit.
I know there's a whole biggerpiece in art to it, but let's
start at the beginning.
Tell me a little bit about yourupbringing.
What was your life like in yourbeginning, early stages of
development, and did you haveany influence of Christ early on
(00:42):
in your life?
Let's start from square one.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
All right, I was raised in a really small town in
upstate New York and I wasraised Catholic.
Of course I went to church, butas a young person back then
especially I'm 63.
So they wrote, they readdirectly from the Bible and it
wasn't relatable to me as ayoung person.
And so I was raised with Christand belief in God, but I didn't
(01:06):
really practice my religion.
And my child, who was prettytraumatic my dad died when I was
seven and it was a car trainaccident.
So it was horrific and Iremember him leaving to go to
work that morning and I wasstanding at the window as a
little girl and I said goodbyeto him, but I didn't kiss him
goodbye that day and he nevercame back.
(01:28):
And from that point forward, mylife it was devastating for me.
I was raised by my mom.
She was a single parent and wehad a tumultuous relationship
and I left home at a young ageand never looked back.
And had God been in my life andmy father, my biological father
, been there for me, I'm sure mylife would have been a lot
(01:50):
easier.
But I was a rebel and I lookedto.
I got myself in bad situationslet's put it that way with
people who were looking out formy best interest, so it was hard
.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
The father figure, as we all know, is a very
important piece in every familydynamic, and so the lack of
having your father there and hispresence had led you to a
little bit of lack of discipline, I'm sure.
And allowed you to go a littlemore on the disobedience side of
the spectrum and severaldysfunctional relationships with
(02:22):
men because I didn't have myfather there.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
My first husband, my love of my life.
I fell in love with him in myearly 20s and he ended up dying.
He became addicted to drugs andI lost him and that was a
devastating.
And then I met my son's dad andI always say he was the best of
the worst.
Forgive me, Henry, I can'tlisten.
(02:47):
But he was a really good guy.
When my son was born, Idetermined to be the mother that
I never had and I was going tobe the best parent that I could
and nurture that young man.
And we had a dysfunctionalmarriage and I ended up leaving
him and when my son was onlyfive, again.
It was a struggle.
I struggled through my wholelife with no guidance and no
(03:08):
family there to support me.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
During that time you weren't aware of the lack of
guidance, the lack of supportand the influence that having a
father and those relationshipsthat really helped build
character and build us andcreate us into who we are.
So how did your upbringing leadyou into a place where you
(03:31):
found Christ and found like areal relationship with God?
Tell me a little bit about yourstory and what was it.
What was that critical moment?
Where you were like God, I needyou.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
God was always there.
He was always knocking at thedoor, he was always trying to
get my attention that I wasn'tpaying attention, right, god
gave us free will, and so Iremember one time one of the
women that I knew from church.
She said to me you have tosurrender.
And I said I can't surrender.
That's a sign of weakness,right?
I didn't understand whatsurrendering to God really meant
(04:06):
.
So I think one of the pivotalpoints in my life was when I
gave birth to my son.
I didn't expect to have a child.
We had a child right after wegot married, and when I held
that baby in my arms it was justso much love, like a miracle.
It was a miracle.
And I remember crying in thenurse coming in and going, oh no
(04:26):
, why the tears?
And I'm like he's so beautifuland she goes oh good, because
many women have post-traumaticstress syndrome and things like
that.
But they don't come out sogreat looking, honestly, they
come out funny looking, but hewas the most beautiful thing I'd
ever seen.
And from that day forward I hadpurpose.
I had a reason to take care ofmyself, because I had to be the
(04:49):
best mother to that little boy,and so that was a pivotal point
in my life.
And then, at the age of three,he told me about living here
before and having to go back toheaven.
And I asked him about thatbecause I didn't want to deter
him, because I knew he wasspecial.
He was born with this big cleftin his chin, right here.
He had a big dimple and when hewas born the nurse said, oh
(05:12):
look, he's been touched by anangel and I believe that he was
sent by God.
He was sent to me as a giftfrom heaven.
But he talked about living herebefore and having to go back to
heaven.
And I said what happened to you?
And he said, mommy, the twolittle tubes that go down to
your tummy.
And I said yeah, and he goes.
Something was wrong with one ofthose and I had to go back.
(05:33):
And I said did you go back toheaven?
And he said yes, and I said didyou see my dad there?
Because his grandpa would bethere, I'm sure.
And he said yes, mommy, I sawgrandpa there.
And I said did he say something?
Because now I'm really curious.
If you were there, I want toknow.
Give me more information.
And he says yeah.
He said someday you will be myson.
(05:54):
And I said, oh, really, okay.
And I go well, what did grandpalook like?
And he said, mommy, he wasbeautiful like a woman.
So I don't know how a threeyear old would know anatomy
first of all, right, because hislife was like tally-tubbies,
basically right, watchingcartoons.
And I don't know how he wouldequate a man to be beautiful
like a woman other than thateverything in heaven must be
(06:15):
just beautiful.
And I remember calling his dadwe were still together at the
time and saying hey, ricky toldme the story about being in
heaven.
And he said Denise, he's an oldsoul.
He said he always knew he wasan old soul.
So that was a pivotal point inmy life because I believed him.
He couldn't have made that up.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Like, where'd you get that from?
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And then I divorced his dad when he was only five.
We had a dysfunctional, like Isaid, he was the best of the
worst that I'd met.
I'd been with him in my lifeand I put my son before him and
before my need to be in arelationship with a man and I
devoted, like I said, my heartand soul into raising a
(07:00):
well-adjusted young kid and Iwasn't about to raise him in a
dysfunctional home and have himdamaged by our dysfunction.
When he was five years old, Iended up divorcing his dad and
that was down.
That was back in 07 and 08 whenthe mortgage crisis happened.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah, the whole economy started taking a shift.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
The market was took a crash and I was in mortgages.
I was doing loans at the time,and so I was out of a job for
about six months, and that wasdevastating.
I didn't have any money, Icouldn't get a job.
They weren't hiring loanofficers, right?
No?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
there's no jobs for you guys.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And I remember having this very vivid dream of my
father, who died when I wasseven.
Came to me in a dream and I waslooking at him as clearly as
I'm looking at you and I wasrecognized the color of his eyes
, the wrinkles in his skin and Ifelt this overwhelming feeling
of love and I remember cryingand he spoke to me and he said
(07:56):
why are you crying?
And I said because I love youso much.
And he said, Denise,everything's going to be OK.
And I woke up crying and stillfeeling that feeling of immense,
intense love.
And looking back at it now Irealized that wasn't my father,
that was Jesus, coming to me inthe image of my father, telling
(08:16):
me at the lowest point in mylife that everything is going to
be OK.
Did I still turn to God at thattime?
Was everything OK?
Did I get through it?
Yes.
Did I turn to God even afterthat experience?
No, I didn't.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That wasn't the moment.
That wasn't the moment.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
No, that wasn't the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So you had that dream , you felt the presence of the
Lord, you felt the love ofChrist, the peace of Christ, and
still continue down the samepath.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Paths destruction.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
The path of destruction and distraction.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Because that's what the enemy is good at.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
He's good at distracting us.
So tell me what, really, atwhat point in that path and in
that journey did you really cometo find crying?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
This is going to be the hard part to talk about
because it's very emotional forme, but when I was 56 years old
in 2015, I got diagnosed withcancer.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
And what kind of cancer?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
It was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and they call that the
silent killer, because by thetime you have symptoms,
typically the cancer is prettywell advanced.
When I got diagnosed I had 32tumors and they were through my
whole entire body.
So when I got the diagnosisthey said you're going to go
through chemotherapy, You've gotthe good kind of cancer.
(09:34):
I didn't know there was a goodkind.
Cancer is cancer, but what doyou mean, the good kind?
And they said there's a 60%cure rate with chemotherapy.
And I said no, I'd rather diethan go through chemotherapy.
So I'm the rebel right that Iam.
I went to a holistic treatmentcenter in San Diego and they did
mind, body and soul healing andI believe that healing is
(09:57):
multifaceted right.
It's not just medicine, it ismind, body and soul.
So I tried to address some ofmy inner demons and I couldn't
even stay the two weeks there.
The cancer flared up and it gotreally painful and I realized I
had no choice but to go throughchemotherapy.
So I left after three days anddrove home and I lived in a
(10:19):
little tiny house and LagunaCanyon as a time and I was all
by myself, estranged from myfamily.
No husband, just my young son,who was 21 at the time, and I
remember really feeling horrible, that I really let God down
because I wasn't going to try tosurvive and I realized at that
time that it wasn't up to mewhether I live or died.
(10:41):
It was up to God gave me lifeand when my days were numbered
and my time is up, he's going totake me home.
So I got down on my hands andknees on the ground and I
screamed out his name and I saidJesus, please save me.
I said I am so sorry that Ididn't want to live because it's
not up to me and please don'ttake me away from my son.
(11:03):
That boy needs me in his lifeand I feared leaving my son more
than the chemotherapy.
So that's when I decided tofight.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Love it.
Yeah, love it.
Obviously that was probably themost pivotal moment in your
life and in the experiences evengoing through the hardships
with losing a father anddivorces and that.
But those are all hard things,those can all be traumatic
experiences, but it tookliterally a death sentence.
(11:36):
It took a death sentence foryou to really call it.
Get on your knees.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Surrender, surrender, surrender.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And just give it to God.
This is your life.
God you gave me life.
I love that.
That's amazing.
So tell me a little bit aboutlike that experience, how I
could only imagine how you werefeeling.
Like, how did you overcomethose emotions and what?
Obviously your son was apivotal piece and component of
(12:04):
the fight and your willpower tocontinue to live.
But, like, how were you feelingduring that time, like when you
got the diagnosis and you wereworking through all of this in
turn?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I will have to say it was devastating.
It was the most devastatingthing I'd ever gone through,
when I was petrified, right, butI call them my God stories.
Every day I would pray, everyday I would wake and thank you,
thank Jesus, that I was alive.
If I had a question, somebodywould come into my life with the
(12:36):
answer Complete strangers.
We lived across from the parkand I had a puppy at the time
and I would walk my dog in thepark and I remember one day I
was worried about the radiationtherapy.
I thought, oh, radiation isgoing to kill me, and I
radiologist.
I ended up meeting her and sheended up talking to me and
whatever question I had, godbrought somebody in my life with
an answer for me.
(12:57):
And I went through chemotherapy.
I was supposed to go throughfour rounds and the cancer was
going to be gone and I, by theway, I never got sick.
I did lose all my hair and myeyelashes and my eyebrows, but I
never once was sick.
And I've talked to people whowere couldn't lift their head
off a pillow during chemo, but Iwas never sick, which was a
miracle.
A miracle.
(13:17):
And after the four rounds ofchemo they said okay, you should
be clear.
I wasn't clear.
I had a partial remission.
I was through two 96 hourinfusions of chemotherapy,
straight infusions, hooked up tothat machine, for a week
straight and I was hospitalizedboth times, never got sick,
walked out of the hospital andwent to work the next day and
(13:40):
then I went in to get the PETscan, thinking oh for sure, now,
right, god has cured me, right.
I know now, after two 96 hoursinfusions, that it's gone.
And so I walked into the examroom and met the doctor and she
couldn't look me in the eye andI knew, when she couldn't look
me in the eye, that it was badnews.
So I said to her I can tell bythe look in your eyes not very
(14:03):
good news.
And she said she just shook herhead, no, and I said what are
you saying?
I have a 21 year old son athome.
And she said you have sixmonths to live, make plans.
And so I was alone there and youwould think, yeah, you would
have thought I would havecrumpled up on the ground in a
ball and cried, but I didn't.
I got angry and I looked at herand I pointed at her like this
(14:24):
and I said I have a question foryou Do you believe in God?
And she looked at the groundand I said no, I demand you
answer me while I'm in this roomand I'm your patient.
I want to know do you believein God?
And she said no.
And I said why?
She said because I'm a medicaldoctor.
I said OK, I'm going to tellyou something.
I believe in God.
(14:44):
Where there's God, there's hope, and I'm going to keep fighting
this disease until there's nomore hope.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And then I got my all of my records and I walked out
and never went back to her Wow,that is phenomenal and good for
you for sharing that and havingthat willpower and that strength
and that time of no hope andfor somebody to give you that
type of information.
That's got to be devastating.
To tell you you have six months, figure out your life and go
(15:14):
live it Like because that's allthe time you got.
I think that's so amazing andit's a little sad cause.
There's so many probably a lotof our viewers right now are out
there that have had similarexperiences and then when you
hear those words from somebodyand you accept that as truth,
like that's gonna kill you aloneif you accept that right.
(15:34):
You're just gonna give up, throwit in the towel and wave your
white flag and say I'm done.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I had a 0.001% chance of survival, so I'm pretty sure
99.9% of the people out therewho got sent home to die are not
sitting here talking to youtoday, and that's why it's so
important for me to let peopleknow that if you surrender to
God and you have the faith andthe wherewithal, he will give
you the wisdom on what to do.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Hey, man, that's so true.
So after that experience, youwalked out.
You said, okay, this fight isnot over, this is not over, I
will continue to fight till theend.
And then what happened?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
The next miracle happened.
Right, it was miracle aftermiracle.
So the next God story is that Iwas in real estate at the time
when I was going through thechemotherapy.
I happened to be talking to aclient and I was too sick to
show the property.
And so I said, ed, I'm reallysorry, I went through chemo
today and I just don't feel upto showing the property.
Do you mind if I just sit inthe car and let the other agent
(16:36):
look at the home?
And he said sure, and so heknew what was going on.
And he said I have this articleI wanna share with you.
But okay, so it was an article,and I'll never forget the dates
.
I was diagnosed in June of 2015,close to the 14th, which was my
birthday.
I was sent home to die inDecember of 2015.
But in October 18th of 2015, hegave me an article that was in
(16:58):
the LA Times about a clinicaltrial that was being held at
UCLA and it was called CART-cell therapy.
It was the first of its kindimmune therapy, where they
actually genetically engineeryourselves to kill the cancer.
And so when he gave me thatarticle in October, I said I'm
gonna hold on to this, just incase, just in case I need it.
(17:18):
But the chemo's gonna work,because they told me you have a
good kind of cancer, chemo'sgonna work.
So then the chemo fell.
So I pull out the article andthen I called the National
Cancer Institute of Technologyand I said, okay, I need to get
in this clinical trial.
And I said who?
What hospital in California hasit?
And there was only two 25across the nation and two in
(17:38):
California.
So I called the first one andthey had the slot filled.
They called it a slot position,right.
And then the next one was UCLA.
So I called UCLA and I said Ineed to talk to whoever's in
charge of clinical trial.
It took me four tries.
They kept putting me on holdand then another person would
get on the phone.
And then they put me on holdand I said listen, I just need
(17:59):
to talk.
I don't have time to I onlyhave six months to live.
I need to talk to somebody whoknows about this trial, please.
And so then the next personthat got on the phone was Dr
Timmerman at UCLA and he wasrunning the clinical trial.
And I said hi, dr Timmerman,I'm Denise Dolatory and I'm the
perfect patient for your CAR Tcell clinical trial, and he
actually laughed at me, rightCause that's not how you get in
(18:22):
a clinical trial, right?
You don't.
The patients don't do theresearch and then call you.
So, anyways, they were enrollingJanuary 18th, failed the
chemotherapy end of December,enrolling in this miraculous
clinical trial January 18th, andI got in, and I had to qualify
to get in too.
So I had to have the perfectblood work and then everything
(18:42):
had to be perfect, right.
So the timing had to be perfect.
I had to live in SouthernCalifornia, how UCLA had to have
the trial.
It had to come about right whenthe chemotherapy failed, and
then that doctor had to answerthe phone.
Right, I had to have thetenacity to not say take no for
an answer and get through tothat man.
So I was the first patient inthe clinical trial, and that was
(19:05):
in April, I think.
I went through the clinicaltrial of 2016 and eight years
later, here I am.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Here you are, here I am the walking miracle.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It is a walking miracle.
It's a miracle.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Some divine appointments right, Like we
discussed before.
Divine timing and just allGod's timing.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
It's God's timing right and I always wanted to
tell my story from a spiritualaspect.
I've done a lot of interviewsabout the medical technology,
but I know that if it wasn't forGod, I wouldn't be here.
First of all, he gave me thewill to live.
He brought me a miracle childinto my life, and he kept giving
(19:45):
me signs all along the way.
I just wasn't listening.
And so my son said to me Mom,do you think, are you mad at God
for giving you cancer?
And I said no, honey, becausecancer was the best thing that
ever happened to me.
It changed my entire life.
Yeah, the best thing that everhappened.
I never thought I would saythose words, but it I was slowly
killing myself and I'm not thesame person that I was before I
(20:07):
got cancer.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
That's incredible Renewed hope, renewed faith,
renewed relationships.
I'm sure I could only imagineyour perspective now and tell me
a little bit.
You've got to have moreappreciation for the times you
do have with your boy and withyour friends and the rest of
your family.
It's got to just be such adifferent lens you're looking
through right.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yes, the veil has been lifted and my eyes have
been open to the Lord, our God.
Every morning, when I get up, Ilook at the sky and I say thank
you, jesus.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
That's the first thing that I do.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
And if I don't say it first thing in the morning, I
say it later in the day and sayoops, sorry, I didn't tell you.
I read a passage every morning.
Now I have two dogs that I walkevery morning and there's a
yellow rose bush on my path tothe park and I always stop and
smell the flowers.
The sky looks a little bluer tome now.
The ocean is a little bit bluer.
I look at the fresh grassgrowing.
(21:03):
We get so caught up in all thethings going on in the world
that we don't look at all thelittle tiny things that are the
miracles, the beauty that Godhas provided to us on this earth
.
And I know now that when mytime does come, that I am going
to go to spend eternity inheaven with the Lord, and I
already know how beautifulheaven is going to be, because I
(21:24):
felt that immense love it'shard for me to talk about and
put into words, because thatfeeling of God's love is so
powerful and so immense.
So it's just, my eyes have beenopened to the beauty of God's
love.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, and it all came through relationship right.
And what I love about yourstory is it wasn't somebody
coming smacking you around witha Bible telling you hey, you got
to do this, you got to go tochurch, you got to follow these
commandments or anything likethat.
It was through your personalexperience, your personal
testimony and what God hadallowed you to go through right,
(22:04):
because God allowed it for thebuilding of your character and
truly of your faith, which isthe essence of life, when you
look at it like that's why we'rehere is to build in our faith,
share our personal testimoniesand to be a person who
encourages and inspires andmotivates other people to grow
(22:24):
closer in their relationshipwith God, our creator.
And so I love that.
So tell me now what, speakingof purpose, what is your new
purpose?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, while you were talking, I was thinking about it
and I just wanted to say itlike out loud that I think God
not only did he give me renewedhope, right and faith and
inspiration.
What I want to do is offer thatto other people.
Now I have this burning desirevery down deep inside to offer
hope and inspiration to otherpeople.
(22:53):
I'm starting a little website.
It's going to be calledCalifornia Cancer Connection.
I'm looking for funding now andfiguring a way to get that up
and running, but I want to offera resource to cancer patients,
because it is such a devastatingthing to hear the word cancer.
You all think you think you'regoing to die, whether they tell
you are not.
A good percentage of peopledon't make it right, especially
(23:14):
a lot of children too.
But there's a lot of resourcesout there.
I happen to be very resourcefuland I'd like to be able to help
other people.
That's my goal now.
I am a realtor and I probablyalways will be a realtor, but my
hope and dream is to be able toinspire and give other people
hope when they feel that thereis none.
If I can do it, they can do it.
(23:36):
If I can do it, you can do it.
And healing is multifaceted.
It is a mind, body, soul,experience.
I would absolutely not have hadthe will to survive if God
hadn't been present in my life,through even the turmoil that I
went through, the loss of myfather, the end of my marriage,
(23:56):
but the birth of my son and himtalking about being in heaven,
those are things that you justcan't make up.
Those are undeniable signs fromthe Lord.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah, it's true, it's very true, and that's why we
started this podcast so that wecan hear amazing stories and
testimonies like this and getthe perspectives that people
don't really hear too often.
I truly feel that's what we'recalled to do is to share our
personal testimonies.
We're not here to go preach atpeople and tell them why they
(24:26):
have to do this or why they haveto do that.
I think we're here to share ourstories and what God has truly
done in our lives and how he'stransformed our hearts.
And your story is just verytouching, amazing.
So many God things happen inyour life.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
My God stories.
I had miracle after miracle andI think, god, sometimes we need
to quiet our mind.
That's what I've learned.
We need to quiet our mindsbecause we're so busy, right,
and you can't hear God speak toyou.
When you're constantly yourmind is going right, you need to
just quiet your mind, andsometimes he speaks in a whisper
(25:00):
.
I didn't listen to the whisper.
He had to give me a deathsentence for me to listen to him
.
But I would prefer for peopleto try to learn from my mistakes
right In my horrific experienceand not have to go to that
point to turn to God.
It would my life would havebeen entirely different if I had
known him sooner.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I know that for a fact your path was not something
that you planned, but God knewwhat was happening and he
brought you home right.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
And he's gonna bring you home home one day, and in
his timing, and the doctordoesn't get to say when that
clock that's right and overthat's absolutely right and I
can't tell you how many peopleI've talked to you who who have
lost all hope because of theirdoctor.
As a matter of fact, threeyears after they sent me home to
die, that hospital called me tocheck up on me and I asked to
(25:51):
speak to the medical directorand I said you hadn't, she had
no right telling me that.
And he said what was themessage that you want to get
through to me, denise?
And I said that woman had noright taking away my hope.
Just because she didn't believein God Doesn't mean that I don't
believe in God.
And where there's God, there'shope.
Hope is the anchor of the soul.
So I I may say, were you angrywith her?
(26:11):
People say you should call andtell.
I said no, I pray for herbecause she doesn't believe in
God and she's gonna have atragedy in her life we all do,
and she's who is she gonna turnto?
So I do pray for her.
I have no animosity or hatredin my heart for anyone, because
that's of the devil.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Okay, that's right, I love that.
You said healing is Mind, bodyand soul, and that is so true.
And it all begins in the mind.
That's right and that's rude.
That's where the enemy wants toattack.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
That's right.
That's his little tools and hislittle tactics, and the devil
is the great deceiver.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
That's right.
Get in the mind and then I cancontrol.
That's right here I can controland that's not of God.
Fears not of God.
And another thing that youmentioned to was Quieting our
mind.
The Lord says to be still andknow that I am God, and that is
so important.
I've experienced in my ownpersonal life and personal
(27:08):
testimony is that when you'restill and you quiet your mind
and you go just spend time withGod, getting out in natures, the
best thing you can do get awayfrom the distractions, away from
the computer, your phone, turnit off, get away from all of it.
Go spend some time with God andhe'll speak to you.
He will open up his word andhe'll speak to you.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
It's absolutely true.
There's so much dad going on inthe world today, but I feel that
there's a lot of hope in a lotof good too, and I think what's
happening right now is a lot ofpeople are becoming more aware
of God, and that's what we needright now.
We need stories of hope, weneed stories of perseverance.
Faith is something you have topractice every day.
That's one thing that I'velearned.
(27:50):
It takes practice, and it'sokay if you mess up, it's okay
if you make a mistake, it's okayif you fall into that old
pattern of behavior and thinking, because we're all human, right
, but you have to practice andand believe and know, and the
knowing is what gives you thestrength to endure, the knowing
(28:10):
that God is there and he's notgonna let you fall.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
That's right.
The Bible says faith is asubstance of things hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.
That's right.
Faith is a substance of thingshoped for and the evidence of
things not seen, and you have alot of experience of the unseen,
and that faith has given youthe hope right, and so it's just
super amazing.
So what is your biggestencouragement as we we get ready
(28:36):
to wrap this up?
What's your biggestencouragement to somebody who's
going through Cancer?
Maybe they just got a diagnosis, maybe they've been living with
cancer for years.
What is your biggestencouragement to them?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I think that the thing that I struggled with I
think the most is like we worryabout the unknown.
You need to hand your cares toGod, and I am grateful for every
single day, every moment.
I think God wants us to begrateful and just acknowledging
him on a daily basis, and I doread a passage of the Bible
every morning and I just startmy day out thanking Jesus.
(29:11):
He will give you the strengthif you ask and just whisper his
name.
I cried out pretty loud, jesus,pretty darn loud.
But if you just whisper hisname and have the faith of a
mustard seed, that's all youneed to endure.
God will take care of you.
He placed his hand on me.
There is no doubt in my mindthat God has his hand on me and
(29:35):
when you know that and you'rewalking hand in hand with God,
you can endure anything you wentto school to be a model, I
believe.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Is that is that right ?
Okay, yes, I did.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
I was a rebel and I left home.
When I was 18 and I grew up ina little country, cow Put it on
town and I went straight toMiami to fashion college right
to become a model.
I never made it.
It was never a Christi Brinkley.
I think Christi Brinkley wasthe model of that era.
But when I turned 61, I madethe cover of Cancer Health
magazine Amazing and I said Godmust have a good sense of humor
(30:06):
because I never thought I'd beon the cover of magazine at 61
years of age.
So he does have a good sense ofhumor as well.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
That is awesome.
That's amazing, and you'reright, he does have a sense of
humor.
He created humor.
It is fascinating to see how hecan breathe things.
That was a miracle.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Let me tell you, being on the cover of a magazine
at 61 was a miracle, and thatalso gave hope and inspiration
because it was distributedacross the whole United States.
So it was in waiting roomswhere people could read my story
.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Amazing.
That's amazing, and your storyis still going strong.
It's going to go even strongerand I'm confident that the more
you continue to press into yourpurpose your new found goals and
your vision for this newcompany and website and really
building and bridging those gapsin relationships for other
cancer patients and helping themfind hope through Christ is
(30:57):
only going to glorify andmagnify God more, but it's also
going to push you to a nextlevel in your faith.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Thank you so much for having me and listening to my
story.
It was all in God's timing,right 100%.
It took eight years for me totell my story and, by the way, I
had one tiny little tumor thatkind of never went away, and in
September of this last year Igot the all clear.
So I'd been really really stillfighting the disease, and so
(31:25):
the thing.
The other thing is to bepatient.
I learned to be patient.
It took eight years, but Inever gave up the hope and faith
in God that there wouldeventually be an all clear.
You only need one person inyour life and that's God.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
You only need one person in your life, and that's
God.
We put our faith and trust inpeople, and they're going to let
us down sometimes out of 10.
We're sinful as just our nature.
It's okay, right, because JesusChrist died on the cross for
our sins and he's here torestore us and have a
relationship with us and reallybridge that gap of our
(31:58):
brokenness and fill that void inour hearts.
And so you're right, 100%.
We just need one person andthat's.
That's God, awesome.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast.
Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (32:10):
If you just Google my name, Denise Delatory, you can
find me.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Any social media channels.
I'm starting a.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
YouTube channel, but I haven't gotten there quite yet
.
Again, I'm just trying to waitfor God to give me the answers
on the next thing to do, because, now that I've surrendered to
him, I don't always know what'sbest or what's next.
So I'm just waiting for him toopen the next door for me.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Patience is a virtue.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, I learned that I learned to be patient.
I never used to be very patient.
Most people in California arenot very patient people right
but I have learned to be patientand trust, yeah, so I'm not
quite sure what's next.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
All right, I love it.
I'm excited to continue tofollow your journey.
Thank you, and continue to seehow God uses you for his kingdom
.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
And I wish you all the best too, and if I can come
back, maybe I'll have even moremiracles to talk about at a
later date.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
We will definitely have you back on at some point,
so we'd love that.
Thank you, guys for tuning into the Feeling Faith podcast,
where we encourage, inspire andmotivate people to grow closer
in their relationship with Godand share their personal
testimonies.
Make sure to follow us,subscribe and tune into the next
one.
We'll see you there.
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