March 3, 2024 • 28 mins
Have you ever witnessed a miracle? Our latest episode features Brooke, a music teacher whose unwavering faith and intuition led to her son Jameson's recovery from cancer. As a mother who faced misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, Brooke's story is a powerful testament to the strength of a parent's love and the undeniable influence of divine guidance. She shares how community support and a crucial connection with an attentive doctor were instrumental in her family's journey, offering a profound insight into the peace that can surface in the midst of a crisis.
We're reminded through Brooke's experience that life's toughest challenges often bring about the most extraordinary miracles. This conversation delves into the essence of hope, the transformative nature of prayer, and the comforting promise of Christ's companionship in every step of our lives. As Brooke eloquently illustrates, prior adversities are often the foundation that prepares us for future triumphs. Her story is a beautiful mosaic of faith, resilience, and the power of human connection—a narrative that renews our spirit and reaffirms the presence of a savior in our personal stories. Join us for an episode that celebrates the miraculous, even in the face of overwhelming odds.
Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)
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Episode Transcript
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Lily (00:06):
Hello everyone and welcome to.
More Than Coincidence,remembering Jesus Christ in your
Story as the author andfinisher of our faith, our
Savior writes personalexperiences into each of our
lives which can later strengthen, empower and bring us peace
upon reflection.
This podcast is dedicated tosharing these anchoring memories
(00:26):
from everyone's unique storiesin order to collectively
remember and testify of thereality of Jesus Christ and His
presence in our lives.
I'm your host, lily, and I'mvery excited to share these
experiences together.
Okay, so good evening everybody.
Tonight on the podcast, we haveBrooke Nice to meet you, brooke
(00:46):
, tell us about yourself.
Brooke (00:49):
I am the music teacher at the elementary school, the
Ranches Academy in EagleMountain, utah.
Sweet, I'm a great fan, and I'malso a mom of two wonderful
boys.
Nice, that is my life.
Lily (01:02):
Hey, well, that's a good life I agree, yes, kids are fun.
We love kids.
Do you have any hobbies orinterests that you like to share
with everybody?
Brooke (01:13):
I love to hike.
I love to sing.
I got my degree in vocalperformance.
So, I'm an opera singer.
Lily (01:20):
That's I used to be, I guess.
Brooke (01:22):
Now I just teach music, yeah.
So yeah, I love gettingoutdoors and I love performances
and singing and that's me.
Lily (01:31):
That's incredible, oh, thank you.
My daughter, my oldest.
She loves music and I am notmusically inclined and so I'm
always like, oh good, there'sanother person I know that can
help her if she wants to domusic.
She just she loves it, shesings, she makes up songs all
the time and I'm like what do Ido with this?
Like I don't know what to dowith this, so maybe I'll be
(01:52):
reaching out.
Brooke (01:53):
Just be like hey, what do you?
Lily (01:54):
recommend Perfect Sweet.
Well, I really appreciate youtaking time to share your story
with us, so I'll just ask you,brooke, what memories do you
have that you reflect on, thatprick your heart and remembrance
of our savior Jesus Christ?
Brooke (02:13):
That's a really good question.
It starts, I guess, about 10years ago.
I got pregnant and I miscarriedthat one and then I got
pregnant again with my oldestHis name is Jameson and it was
kind of a bad part of life.
I guess you're super poor, youhave nothing and everybody
(02:34):
around is like why are youhaving a baby?
Lily (02:39):
But it was right.
Brooke (02:41):
And come to find out, we had Jameson, and then we had
nine more miscarriages, and sohad we not had Jameson when we
did we wouldn't have any kids.
And so that starts the story ofmy miracle child, jameson, and
(03:01):
growing up.
He had some hard medical stuffand then, at around four years
old, january 2020.
So right before COVID started,oh my gosh, yeah, it was a
little ridiculous, but he wejust kept taking him to the
doctor for different things andthey couldn't figure out what
was wrong and finally he wassuper constipated and I took him
(03:23):
in.
This was like the fifth time inJanuary and, oh sorry, February
, and I took him in forconstipation.
The doctor said prune juice.
Just give him prune juice andhe'll poop.
And I went back.
I was like okay, and we triedit and he Like nothing was
(03:44):
really working and he was justreally off.
And I remember sitting with myneighbor at the time, mm-hmm,
telling her all these symptomsthat were happening.
She's like I would just Takehim back in, like I've been
there.
Yeah five or six times, but thenthe spirit was like bam, you
need to go now.
Yeah, yeah, and so I called thedoctor.
Like we have an opening rightnow, bring him in.
(04:06):
And this was the cutest doctor.
He.
Lily (04:10):
Did he?
Brooke (04:11):
Seventy years old.
Yeah, dr Nelson, down in stGeorge, if you know him, but or
if anybody listening knows himhe's fantastic and he, instead
of dismissing me, he's like okay, if this mom is coming in again
, something is really wrongright and he sent us to go get
imaging and then he followed usthere because he didn't have an
(04:32):
x-ray machine in his office.
Whoa, yeah, like this man'swonderful.
And and we get to the imagingcenter and Dr Nelson comes in
after us get everything done andI kind of have this feeling
something is going on Right.
And I see dr Nelson and he'slike, okay, we'll get the
(04:53):
imaging results and I'll let youknow.
We get a call from him thatevening saying there has they
spotted something on the x-rayand you need to head to primary
children's right now like in his, in his bowels.
Lily (05:06):
There's something there.
Brooke (05:07):
Yep, and he's like we can't tell what it is, but
there's a mass and I'm like,well, it's 10 o'clock at night,
so we can't go right now andyou're in st George and you need
to go to salt lake.
Yes, yes, yeah we lived at stGeorge or in st George at the
time.
Yeah and Uh, we're nowterrified a little bit right and
(05:30):
we get, uh, our whole littleneighborhood, we're in townhomes
.
Um got together and one gave ablessing to james and I remember
it just brought so much peace.
Lily (05:40):
Yeah.
Brooke (05:41):
Um.
And then the next morning thedoctor calls again at 6 am.
He's like I consulted withradiologists over the country,
we're all in agreeance, youreally need to get to primary
children's.
And wow, okay, we are headedand on our way, yeah.
And then he calls us again twohours later and it's just like
um, I am part of this religionwhere we can put names in the
(06:04):
temple and I was like, hey, I'mpart of that religion too.
Please put his name in thetemple and yeah, he's like thank
you so much, I'll do that, andhe's a wonderful man.
Lily (06:15):
Wow.
Brooke (06:16):
Um, so we get to primary children's and they do a CAT
scan and they find this big massin my son's Stomach in my mind
I'm like it's just don't let itbe cancer.
Don't let it be cancer.
It can't be cancer Right andI'm like it's just gonna be nine
, be benign.
It's not gonna be malignant,it's not gonna be cancer Right
and then they take us up to whatI now know is the cancer unit.
(06:39):
I didn't know at the time andnobody has told us that it's
cancer yet.
Until they start coming in andtalking about a treatment plan,
I'm like wait, what do you mean?
What do you mean it's cancer?
And the doctor's face just wentwhite.
She's like nobody has told you.
I know nobody has told me andso I just I'm bawling at this
(07:01):
point because my son, myfour-year-old son, my miracle
child right, has cancer and theysay it's a huge mass.
It ended up being eight inches,six pounds.
What Huge mass in his abdomenand it grew over a month and a
half.
Lily (07:21):
I can't, I can't even fathom that.
Brooke (07:23):
Yeah, it's a very aggressive form of cancer and
it's called Embryonal Rabdo MayaSarcoma.
Lily (07:31):
Okay, yeah, big name located in the stomach.
Brooke (07:34):
Yes, it's a muscle cancer, so it can be anywhere
that there's muscle, but his wasin the stomach.
But this is where all themiracles start happening.
Okay, so we are told that he'sgonna go into surgery and and
Just to get a biopsy to see whatit is exactly.
Lily (07:53):
Because they knew it was a sarcoma.
Brooke (07:55):
They didn't know what kind it was yet.
Okay, um, and so they're likeit's gonna take a couple hours,
and so my husband and I bringboard games.
We're a big board game familyyeah and we're playing in the
waiting room and my parents showup and um, eventually, jason's
parents showed up, but they werein Arizona at the time and um,
(08:16):
it's taking even longer andlonger and I'm like what is
going on?
Yeah, and so Playing board gameswas good, because it was a good
distraction, yeah, but I wasgetting a little more worried, a
little more worried untilfinally they call on the phone
and say hey, he's done withsurgery.
The surgeon's gonna come talkto you, okay and um, the surgeon
(08:37):
comes and we go into thislittle room and he's like this
has never happened before.
I was like okay, what has neverhappened before.
Yeah and he's like we cut openhere son's stomach and the tumor
just lifted out.
It's like this is a massivetumor and, like I said before,
(08:59):
eight inches, six pounds, likethe size of a baby.
It was huge.
And he's like, and it wasn'tattached to anything.
He's like I can't even tell youwhen his blood supply came from
.
Lily (09:11):
Yeah to function, yeah um.
Brooke (09:15):
And he's like he's like to explain further.
Something this big should haveencroached on all his organs in
his abdomen Right and it shouldhave been attached to his
bladder, his bowels, his stomach, his kidneys, his liver and
growing separate masses in eachspot Um no, it's just like it
can become a part of the organs,if that makes it interesting
(09:36):
and so something that massive,they would have to cut
everything out right, andbecause it just popped out and
wasn't attached to anything.
Yeah james, since bladder isfine, his bowels are fine, his
kidneys are fine and liver isfine.
Oh my, gosh.
It didn't attach to anything,and that is A huge miracle,
(09:56):
right?
He's never seen it before.
Yeah um, there was also Hisdoctor, doctor fair at primary
children's.
Lily (10:04):
He's also fantastic.
Brooke (10:06):
Um, he's Telling me that there was a lining around the
tumor and that it was for suregoing to test positive for
cancer.
He's like 100 it's going to,that's normal.
It'll make him stage four, um,which is scary.
Stage four cancer is scary andhe, it's like we tested it and
we tested it three times and itcame back negative each time,
(10:29):
which means that he was a stagethree fragile myosarcoma.
Lily (10:33):
Okay, which was our next miracle.
Brooke (10:36):
So first miracle was the piece, the second miracle was
the popping out of the tumor andthird miracle is that was
negative and it it was so easyto see these miracles happening
(10:56):
because of that blessing.
Yeah, before, yeah, um, onestory that I want to get into,
and this one is hard for me totell.
Lily (11:08):
Um Tissues yeah.
Brooke (11:11):
We'll see how this goes.
Um, he had started treatmentand we could do some treatment
down in St George, but some wehad to travel for and come up to
primary children.
Lily (11:21):
And this is just to make sure that if there was any other
cancer anywhere else, it wouldjust get rid of it.
Exactly Okay, yes.
Brooke (11:30):
Um, because if there was even one cell left behind, it
would have replicated, andbecause it was such an
aggressive cancer, um, bettersafe than sorry.
Lily (11:36):
Yeah, like you have to do it.
Brooke (11:38):
And his regimen was 18 months of chemo.
It's a long, that is long, yeah, and it's every week, and it's
three different chemo meds.
So we could do two of the chemomeds down in St George, but the
third one you have to behospitalized, and so we'd have
to come and travel up here, yes,and stay the night and then be
(11:59):
like how often?
Once a week, once a month, uhthat one was every, either like
once a month or every six weeks.
Lily (12:05):
Okay, so still doable, but still that's a long trip.
Brooke (12:08):
Yes, yeah, and it's one of the reasons we moved up here
to Salt.
Lake.
Yeah, cause it was a lot tokeep traveling.
Yeah, right, and it was verynew to the cancer world.
Yeah, and I did not realize thetoll that chemo would take on
his body, like you, kind of know, yeah, but you don't like
(12:29):
living.
It is different, yeah.
And so, um, he got his chemotreatment and then we went to my
sister's house and we wereplaying on a big water slide and
I'm like this little cheer himup, yeah, and he played hard,
like super hard, it was just funto see.
Lily (12:48):
Yeah, well, I'm good for you as a mom Cause.
Then you're like hey, maybehe's.
Like the drugs are like, okay,they're doing well, like maybe
this is going to work Well andthat's what I?
Brooke (12:56):
that's what I thought, yeah, but unfortunately they um,
it wasn't the case.
So that night he was in so muchpain and I had maxed out on all
of his meds, um, and so he iswrithing in bed and I, I can,
I'm across the room and I'm justwatching him as he's tightening
(13:18):
up, and there's nothing I cando.
I can't give him any more painmeds, and so the only thing I
could do was pray yeah and I wasprobably the most earnest
prayer I've said in my entirelife to just please take away
the pain from my son and sorry,um.
As I opened my eyes, I watchedas Jameson just relaxed onto his
(13:44):
bed and he fell asleep and wasinstantly able to just be calm
and peaceful, and that thatmemory, um, will forever be in
my mind as an instant miracleand, uh, something that is not
(14:05):
just a coincidence.
Lily (14:07):
Yeah, yeah, the power of prayer Like I can't even imagine
.
And just to know he's listening, he literally heard you and
there was the result.
Brooke (14:14):
Yeah, and I later got confirmation that that is how we
, as women, use our husbands.
Priesthood, yeah, and that wasawesome Cause I had been
struggling with that for a whileand so, even though we had this
really hard and difficult trialand there are so many things
that came with it and it stillaffects him to this day um,
(14:38):
there were so many miracles thatI don't know I would not say I
don't want him to not havecancer.
Lily (14:45):
Like.
Brooke (14:45):
I would love to say that he never had cancer but because
he did, we our testimony hasgrown so much and we have seen
so many miracles.
And there's this scary world ofcancer, but there is also a
beautiful world inside that youget to see the amazing things
that come out of suffering.
Lily (15:06):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, and you really, I thinkit takes on.
When they say that Christ isthe master healer, it literally
takes on a whole other meaningin that sense and just even, and
I don't know well you, you knowmy family- right.
We have a lot of kids withdisabilities in my family and so
to know that one day he, mybrothers, will be healed, their
bodies will be whole, your son,one day, his body will be whole,
(15:30):
yes, right.
And I think that it'sincredible that we can look to
that and it gives us somethingto hope for.
And when you see these momentsof where you pray and God is
there, immediately you hold onto that and you say, and you
look forward with the faith andthe endurance to say it will
happen.
I have seen him work in my life.
(15:51):
It will happen in the end, youknow, or I don't know, like what
do you think?
Brooke (15:59):
No, I had had before that.
It's so interesting Cause abouta year before that I thought I
had been abandoned by Christ andI could not feel the spirit,
and I was somebody who thespirit was very strong in my
life and I knew exactly what itwanted me to do and because of
(16:21):
that trial, and I had to payattention so much that even the
most minute whisper of thespirit, or to the most minute
whisper of the spirit that itmade me be able to recognize it
during that time of cancer.
Lily (16:40):
Yeah, cause that feeling.
The memory of your abandonmentwas prior to it was prior to
cancer.
Brooke (16:48):
There are so many things prior to cancer that got us
ready for it.
Like I got grief counselingbecause of my miscarriages I got
five years before he wasdiagnosed I got an impression
that we would have to deal withcancer.
I thought it was gonna be me.
But and so yeah, wow, yeah.
So I knew it was gonna happensometime in our life.
(17:10):
I did not think it was gonna bemy son or any of my kids.
I was like, okay, I'll just bereally diligent about going to
the doctor, but ended up beingmy son and then having the trial
of not feeling the spirit asstrongly as I used to, which
(17:30):
made me work to feel the spiritmore, and all of those things
led up to being able to handlethis trial that we were handed
and I also.
It was interesting.
Somebody told me once they'relike this makes sense that your
family got this trial, that itwas sent to you.
Lily (17:52):
And you're like, excuse me A little bit, I was a little
taken aback.
Brooke (17:55):
I'm like, okay, and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way,
cause I'm like why wouldHeavenly Father send me this
trial?
Right, and I was praying aboutit over and over and it took a
good like six months to get thisanswer.
Yeah, and I actually got theanswer.
It wasn't sent to us byHeavenly Father, it was.
We live in a terrestrial worldwhere cells mutate, and James
(18:20):
has, since one cell mutated andit became this terrible tumor.
But Heavenly Father thenassured me he's like but I'm
using it to make you better.
Lily (18:32):
Like yeah, I think that that's that's so powerful.
I've never heard anybody saysomething like that, that, that
cause I feel like when we, evenin general conference or, you
know, in talks at church or inrelief society or whatever, we
always say we have trials toprove us, we have trials to make
us better, but we don't.
(18:53):
But I think sometimes we stillthink, well, they're, they're
from God, like that's why,that's why this is happening.
Right, it's his furnace thatwe're in.
But you saying it's becausewe're in a terrestrial world, oh
my gosh, huge, yeah.
Like I feel like that.
That's like almost even aparadigm shift of even just this
is not personal, but how coolis that?
(19:15):
That Christ is there for youJust cause this is stuff's
happening, and he's like I wantto be here with you just through
your life, rather than justlike here.
Let me hold your hand becauseyou're going through something
that I would I don't know, Idon't know if that makes any
sense, but that's like, that'sincredible.
Brooke (19:33):
It was a huge cause I had blamed myself.
I have favorite sins, just likeeverybody else.
Hey, me too.
Right, it's bad, but when myson was diagnosed, I'm like this
is because of me, because Ihave not been following the
commandments like I should andRight, right, or how dare you,
god?
Lily (19:53):
I felt abandoned and now my son has cancer.
Yeah, like, how dare you?
Brooke (19:57):
That's like this has got to be me and so in a way, I
think I was trying to control it, like if it was because of me,
then I can change it.
But that answer that took sixmonths to get took control out
of my hands, which is a littlescary for me, but also put it
fully into Christ's hands andour lives were in Christ's hands
(20:20):
and he totally took care of usand Jameson is doing great now
he is he's been out of treatmentfor two and a half years.
Lily (20:30):
Congratulations, thank you .
So it's in remission then, isthat?
Brooke (20:34):
Technically you can't say remission until five years
out.
Okay so but yes, basicallyremission Okay, and he's passed
the two year mark and it's mostlikely to come back two years
after treatment, okay, so that'sreally awesome, okay.
Lily (20:51):
But yeah, we were just.
So.
Now you're just kind of waitingto see like, is something going
to happen?
Brooke (20:55):
Yeah, scans are hard, so he now he gets scans every four
months now and then, next yearI think it turns to every six
months, yeah, but, and those arealways scary, but again, I just
have to let go of that controland just trust in my heavenly
father in Christ.
Lily (21:10):
Right.
Brooke (21:11):
That they.
They have my life Lots.
Lily (21:15):
Wow, I'm honestly I'm blown away.
And so how do you feel yourrelationship has been?
Cause we've kind of just talkeda little bit about how these
experiences have kind of havebrought you to Christ, but how
do you feel about Christ, likeas a person?
Do you feel like you reallyhave come to know him, or do you
like I don't know if that makesany sense- no, it does, I feel.
Brooke (21:41):
before cancer there's definitely before and then after
.
Before cancer, I feltinsignificant.
And I was like it's okay, likemy ancestors got me Christ, you
don't, you don't have to comepersonally, like it's fine, I'm
fine.
Mystery angel yes yeah.
(22:02):
But after cancer and seeing themiracles, I know Christ was in
everything and it definitely, Ithink, of my ancestors were too,
but I think some of themiracles that happened were my
was my savior and that hepersonally knows me and my son
(22:27):
and my family, and to have thatrevelation is so comforting.
Like as I said earlier, I dealwith some control issues.
Lily (22:36):
Right Same.
Brooke (22:38):
Yeah, but it's probably one of my favorite sins.
But I'm now able to give upthat control and even though the
future is unknown, Jamesoncould get cancer again.
It does happen.
I know for a fact that we aretaken care of and we will be
(23:02):
fine.
Lily (23:03):
Yeah, oh my gosh.
So I guess I have two questions.
The first is how do you feellike Jameson has, like,
strengthened his testimony?
Do you have you been able tohave a lot of conversations with
him and kind of what do you?
What is his kind of take on allof this?
I guess I would be curious.
Brooke (23:22):
He has, so he has PTSD a little bit.
Definitely, yeah, he.
A lot of medical trauma, yeah,but, and it was really hard at
first to access, so they get aport installed.
Oh, installed, that soundsterrible.
Lily (23:39):
No way, I think it is, it is yeah.
Brooke (23:43):
A port put in so that they can access it easier Right.
And so they don't have to keeppoking their arms.
Lily (23:48):
Yeah.
Brooke (23:49):
And Jameson.
At the beginning we would haveto hold him down like five
people, yeah, holding him downin order to access it, and I
remember him screaming once mom,why are you letting them do
this to me?
Yeah, and that was heartbreakhe gave me.
Leave the room after that.
Yeah, good, but I just saidHeavenly Father is going to help
(24:10):
you through this.
Lily (24:11):
Yeah.
Brooke (24:12):
And he can help you do hard things.
And so every time he'd have toget his port accessed, we'd like
hold each other's hands and say, I can do hard things, yeah,
and we'd say a prayer and thenhe'd be able to do it.
But it took.
It took some time and it took alot of practice, Right.
But I remember the nurses in StGeorge.
They they'd have to hold himdown.
(24:34):
And then we moved up to SaltLake and we did treatments here,
and then one time we went onvacation back to St George and
had to do one more treatmentdown there and they had like
five or six people come in readyto hold him down.
And Jameson was like I can dohard things, Sat there and they
accessed him and they're like hehas changed so much, Wow, yeah.
(24:54):
And they're like this is nightand day difference of what we
had to do Right and he.
It has been tough, but he knowsthat his Heavenly Father loves
him and he knows that he can dohard things because he has yeah.
Lily (25:13):
Wow.
So what would you tell parentswho are going through this and
are feeling either I'm abandonedor why is this happening to us,
or you know what?
You're sitting across from them?
Brooke (25:24):
right now.
Like what would you?
Lily (25:26):
what would you tell them?
Brooke (25:27):
The power of prayer.
Yeah, like that is huge and,honestly, sometimes you have to
wait.
Like I said, my answer to whyit happened to us took six
months.
I had other friends who theiranswer was so that your son can
be a light to the world, and Ithink that's wonderful, but that
wasn't our answer Wow, and thathe.
(25:51):
You may feel abandoned, butyou're not.
Yeah, he loves you, he loves usall and as a parent, you know
this.
When you see your child goingthrough something, it hurts, and
so he feels the same hurt thatyou do probably better than you
(26:13):
do and it's hard, and it's okaythat it's hard, but he'll always
be there and just walk by yourside Not just your ancestors,
yeah, but he will walk therewith you.
Lily (26:32):
Wow, so many crazy things tonight that I just I'm like I
need to hear this.
This is amazing, this is great.
Brooke (26:40):
Thank you.
Lily (26:42):
So are there.
Are there any other?
I don't.
I don't have any other thoughtsthat are coming to my head, so
I'm going to take that as a.
You know what I think we mightbe done.
So would you mind bringing abrief testimony, and then we'll
wrap up.
Brooke (26:57):
My thoughts on the savior.
There are many, but I think Iwould like to say that you are
never alone in this world.
With social media and justeverything blaring in your face,
it can be very isolating and Iknow that the savior is there as
(27:23):
long as you knock.
You have to do, you have to dosome work, but as long as you
knock, he will be there.
As long as you ask, as long asyou put down the umbrella, the
reigns of blessings will come.
Lily (27:39):
That's awesome.
Thank you, brooke, for beinghere tonight.
You're incredible and I'mreally glad to hear that your
son's doing well right now andhopefully, maybe we'll check in
a little bit later.
We'll see how things are going,but thank you for your testimony
and, in your time, thanks againfor tuning into more than
coincidence, remembering JesusChrist in your story.
(28:00):
Please follow us on socialmedia or share us with a friend.
If you have an experience you'dlike to share, feel free to
reach out.
To more than coincidence,remember him at gmailcom.
I can't wait to hear all of theamazing memories you all have
of our savior.
See you next time.
Hello everyone and welcome to.
More Than Coincidence,remembering Jesus Christ in your
Story as the author andfinisher of our faith, our
Savior writes personalexperiences into each of our
lives which can later strengthen, empower and bring us peace
upon reflection.
This podcast is dedicated tosharing these anchoring memories
(00:26):
from everyone's unique storiesin order to collectively
remember and testify of thereality of Jesus Christ and His
presence in our lives.
I'm your host, lily, and I'mvery excited to share these
experiences together.
Okay, so good evening everybody.
Tonight on the podcast, we haveBrooke Nice to meet you, brooke
(00:46):
, tell us about yourself.
Brooke (00:49):
I am the music teacher at the elementary school, the
Ranches Academy in EagleMountain, utah.
Sweet, I'm a great fan, and I'malso a mom of two wonderful
boys.
Nice, that is my life.
Lily (01:02):
Hey, well, that's a good life I agree, yes, kids are fun.
We love kids.
Do you have any hobbies orinterests that you like to share
with everybody?
Brooke (01:13):
I love to hike.
I love to sing.
I got my degree in vocalperformance.
So, I'm an opera singer.
Lily (01:20):
That's I used to be, I guess.
Brooke (01:22):
Now I just teach music, yeah.
So yeah, I love gettingoutdoors and I love performances
and singing and that's me.
Lily (01:31):
That's incredible, oh, thank you.
My daughter, my oldest.
She loves music and I am notmusically inclined and so I'm
always like, oh good, there'sanother person I know that can
help her if she wants to domusic.
She just she loves it, shesings, she makes up songs all
the time and I'm like what do Ido with this?
Like I don't know what to dowith this, so maybe I'll be
(01:52):
reaching out.
Brooke (01:53):
Just be like hey, what do you?
Lily (01:54):
recommend Perfect Sweet.
Well, I really appreciate youtaking time to share your story
with us, so I'll just ask you,brooke, what memories do you
have that you reflect on, thatprick your heart and remembrance
of our savior Jesus Christ?
Brooke (02:13):
That's a really good question.
It starts, I guess, about 10years ago.
I got pregnant and I miscarriedthat one and then I got
pregnant again with my oldestHis name is Jameson and it was
kind of a bad part of life.
I guess you're super poor, youhave nothing and everybody
(02:34):
around is like why are youhaving a baby?
Lily (02:39):
But it was right.
Brooke (02:41):
And come to find out, we had Jameson, and then we had
nine more miscarriages, and sohad we not had Jameson when we
did we wouldn't have any kids.
And so that starts the story ofmy miracle child, jameson, and
(03:01):
growing up.
He had some hard medical stuffand then, at around four years
old, january 2020.
So right before COVID started,oh my gosh, yeah, it was a
little ridiculous, but he wejust kept taking him to the
doctor for different things andthey couldn't figure out what
was wrong and finally he wassuper constipated and I took him
(03:23):
in.
This was like the fifth time inJanuary and, oh sorry, February
, and I took him in forconstipation.
The doctor said prune juice.
Just give him prune juice andhe'll poop.
And I went back.
I was like okay, and we triedit and he Like nothing was
(03:44):
really working and he was justreally off.
And I remember sitting with myneighbor at the time, mm-hmm,
telling her all these symptomsthat were happening.
She's like I would just Takehim back in, like I've been
there.
Yeah five or six times, but thenthe spirit was like bam, you
need to go now.
Yeah, yeah, and so I called thedoctor.
Like we have an opening rightnow, bring him in.
(04:06):
And this was the cutest doctor.
He.
Lily (04:10):
Did he?
Brooke (04:11):
Seventy years old.
Yeah, dr Nelson, down in stGeorge, if you know him, but or
if anybody listening knows himhe's fantastic and he, instead
of dismissing me, he's like okay, if this mom is coming in again
, something is really wrongright and he sent us to go get
imaging and then he followed usthere because he didn't have an
(04:32):
x-ray machine in his office.
Whoa, yeah, like this man'swonderful.
And and we get to the imagingcenter and Dr Nelson comes in
after us get everything done andI kind of have this feeling
something is going on Right.
And I see dr Nelson and he'slike, okay, we'll get the
(04:53):
imaging results and I'll let youknow.
We get a call from him thatevening saying there has they
spotted something on the x-rayand you need to head to primary
children's right now like in his, in his bowels.
Lily (05:06):
There's something there.
Brooke (05:07):
Yep, and he's like we can't tell what it is, but
there's a mass and I'm like,well, it's 10 o'clock at night,
so we can't go right now andyou're in st George and you need
to go to salt lake.
Yes, yes, yeah we lived at stGeorge or in st George at the
time.
Yeah and Uh, we're nowterrified a little bit right and
(05:30):
we get, uh, our whole littleneighborhood, we're in townhomes
.
Um got together and one gave ablessing to james and I remember
it just brought so much peace.
Lily (05:40):
Yeah.
Brooke (05:41):
Um.
And then the next morning thedoctor calls again at 6 am.
He's like I consulted withradiologists over the country,
we're all in agreeance, youreally need to get to primary
children's.
And wow, okay, we are headedand on our way, yeah.
And then he calls us again twohours later and it's just like
um, I am part of this religionwhere we can put names in the
(06:04):
temple and I was like, hey, I'mpart of that religion too.
Please put his name in thetemple and yeah, he's like thank
you so much, I'll do that, andhe's a wonderful man.
Lily (06:15):
Wow.
Brooke (06:16):
Um, so we get to primary children's and they do a CAT
scan and they find this big massin my son's Stomach in my mind
I'm like it's just don't let itbe cancer.
Don't let it be cancer.
It can't be cancer Right andI'm like it's just gonna be nine
, be benign.
It's not gonna be malignant,it's not gonna be cancer Right
and then they take us up to whatI now know is the cancer unit.
(06:39):
I didn't know at the time andnobody has told us that it's
cancer yet.
Until they start coming in andtalking about a treatment plan,
I'm like wait, what do you mean?
What do you mean it's cancer?
And the doctor's face just wentwhite.
She's like nobody has told you.
I know nobody has told me andso I just I'm bawling at this
(07:01):
point because my son, myfour-year-old son, my miracle
child right, has cancer and theysay it's a huge mass.
It ended up being eight inches,six pounds.
What Huge mass in his abdomenand it grew over a month and a
half.
Lily (07:21):
I can't, I can't even fathom that.
Brooke (07:23):
Yeah, it's a very aggressive form of cancer and
it's called Embryonal Rabdo MayaSarcoma.
Lily (07:31):
Okay, yeah, big name located in the stomach.
Brooke (07:34):
Yes, it's a muscle cancer, so it can be anywhere
that there's muscle, but his wasin the stomach.
But this is where all themiracles start happening.
Okay, so we are told that he'sgonna go into surgery and and
Just to get a biopsy to see whatit is exactly.
Lily (07:53):
Because they knew it was a sarcoma.
Brooke (07:55):
They didn't know what kind it was yet.
Okay, um, and so they're likeit's gonna take a couple hours,
and so my husband and I bringboard games.
We're a big board game familyyeah and we're playing in the
waiting room and my parents showup and um, eventually, jason's
parents showed up, but they werein Arizona at the time and um,
(08:16):
it's taking even longer andlonger and I'm like what is
going on?
Yeah, and so Playing board gameswas good, because it was a good
distraction, yeah, but I wasgetting a little more worried, a
little more worried untilfinally they call on the phone
and say hey, he's done withsurgery.
The surgeon's gonna come talkto you, okay and um, the surgeon
(08:37):
comes and we go into thislittle room and he's like this
has never happened before.
I was like okay, what has neverhappened before.
Yeah and he's like we cut openhere son's stomach and the tumor
just lifted out.
It's like this is a massivetumor and, like I said before,
(08:59):
eight inches, six pounds, likethe size of a baby.
It was huge.
And he's like, and it wasn'tattached to anything.
He's like I can't even tell youwhen his blood supply came from
.
Lily (09:11):
Yeah to function, yeah um.
Brooke (09:15):
And he's like he's like to explain further.
Something this big should haveencroached on all his organs in
his abdomen Right and it shouldhave been attached to his
bladder, his bowels, his stomach, his kidneys, his liver and
growing separate masses in eachspot Um no, it's just like it
can become a part of the organs,if that makes it interesting
(09:36):
and so something that massive,they would have to cut
everything out right, andbecause it just popped out and
wasn't attached to anything.
Yeah james, since bladder isfine, his bowels are fine, his
kidneys are fine and liver isfine.
Oh my, gosh.
It didn't attach to anything,and that is A huge miracle,
(09:56):
right?
He's never seen it before.
Yeah um, there was also Hisdoctor, doctor fair at primary
children's.
Lily (10:04):
He's also fantastic.
Brooke (10:06):
Um, he's Telling me that there was a lining around the
tumor and that it was for suregoing to test positive for
cancer.
He's like 100 it's going to,that's normal.
It'll make him stage four, um,which is scary.
Stage four cancer is scary andhe, it's like we tested it and
we tested it three times and itcame back negative each time,
(10:29):
which means that he was a stagethree fragile myosarcoma.
Lily (10:33):
Okay, which was our next miracle.
Brooke (10:36):
So first miracle was the piece, the second miracle was
the popping out of the tumor andthird miracle is that was
negative and it it was so easyto see these miracles happening
(10:56):
because of that blessing.
Yeah, before, yeah, um, onestory that I want to get into,
and this one is hard for me totell.
Lily (11:08):
Um Tissues yeah.
Brooke (11:11):
We'll see how this goes.
Um, he had started treatmentand we could do some treatment
down in St George, but some wehad to travel for and come up to
primary children.
Lily (11:21):
And this is just to make sure that if there was any other
cancer anywhere else, it wouldjust get rid of it.
Exactly Okay, yes.
Brooke (11:30):
Um, because if there was even one cell left behind, it
would have replicated, andbecause it was such an
aggressive cancer, um, bettersafe than sorry.
Lily (11:36):
Yeah, like you have to do it.
Brooke (11:38):
And his regimen was 18 months of chemo.
It's a long, that is long, yeah, and it's every week, and it's
three different chemo meds.
So we could do two of the chemomeds down in St George, but the
third one you have to behospitalized, and so we'd have
to come and travel up here, yes,and stay the night and then be
(11:59):
like how often?
Once a week, once a month, uhthat one was every, either like
once a month or every six weeks.
Lily (12:05):
Okay, so still doable, but still that's a long trip.
Brooke (12:08):
Yes, yeah, and it's one of the reasons we moved up here
to Salt.
Lake.
Yeah, cause it was a lot tokeep traveling.
Yeah, right, and it was verynew to the cancer world.
Yeah, and I did not realize thetoll that chemo would take on
his body, like you, kind of know, yeah, but you don't like
(12:29):
living.
It is different, yeah.
And so, um, he got his chemotreatment and then we went to my
sister's house and we wereplaying on a big water slide and
I'm like this little cheer himup, yeah, and he played hard,
like super hard, it was just funto see.
Lily (12:48):
Yeah, well, I'm good for you as a mom Cause.
Then you're like hey, maybehe's.
Like the drugs are like, okay,they're doing well, like maybe
this is going to work Well andthat's what I?
Brooke (12:56):
that's what I thought, yeah, but unfortunately they um,
it wasn't the case.
So that night he was in so muchpain and I had maxed out on all
of his meds, um, and so he iswrithing in bed and I, I can,
I'm across the room and I'm justwatching him as he's tightening
(13:18):
up, and there's nothing I cando.
I can't give him any more painmeds, and so the only thing I
could do was pray yeah and I wasprobably the most earnest
prayer I've said in my entirelife to just please take away
the pain from my son and sorry,um.
As I opened my eyes, I watchedas Jameson just relaxed onto his
(13:44):
bed and he fell asleep and wasinstantly able to just be calm
and peaceful, and that thatmemory, um, will forever be in
my mind as an instant miracleand, uh, something that is not
(14:05):
just a coincidence.
Lily (14:07):
Yeah, yeah, the power of prayer Like I can't even imagine
.
And just to know he's listening, he literally heard you and
there was the result.
Brooke (14:14):
Yeah, and I later got confirmation that that is how we
, as women, use our husbands.
Priesthood, yeah, and that wasawesome Cause I had been
struggling with that for a whileand so, even though we had this
really hard and difficult trialand there are so many things
that came with it and it stillaffects him to this day um,
(14:38):
there were so many miracles thatI don't know I would not say I
don't want him to not havecancer.
Lily (14:45):
Like.
Brooke (14:45):
I would love to say that he never had cancer but because
he did, we our testimony hasgrown so much and we have seen
so many miracles.
And there's this scary world ofcancer, but there is also a
beautiful world inside that youget to see the amazing things
that come out of suffering.
Lily (15:06):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, and you really, I thinkit takes on.
When they say that Christ isthe master healer, it literally
takes on a whole other meaningin that sense and just even, and
I don't know well you, you knowmy family- right.
We have a lot of kids withdisabilities in my family and so
to know that one day he, mybrothers, will be healed, their
bodies will be whole, your son,one day, his body will be whole,
(15:30):
yes, right.
And I think that it'sincredible that we can look to
that and it gives us somethingto hope for.
And when you see these momentsof where you pray and God is
there, immediately you hold onto that and you say, and you
look forward with the faith andthe endurance to say it will
happen.
I have seen him work in my life.
(15:51):
It will happen in the end, youknow, or I don't know, like what
do you think?
Brooke (15:59):
No, I had had before that.
It's so interesting Cause abouta year before that I thought I
had been abandoned by Christ andI could not feel the spirit,
and I was somebody who thespirit was very strong in my
life and I knew exactly what itwanted me to do and because of
(16:21):
that trial, and I had to payattention so much that even the
most minute whisper of thespirit, or to the most minute
whisper of the spirit that itmade me be able to recognize it
during that time of cancer.
Lily (16:40):
Yeah, cause that feeling.
The memory of your abandonmentwas prior to it was prior to
cancer.
Brooke (16:48):
There are so many things prior to cancer that got us
ready for it.
Like I got grief counselingbecause of my miscarriages I got
five years before he wasdiagnosed I got an impression
that we would have to deal withcancer.
I thought it was gonna be me.
But and so yeah, wow, yeah.
So I knew it was gonna happensometime in our life.
(17:10):
I did not think it was gonna bemy son or any of my kids.
I was like, okay, I'll just bereally diligent about going to
the doctor, but ended up beingmy son and then having the trial
of not feeling the spirit asstrongly as I used to, which
(17:30):
made me work to feel the spiritmore, and all of those things
led up to being able to handlethis trial that we were handed
and I also.
It was interesting.
Somebody told me once they'relike this makes sense that your
family got this trial, that itwas sent to you.
Lily (17:52):
And you're like, excuse me A little bit, I was a little
taken aback.
Brooke (17:55):
I'm like, okay, and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way,
cause I'm like why wouldHeavenly Father send me this
trial?
Right, and I was praying aboutit over and over and it took a
good like six months to get thisanswer.
Yeah, and I actually got theanswer.
It wasn't sent to us byHeavenly Father, it was.
We live in a terrestrial worldwhere cells mutate, and James
(18:20):
has, since one cell mutated andit became this terrible tumor.
But Heavenly Father thenassured me he's like but I'm
using it to make you better.
Lily (18:32):
Like yeah, I think that that's that's so powerful.
I've never heard anybody saysomething like that, that, that
cause I feel like when we, evenin general conference or, you
know, in talks at church or inrelief society or whatever, we
always say we have trials toprove us, we have trials to make
us better, but we don't.
(18:53):
But I think sometimes we stillthink, well, they're, they're
from God, like that's why,that's why this is happening.
Right, it's his furnace thatwe're in.
But you saying it's becausewe're in a terrestrial world, oh
my gosh, huge, yeah.
Like I feel like that.
That's like almost even aparadigm shift of even just this
is not personal, but how coolis that?
(19:15):
That Christ is there for youJust cause this is stuff's
happening, and he's like I wantto be here with you just through
your life, rather than justlike here.
Let me hold your hand becauseyou're going through something
that I would I don't know, Idon't know if that makes any
sense, but that's like, that'sincredible.
Brooke (19:33):
It was a huge cause I had blamed myself.
I have favorite sins, just likeeverybody else.
Hey, me too.
Right, it's bad, but when myson was diagnosed, I'm like this
is because of me, because Ihave not been following the
commandments like I should andRight, right, or how dare you,
god?
Lily (19:53):
I felt abandoned and now my son has cancer.
Yeah, like, how dare you?
Brooke (19:57):
That's like this has got to be me and so in a way, I
think I was trying to control it, like if it was because of me,
then I can change it.
But that answer that took sixmonths to get took control out
of my hands, which is a littlescary for me, but also put it
fully into Christ's hands andour lives were in Christ's hands
(20:20):
and he totally took care of usand Jameson is doing great now
he is he's been out of treatmentfor two and a half years.
Lily (20:30):
Congratulations, thank you .
So it's in remission then, isthat?
Brooke (20:34):
Technically you can't say remission until five years
out.
Okay so but yes, basicallyremission Okay, and he's passed
the two year mark and it's mostlikely to come back two years
after treatment, okay, so that'sreally awesome, okay.
Lily (20:51):
But yeah, we were just.
So.
Now you're just kind of waitingto see like, is something going
to happen?
Brooke (20:55):
Yeah, scans are hard, so he now he gets scans every four
months now and then, next yearI think it turns to every six
months, yeah, but, and those arealways scary, but again, I just
have to let go of that controland just trust in my heavenly
father in Christ.
Lily (21:10):
Right.
Brooke (21:11):
That they.
They have my life Lots.
Lily (21:15):
Wow, I'm honestly I'm blown away.
And so how do you feel yourrelationship has been?
Cause we've kind of just talkeda little bit about how these
experiences have kind of havebrought you to Christ, but how
do you feel about Christ, likeas a person?
Do you feel like you reallyhave come to know him, or do you
like I don't know if that makesany sense- no, it does, I feel.
Brooke (21:41):
before cancer there's definitely before and then after
.
Before cancer, I feltinsignificant.
And I was like it's okay, likemy ancestors got me Christ, you
don't, you don't have to comepersonally, like it's fine, I'm
fine.
Mystery angel yes yeah.
(22:02):
But after cancer and seeing themiracles, I know Christ was in
everything and it definitely, Ithink, of my ancestors were too,
but I think some of themiracles that happened were my
was my savior and that hepersonally knows me and my son
(22:27):
and my family, and to have thatrevelation is so comforting.
Like as I said earlier, I dealwith some control issues.
Lily (22:36):
Right Same.
Brooke (22:38):
Yeah, but it's probably one of my favorite sins.
But I'm now able to give upthat control and even though the
future is unknown, Jamesoncould get cancer again.
It does happen.
I know for a fact that we aretaken care of and we will be
(23:02):
fine.
Lily (23:03):
Yeah, oh my gosh.
So I guess I have two questions.
The first is how do you feellike Jameson has, like,
strengthened his testimony?
Do you have you been able tohave a lot of conversations with
him and kind of what do you?
What is his kind of take on allof this?
I guess I would be curious.
Brooke (23:22):
He has, so he has PTSD a little bit.
Definitely, yeah, he.
A lot of medical trauma, yeah,but, and it was really hard at
first to access, so they get aport installed.
Oh, installed, that soundsterrible.
Lily (23:39):
No way, I think it is, it is yeah.
Brooke (23:43):
A port put in so that they can access it easier Right.
And so they don't have to keeppoking their arms.
Lily (23:48):
Yeah.
Brooke (23:49):
And Jameson.
At the beginning we would haveto hold him down like five
people, yeah, holding him downin order to access it, and I
remember him screaming once mom,why are you letting them do
this to me?
Yeah, and that was heartbreakhe gave me.
Leave the room after that.
Yeah, good, but I just saidHeavenly Father is going to help
(24:10):
you through this.
Lily (24:11):
Yeah.
Brooke (24:12):
And he can help you do hard things.
And so every time he'd have toget his port accessed, we'd like
hold each other's hands and say, I can do hard things, yeah,
and we'd say a prayer and thenhe'd be able to do it.
But it took.
It took some time and it took alot of practice, Right.
But I remember the nurses in StGeorge.
They they'd have to hold himdown.
(24:34):
And then we moved up to SaltLake and we did treatments here,
and then one time we went onvacation back to St George and
had to do one more treatmentdown there and they had like
five or six people come in readyto hold him down.
And Jameson was like I can dohard things, Sat there and they
accessed him and they're like hehas changed so much, Wow, yeah.
(24:54):
And they're like this is nightand day difference of what we
had to do Right and he.
It has been tough, but he knowsthat his Heavenly Father loves
him and he knows that he can dohard things because he has yeah.
Lily (25:13):
Wow.
So what would you tell parentswho are going through this and
are feeling either I'm abandonedor why is this happening to us,
or you know what?
You're sitting across from them?
Brooke (25:24):
right now.
Like what would you?
Lily (25:26):
what would you tell them?
Brooke (25:27):
The power of prayer.
Yeah, like that is huge and,honestly, sometimes you have to
wait.
Like I said, my answer to whyit happened to us took six
months.
I had other friends who theiranswer was so that your son can
be a light to the world, and Ithink that's wonderful, but that
wasn't our answer Wow, and thathe.
(25:51):
You may feel abandoned, butyou're not.
Yeah, he loves you, he loves usall and as a parent, you know
this.
When you see your child goingthrough something, it hurts, and
so he feels the same hurt thatyou do probably better than you
(26:13):
do and it's hard, and it's okaythat it's hard, but he'll always
be there and just walk by yourside Not just your ancestors,
yeah, but he will walk therewith you.
Lily (26:32):
Wow, so many crazy things tonight that I just I'm like I
need to hear this.
This is amazing, this is great.
Brooke (26:40):
Thank you.
Lily (26:42):
So are there.
Are there any other?
I don't.
I don't have any other thoughtsthat are coming to my head, so
I'm going to take that as a.
You know what I think we mightbe done.
So would you mind bringing abrief testimony, and then we'll
wrap up.
Brooke (26:57):
My thoughts on the savior.
There are many, but I think Iwould like to say that you are
never alone in this world.
With social media and justeverything blaring in your face,
it can be very isolating and Iknow that the savior is there as
(27:23):
long as you knock.
You have to do, you have to dosome work, but as long as you
knock, he will be there.
As long as you ask, as long asyou put down the umbrella, the
reigns of blessings will come.
Lily (27:39):
That's awesome.
Thank you, brooke, for beinghere tonight.
You're incredible and I'mreally glad to hear that your
son's doing well right now andhopefully, maybe we'll check in
a little bit later.
We'll see how things are going,but thank you for your testimony
and, in your time, thanks againfor tuning into more than
coincidence, remembering JesusChrist in your story.
(28:00):
Please follow us on socialmedia or share us with a friend.
If you have an experience you'dlike to share, feel free to
reach out.
To more than coincidence,remember him at gmailcom.
I can't wait to hear all of theamazing memories you all have
of our savior.
See you next time.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com