March 31, 2023 • 38 mins
At the age of 18, Beth's son Mitchell passed away from an undiagnosed illness. For the last five years of his life, she did everything in her power to help him return to health, only to realize it was out of her control. Listen in as Beth shares the incredible lessons she learned about coming to a point of complete surrender and discovering an even deeper relationship with God.
#surrender #relinquishingcontrol #mitchellthorpfoundation
https://www.mitchellthorp.org/
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Episode Transcript
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Michelle (00:10):
Hey everybody and welcome back to Qualified, the
place where incredible peopleshare their stories of
overcoming great adversity andloss to inspire you and give you
hope. I'm Michelle Heaton.
Have you ever experiencedadversity so great that you
can't even imagine being happyagain? Was there a time in your
(00:33):
life when you were shaken to thecore by a loss so profound that
you didn't think you wouldrecover? In the midst of your
deepest pain, did you find ithard to believe something good
could come from something sobad? Well, my guest today could
have answered yes to all ofthose questions at one time in
(00:53):
her life. Like myself, sheexperienced the loss of a
teenager. Her 18 year old sonMitchell. She too asked all the
questions about her loss, andstruggled to understand the
reason he had to go. She alsofought sadness and despair, and
lack the will to move forward.
But today, she is living proofthat good does come from tragedy
(01:17):
that others can benefit from thelosses we've experienced, and
that there is truly purpose thatcan be realized in the midst of
our deepest pain and sorrow.
Today, she is an author andphilanthropist, speaker, and co
founder and executive directorof the Mitchell Thorp
(01:38):
Foundation, a public 501 C3organization whose mission is to
support families with childrenthat suffer from life
threatening illnesses, diseasesand disorders by providing
financial and emotionalresources to their desperate
situation. Her name is BethThorp and it's my great
(01:58):
privilege to have her on theshow today.
Welcome to Qualified Beth.
Beth (02:03):
Thank you so much, Michelle. It's an honor to be
here to speak with you, and youraudience.
Michelle (02:09):
Well, thank you. Well, Beth, I'm looking so forward to
hearing about all the goodthings you're doing now with the
foundation. But before we getthere, can you start by telling
us about the boy whose lifechanged so many others your son,
Mitchell, tell us a little bitabout him and also about the
condition that he suffered fromfor the last five years of his
life?
Beth (02:29):
Sure, absolutely. I'm, I'm looking at him now I have
hanging on the wall. He's myprecious my firstborn child,
Mitchell. And just a beautifulboy in inside and out in. He was
a healthy child. When he wasborn, no health issues. He was a
4.0 student in school. He lovesschool. And he had a really
(02:50):
heart and a love for baseball.
That was his thing. He playedmany sports. But his his love
fell there because his fatherplayed for the Los Angeles
Dodgers back in the day in theminor league system as a
pitcher. So that's where thatlove grew from. And my husband
coached both of my boys andbaseball through and throughout
this whole community. So manydifferent boys he's coached. And
(03:11):
unfortunately, at the age of 13,strange symptoms became apparent
very apparent, right? When youcome from a to healthy child, to
all of a sudden, you're startingto look in his body language his
head pain and this pain with myhusband, and most of you know,
what's going on Mitchell, what'shappening with what's going on
here. So symptoms came on at 13.
(03:36):
And diagnosed to the age of 18.
When he passed, doctorsscratching their heads, we took
him all over the United States,looking for answers, just
horrific season of lives. Wewere as you can imagine any
parents because he go to theends of the earth to try to
figure out what's going on. Andwe were just going everywhere to
every doctor, every hospitalvisit he was in searching for
(03:59):
the root cause of what wascausing all this head pain, what
was happening to him. Anddoctors not giving the answers.
I mean, that was a season atotal chaos and confusion.
Because then you're left withwell, what is really going on,
Michelle (04:18):
That must have been so frustrating for you because the
normal response for any of uswhen an illness comes is to turn
to the medical professionals andget a diagnosis and then
treatment options. But thatwasn't happening for you. So
faced with this harsh reality,what did she do next?
Beth (04:38):
That was a rude awakening for us as parents, that doctors
aren't human. They don't knoweverything. We might think that
they are gods that they shouldknow everything. But we're
walking into this hoping thatthey have answers and when they
didn't have answers. It reallyleft us like someone pulled the
rug underneath us and then webegan to do our only searching
(05:01):
right at that time and justtrying to figure out Has anyone
seen symptoms like this? Hasanyone heard of things like
this? And when I think back atthat time, a decade ago, when we
were walking this journey into,like, from 2003, he passed in
2008. You know, social media wasany really round, it was
(05:24):
MySpace. I mean, that's whatthey had it, they had to go back
and think. So there reallywasn't a lot of social media, or
I could get it out there. And itwas all print. We took his story
in print to the Union Tribunehere. And that was really hard
to do to kind of let yourprivacy be known. But we were
really trying to search foranswers when no one could help
(05:47):
us and the doctors werescratching their heads, trying
to figure it out. And we keptdoing the next indicated thing,
when people would come to us andwe looked into this, have you
looked into that, you know, youstarted hearing all these
things, and you, again, no stoneunturned, we had them tested for
heavy metals, and yes, metalswere showing up, we had them key
lated and then one thing afteranother, and then you're like,
Okay, well, maybe it's Lymedisease, okay, we had him test
(06:08):
for Lyme disease. But back thenthose tests were not what I
understand today, not reallyaccurate, and can't find lines
in bloodwork because it hidesitself in the tissue. So it
could have been, again,underlying symptoms of that,
again, this is what I'mthinking. But then again,
nothing was concrete. And whenhe passed, you know, it was
(06:32):
horrific for us to even try toread the autopsy report, because
he passed in the hospital ofTexas, from another new took him
to the hospital, they're lookingfor answers. And it said
undetermined.
Michelle (06:45):
Yeah, yeah, I get that. Sadly, I too received
undetermined cause of death fromthe medical professionals at the
time of my son's passing. It'snot an easy thing to deal with,
for sure. So talk about youremotions at that time, and how
did you even begin to processit?
Beth (07:06):
As you know, until this day, people say how do you live
without knowing? You know, and Imight never know the answers
ever, until I get to heaven. Andeven then, you might I might not
know the all the answers. Andit's just it's just, I can't
even explain it. But uh, you'releft in shock. You're left in
(07:29):
disbelief. You're left in? Whatanswering the why God? And then,
you know, I went through thatwhole phase, right? So you know,
sometimes you're not meant toknow why. You're trying to
figure out the Y. Trying tofigure out what do I do with all
this?
Michelle (07:49):
Yeah, the why seems kind of pointless after a time
and we just have to moveforward. Like you said, can you
talk about the specific waysthat Mitchell's illness and his
ultimate passing impacted you?
What emotions did she feel andhave to work through?
Beth (08:06):
confusion, anxiety, there's fear, all those emotions
racing, through but through allof us, trying to save our child
and, and to already be told bydoctors that they don't know
what this is. And yet clearly,he was deteriorating. before our
(08:27):
eyes. It was truly an emotionalstruggle that tested our fate,
literally. And there's so manythings that can happen as we
know in this world that erodeaway at least for me, our faith,
all the little disappointments,the frustrations in life, the
pain we all go through kind ofchips away at it. It chips away
(08:49):
at ourselves or on socialcompetence. It chips away that
faith and other people have totwisting stress starts to be
broken. And it really chips awayeven a god Why are you doing
this? What did I do to deservethis? Right all those questions
that I'm Why would God allow it?
They Yes. And you know, I behonest with your audience. Yeah,
(09:12):
I asked all those questions.
Michelle (09:17):
Yeah, and that's a common response. I hear from
many other guests. I'veinterviewed anger at God
questioning faith. So how didyou ultimately overcome those
feelings?
Beth (09:28):
I had to dig deep to get back into my faith even
stronger. And I even had tobring my husband and my other
son along with me becausethey're just floundering out
there right. Not knowing how tohandle all this. So we as a
family kind of got we for me,open my Bible. I read it daily.
(09:51):
They constantly kind of openingit up going okay you speak to
me, Lord more. Where did youmeet? What do you need to speak
to me about this today and sometimes for new believers or
people who don't believe. Theydon't know where to turn. So
then they are searching foranswers, maybe in all the wrong
places. And they think they'regoing in the right places. And
(10:15):
believe me, I did that. Youknow, because I, we were, we
were running all around lookingfor answers. But ultimately,
when things were not working outto our advantage, you know,
things were really hard. And wewere hard pressed.
Michelle (10:31):
Well, you made the comment that it felt like it was
testing your faith. And then youopen the Bible and read, was
that a comfort to you? And ifso, how did it comfort you?
Beth (10:40):
Well for those who don't believe the Bible is the gospel
of truth. And it's the goodnews, right? So it's, it's the
most, when we're talking aboutbooks, I mean, is the most well
read book in the universe. Imean, it is the book, if you had
to read one book, I would say,pull out that book. If you find
(11:01):
yourself really lost, and in thedeepest pain and grief right
now, or just had no, your couldbe in the state of depression or
wherever you're not start there.
But then the Bible can get kindof confusing for people, you
know, because it can be like,well, I read this, but I don't
quite understand it. So youreally then I tell people who
(11:21):
are like those who are searchingbecause he God created us with
the mind, body and spirit.
Right? And that spirit is whatGod factor our hearts. And he
all He created us all that way.
And he drives us closer to him.
He wants us all not to flounder,and be the Lord and he called
the lost sheep. He just loveswhen he can get one of his last
(11:43):
sheep back to him, because Godis near to the brokenhearted and
the crushed in spirit. Yes. Andso for me, like you said, that's
where it brought me in mycomfort. And probably it was for
me my comfort. Hmm. Also lookingfor direction, the same time.
Michelle (12:02):
I'm so glad that she found comfort and direction
again in reading the Bible.
Beth, in your book, you talkedabout you and your husband doing
everything possible to helpMitchell. And then finally you
had no choice but to come to aplace of total surrender. Can
you talk a little about thatdifficult time.
Beth (12:22):
As a mom, our job is to always make things better.
Right? Then I couldn't fix this.
And it was heart wrenching to methat I couldn't take my son's
pain away. Yeah. And part ofthat process was total
surrender. At that point, I hadto give up that control has
blamed my husband and I werelike two pit bulls trying to
(12:43):
keep them here on this side ofheaven. Right on this earth. We
were praying for his healinghere on this side of heaven. We
did not want him to go. Andultimately, when I was at the
last hospital stayed for over amonth and just so exhausted, so
spent in they basically sentMitchell home with us and said
put them in palliative care.
(13:08):
Basically saying take him hometo die. But we were not ready to
give up on her. You know, we hadthat. Again, strength within us
and we had a lineup when theyreleased. I then at that point
when all integrated medicine Iwere fired and intuitionist he
left the hospital with the GTube luckily, because he quit at
that point couldn't swallowwould take down food. So I hired
(13:31):
a nutritionist, an osteopath, aphysical therapist or pastor and
all these people lined up tojust kind of make these visits
and home to care for him in hedid survive another year from
that point and started to have aglimmer of light a glimmer of
hope he started to look better.
And he wasn't grabbing his headas much in pain. So it was
definitely a challenging time.
(13:53):
Yeah, well
Michelle (13:53):
I understand a mother's instinct and drive to
help your son for sure. So sometime later as you were
continuing to walk this path ofGrief and Healing you
experienced some very specialmoments that you believe were
truly signs from heaven. ThatMitchell's Okay, can you tell us
about one of them?
Beth (14:15):
There are several and in the book I photographed and
people never believed half ofthe stuff that happened. Yeah,
if I didn't photograph it, andthere were several and on
chapter 17, speaking beyond theveil of heaven, is what I titled
it in. Mitchell's walking stickhas a lot to do with why it's
titled a new creation so you'llhave to read the book to know
(14:38):
that but I can tell another signafter his passing a butterflies.
Butterflies are usually asignificant symbol, like
hummingbirds and things of thatnature. But there were so many
signs that when Mitchell's alivewith me would be outside his
wheelchair and butterflies wouldbe flying around us and be
(14:58):
sitting there together. Out sideand I'd be talking to him to him
and, and I just see oh gosh,Mitchell God's gonna heal us.
And I know he's gonna set youfree like these butterflies
flying around us. He's gonna setyou free from this pain and but
in my mind, I'm thinking beinghealed on this side. Yeah, I had
(15:18):
no I didn't think the other way.
Yeah, yeah. When he passed, itwas really within that month we
took our dogs we had twobeautiful golden retrievers one
was his dog, and we were takingour walk when the on the lagoon
down here. And something justtold me to stop. And Britt has
rockin milk. He says, Why areyou stopping? I said, No, I
(15:39):
said, stop. And he's what Isaid, Son was just telling me to
stop, you have to stop and bestill. And we sat there, okay,
don't stop and the dogs arepanting away. And these
butterflies were flying aroundus. And just. And then I just
was just, I don't know whatcaused me just to just be still
(15:59):
and it landed on the post, I putmy finger down to see if it
would come on my hand. And sureenough, it did crawl on my
finger and I lifted it up. Andthen it flew away. Right. And
then it started buzzing myhusband's head literally
flicking his hair. If he's likeguarding this butterfly, like of
looking at him. As a man, itlanded. And we're watching this
(16:22):
and it landed right on his rightshoulder and it just sat. And we
just were both like, he's likethis with his eyes open. Like, I
stopped moving. Just Just bestill. And then I said, Honey, I
said do you realize that's thesame shoulder, you always lift
and carry Mitchell up and downthe stairs on that right
(16:46):
shoulder. Because he couldn'twalk anymore. At that time. He
was always lifting and sharing.
Jesus that butterfly sign on hisright shoulder. I said I think
Mitchell's tiny animal key thenext year all the heavy lifting.
That was the first time we'reliterally that the veil, I
really feel that was lifted offmy husband's eyes. Just really
(17:09):
interpret them. Because he Godknows how to speak to each one
of us individually. And he'llspeak to us the way he knows how
to get to us for what we need tosee. And it's different for
everyone. Right? So it's reallydifferent for everyone.
Michelle (17:26):
It's a beautiful story. And thank you so much for
sharing that. I can attest tothe fact that these moments do
occur because I've had manymyself since Sean passed away. I
call them Sean moments, and Iconsider them to be sacred. What
would you say to someone whothinks this kind of divine
intervention isn't possible? Orit's all in our heads?
Beth (17:49):
Well, you know, first of all, I'd say again, you have to
believe Yeah, and it's it is sotrue in this world. Many
children are not raised to knowthat there is a higher being.
Yeah, yeah. So there are manypeople who don't have faith.
They're atheists or this thatthe other just don't. They walk
to their own drumbeat. They'rebasically god of their lives,
(18:11):
right? And then I would usuallyask people like that, who wants
to know what makes you tick?
Why? How can you get throughthis is what happens when you're
on nonbeliever. When bothhardships of life hit in your
life crumbles, you are not goingto be able to stand through it,
you are going to crumble withit, and you will not. I've seen
it in so many cases, people thathave turned to drugs and alcohol
(18:35):
to numb the pain or, or they doother things that are not
healthy to deal with the pain.
And eventually, it's going toexplode. Eventually, they're
going to crumble. Yeah,
Michelle (18:48):
I always say that when you know, tragedy hits like
this, people either run to Godor away from him. You know, and
even if somebody has arelationship with God, like you
talked about before, it couldcause them to doubt their faith,
and then they can turn tosomething else. So fast forward
all this time. And you talkedabout the foundation, what was
(19:09):
the turning point in your lifewhere you and your husband
decided to use what you had beenthrough to start a foundation
for good?
Beth (19:16):
Wow. Yeah,that was a profound moment. Because really,
it started back in. We werestill grieving. And we went to
grief share many times, but thenwe knew we needed more help.
Losing a child can wreak havocon the marriage. So we needed
one on one counseling for us. Wesaw our spiritual counselor in
(19:38):
the very first thing she workedwith Brad and I. And the first
thing she took us through wasforgiveness. And there were so
much that we were carrying forall those years. Forgiving
doctors who couldn't find theanswers people saying things
they shouldn't have said familymembers that did things that
they shouldn't you know howthose things just keep piling
up, piling up in his gets pusheddown and you're carrying on And
(20:00):
then in order for you to releasewhat no longer serves you, you
need to forgive. And you need toget it off and you need to lay
down. It's like letting go ofheavy bricks, obviously off that
you've been carrying for solong. My husband was a bawling
mess on the floor, right?
Because men have a hard timeexpressing your motion. But it
(20:21):
was a release that he needed.
And, and I'm watching this infront of me, but I knew he
needed it. And then she workedon me. And so same kind of
exercise, letting go of thingsinside, and even forgiving each
other as a married couple, youknow, because you're fearful.
And you're always going afterpeople closest to you that you
(20:41):
love. It's just a natural humanthing, forgiving each other for
things we said, and did,shouldn't have. So once we came
through that whole exercise, wewere exhausted by that by that
night, and the next morning, Iwoke up, you can see that was my
transformational moment. Formyself. I can't speak for my
husband. But as I said to him, Ilooked him in the eyes. And I
(21:04):
told him, I don't want to doanything else on this planet.
Unless it has eternalsignificance. There's nothing
else matters. That's right, youlost so much, you know, and you
lose it. You lost everything youcan. And then you begin to
realize nothing can compare tothe loss of a child because we
(21:25):
could have lost her home, whichwe almost did you know, because
paying for all the medical billsand all I say, but does that
really matter? You know, I wasjust, you get to the point, when
you're like, one, you have nocontrol over anything in our
lives. Really, if you thinkabout it, you try to control it.
We try to control it. Yeah, asbest as we can. But ultimately,
(21:48):
you know, if you think about it,whether you're a believer or not
lever, we're here today, we'vegone tomorrow in a heartbeat,
just like that. Yeah. And it'sreally up to us as humans. What
are we doing with our lives? Arewe doing the most to impact
people's lives? And that can befor people who are just so
(22:09):
you're not a believer, justbeing kind to your neighbor?
Yeah, that you that youoverlooked, you know, just being
kind delivering a littlehomebaked bread with that, it
doesn't matter. It's just likegetting out of yourself. That's
the first thing I tell peopleget out of yourself, and help
someone else, and then you'llstart take the focus off of you.
(22:31):
Mm hmm. And that really washelpful. I didn't know that
lesson really. Because when yousaid one was a turning point,
when I came to thetransformational moment, and
then in my deepest pain ofGreece, and curled up in a ball
and not lying on the bedanymore. God said, this is not
(22:52):
the end. This is the beginning.
That's what illuminated my mind.
And I'm curled up in a ball andI sit in up in my bed and I'm
looking upwards. And I'm like,it feels like the end. What do
you mean, this is not the end? Ipardon me died right in front of
you died. And then that week, myhusband for heard a similar
message. He was in the churchover here. And I heard a similar
(23:15):
message that we should start aphone to start or something
because he was coaching two boysin the community. They both had
cancer, one had lymphoma, one innon Hodgkins both families
struggling against just likewhat we were going through. And
that that strong feeling says,you know, we should form a
bridge, Alicia for ourfoundation helped many way
through what we went through,comes home to tell me that God
(23:36):
spoke to me we should start afoundation and I'm looking at
where you want to do what Iknow, we don't know anything
about starting a foundation.
What? You know, I'm doing that.
And then I kind of had to sitback and listen that go ask what
you meant God that this is notthe end, beginning. And so there
we were, we started with onechild at a time. He went and
filed the paperwork to form a501 C three, we got on our hands
(23:59):
and knees and literally admittedit over to him the Lord and
said, God, you're the CEO ofours. We are not you got to work
through us. We are your vessels.
But you got to help us. Anhonest to goodness, I'll tell
you. It just kind of has grown.
So here we are, you know, 14years later given back, and how
(24:20):
many countless that were banded1000s of our children and
families. We've helped over 3million and counting back out
into the community, helpingchildren and families struggling
like we were and it's just Ikeep pinching myself like wow.
Michelle (24:36):
Wow is right. That is such an incredible story of how
faith played out in your livesand how God used something
tragic for something good. Thankyou for that. Beth, can you tell
us about one of your proudestmoments or someone you help that
just warms your heart when youthink about Mitchell and what
Beth (24:54):
There are a lot of stories and it was hard to pick one and
you're doing now?
but you know, first I have tosay yes, there's there's many
one I have to probably go.
Although a recent, a youngteenage girl 19 years old, I
won't say her name, single mom.
(25:18):
She had osteo sarcoma lungcancer, for one of her legs was
cancer is now spreading to herlungs. Mom's scared out of her
mind, right. And we're goinginto the hospital, my husband
and I to meet this familybecause we get all our usual
referrals from the socialworkers from the hospitals, some
families that are just, youknow, they hit rock bottom, and
they need help. Mom hit, youknow, single mom, imagine how
(25:41):
she thinks are the doing allthis right? So we kind of go in
and and they introduce who weare. And I started talking to
this young girl, and she'ssharing with me in I don't know
where their faith is right? Idon't know. But we're just
talking and letting her talk andjust see what we do. And what
would you be open for prayer inher? They were like, absolutely.
(26:03):
So we did pray, we all heldhearings and came around and bin
Laden hands it and prayed overthe whole situation and the
doctors for care and whatnot.
And then she started to open upto me and she says Ron, I really
wanted to go to college, and I,this is all set back and
everything. You know how youstart that feeling of I'm
defeated. And I just startedright away, bringing life into
her, I said you will look at mein the eyes and see you will go
(26:28):
to college. This part of yourlife may seem like the end, but
it's a chapter in your life. Andyou're gonna turn this chapter.
And I didn't know but I'm justpouring life and faith into her
that she was losing faith can'tlose faith. You got Isaiah, you
are one warrior woman, you arestrong. And you will get through
(26:48):
this. And then we'll fastforward. We have our big warrior
spirit 5k Run walk every year.
That's our big annual fundraiserfor the foundation for a lot of
these families instead of Teampages to come walk for Johnny
and Susie and people can donateand really helps to build a
little more income for thesefamilies more than you know the
(27:10):
foundation are great do a grantbut then some of these cases are
long term. So fast forward, thisyoung lady is in college she has
graduated, the mom says only asshe was passing such as I said,
Well, of course she is. She woreyour you know or your girls. So
you know, it's beautiful to usestories of going down and her
(27:30):
family would always say youknow, your faith was
unbelievable in terms of shesays thank you for pouring into
my daughter. Like that. So lotsof things like those are great
moments. Yeah,
Michelle (27:42):
I love that story. You know, I read your book, and I
just was blown away byeverything that you've been
through and how your faithreally kept you strong and kept
you motivated to continue on.
And then I turned to one chapterand see that your husband got a
diagnosis of throat cancer. Andthen a few years later, you got
(28:02):
a diagnosis of a brain tumor. Somy question to you is, you had
so much adversity in your life?
Was there ever a time then whenyour faith began to waver?
Beth (28:16):
Well, you know, by then, no, because I had so many at
that time when that happenedwhen my husband got the
diagnosis. I had happened aleaving that day, from a Bible
study with a group of women andhe calls me in when I'm walking
in the parking lot and says, Oh,I just got test results. I have
throat cancer. And I just likeyou know, it's like the balloon,
(28:38):
the air gets taken out of yourballoon again. And you're like,
Have I look upward again I'm sayugh I can't do this again. As I
cried out to Him and then again,that still small voice how he
does for me. That's why I'm saypeople you gotta get to know
God, the strong relationshipwith him because, you know, I
don't hear him all the time.
Right? Is that like we but Italked to him all the time.
(29:00):
Right? Right. But when youreally need him and then all he
said is simple words "I gothim".that was all I had to hear.
And he was telling me I don'thave to carry it. Because at how
we want to share it again. I hadto carry my son and through all
this for five years. I couldn'tcarry one more thing. And he
(29:21):
said I got so he said to me, Igot it. And then all's I needed
to know that I'm just thank you.
And I was I need to know it'slove my husband through it. It
was a hard thing or seeing boththrough and loving through it.
So really, by the time it cameto me, it was so amazing. I
(29:45):
mean, not really amazing, but itwas like almost a month before
my big again 5K event coming up.
I was working on that all theplans in place and and I had a
mini seizure in the middle ofthe night. That basically Okay,
scored that drove me to the ER.
And where they took the scansand saw a very large five
(30:07):
centimeter tumor. And you'relike, again out of body
experience and you're looking atthis you're going what the shots
at anyway. And they said, if wedon't remove this, you'll be
dead in two years. So you gottaget this out. And we don't know
if it's cancerous until we sendit off the lab. So talk about
God intervening. And thebeautiful thing about that is, I
(30:31):
know the head ER doctor, here atScripps, and he actually his
outlet he plays in our band atthe event. There, I actually
named their band. It's calledthe doctor, doctor band, and
they are all doctors. Butanyway, he opens a curtain. And
he says, What are you doinghere? and I said Oh, my gosh, I
(30:52):
says, I don't know. But this iswhat's happened. And he says,
Don't worry, I got you intoscans. And you come in, and then
he found the neurosurgeon oncall that day. And he was just
so instrumental in just beingthere for me, which is great.
But the intercessory of prayerof my people around me that was
lifted me up. I'll have to tellyou, Michelle, I had no fear. I
(31:17):
felt elevated above the ground,I can't tell you how important
to have people praying, thepower of prayer, people in need,
is so strong. And to haveintercessors pray for you when
you cannot. That's important ofhaving people around you that
can pray for people when they'reill, or sick or whatnot. And
(31:38):
they can't, it helps lift themup to the situation, the
surgery. Whatever. Yeah,
Michelle (31:46):
I'm so happy to hear that you had peace in the midst
of all of this. It actuallyseems like all the adversity you
had been through in your life upuntil this point had been
preparing you and made yourfaith stronger.
Beth (31:58):
Oh, yeah, it grew. I was there was no fear at that point.
Because I told my husband Isaid, you know, before when the
surgery instead of, if Mitchelland God are calling me home, I'm
okay with it. If he looked atme, and he says, oh, no, I was
No, when you come out. But youknow, I was like at that place
in my life, like, Okay, you'reeither done with me in it. I do
(32:22):
survive. God's got for our workfor me to do. And then when I
woke up from it paralyzed on theright side, I couldn't walk to
your eyes. It took me a longtime to recover from that six
months to learn to walk anddrive for two years. But anyway,
that's a whole nother story. Buttalk about perseverance. And
(32:43):
when I woke up from that, andI'm all bandaged up and
recommend I look at as my guestGod's done, that would be the
perfect guest work to do.
Michelle (32:53):
Yeah, I think you got that right. What a story. So
Beth, given everything thatyou've walked through in this
life, all the trials andadversity you've experienced,
what lessons have you learnedthat you can pass along to
someone listening right nowwhoneeds hope?
Beth (33:11):
Life's a journey, I'll tell you, for all of us. We're
all carrying our own cross,right? Don't give up. Persevere,
fight the good fight upstate.
Faith doesn't always take youout of the problem. Faith gets
you through the problem. Faithdoesn't always take away the
pain that you're going through.
(33:32):
But faith gives you the abilityto handle all the pain and the
messiness. And then faithdoesn't always take you out of
the storms of life. But theFaith is going to help you
carrying through it. So it'susually and I always tell the
story in a Peter getting on theboat. Yeah, the faith just about
boat but one began to doubt hewas saying, you say That's
(33:55):
right. So you know, hang inthere. This is our one strong
Bible verse. That was veryprominent when Mitchell was
sick. That resonated with myfamily, when a pastor spoke
about it, and you could write itdown. Audience, Joshua 1:9. And
(34:16):
it's God speaking to Joshuabefore he went into war, but he
said, Have I not commanded youto be strong and courageous. Do
not be afraid. Do not bediscouraged for the Lord thy God
is with you wherever you go.
He'll give you strength andcourage to get through. Whatever
this life this crazy life throwsat us all right, but ain't over
(34:37):
yet. Think of Joshua 1:9,strength and courage. We put it
on all our T shirts, at all ourevents and our hats and just
it's a reminder that yeah, youknow, sometimes they say Lord,
I'm not this strong. He's like,Oh, yes, you are. Oh no i'm not.
Yes, you are. And they getstrength into I have to repeat
(34:59):
that to myself a lot. Yeah.
Michelle (35:04):
I love that scripture, Be strong and courageous for
he's with us everywhere we go,amen.
Well, before we close, can youjust tell listeners where they
can go to find out more aboutthe Mitchell Thorp Foundation,
and also get a copy of your book
Bet (35:20):
MitchellThorpfoundation.org is where you can go and check
out what we do with helpingfamilies or so you might know
that the only or the child thatreally needs help, and are
struggling, you can refer themto our website. And you can even
get the book on there. And wecreated a separate website for
the book, it's just called a newcreation.org, that a n ew
(35:43):
creation.org, then you can get abook there. Or you can just buy
it online, or in bookstores,wherever you get your books.
It's available, it just cameout. And it's only been out
seven months now. And thebeautiful thing about all this,
Michelle that just came aboutthis. I'm working with to film
producers as we speak, taking itinto a screenplay.
Michelle (36:04):
Congratulations!
Beth (36:08):
When it comes out, it's been a huge undertaking. So I
don't know when. But if itcomes, you'll have to come walk
the red carpet with me.
Michelle (36:16):
I would love to!
Beth (36:17):
You'll get an invite.
Michelle (36:19):
Thank you. I'm going to put a link to your website in
the show notes to make it easyfor listeners to go there. And
that way they can stay tuned forwhen the film comes out. Yes,
wonderful. At this point, I justwant to thank you so much for
agreeing to come on the podcast.
It was just a pleasure talkingto you.
Beth (36:38):
Thank you for the work you're doing. The lessons of
this, there are so many people,especially since so many people
lost people to COVID and so manyhurting people out there. Thank
you, Michelle.
Michelle (36:50):
So for those of you listening, you heard Beth speak
about the pain of losing herteenage son Mitchell to an
undiagnosed illness. She and herhusband did everything in their
power to keep him here to find asolution that would bring him
back to health, but it was outof their control. When we get
hit with the hard stuff in life,we feel out of control and we
(37:13):
don't like it. But when Bethlearned to surrender and begin
to relinquish her control backto God, her faith deepened, and
she became even stronger to faceall that was ahead in her life.
Don't lose hope today, myfriend. Loss is so hard and it
can drag us down if we let it.
At one point Beth lack the willto go on. But she persevered and
(37:35):
now she's helping so manyothers. And Michell's story will
live on in a feature film verysoon. So be inspired. And one
day you too will be able to helpsomeone else with the lessons
you learned in your loss.
Thanks for listening
Hey everybody and welcome back to Qualified, the
place where incredible peopleshare their stories of
overcoming great adversity andloss to inspire you and give you
hope. I'm Michelle Heaton.
Have you ever experiencedadversity so great that you
can't even imagine being happyagain? Was there a time in your
(00:33):
life when you were shaken to thecore by a loss so profound that
you didn't think you wouldrecover? In the midst of your
deepest pain, did you find ithard to believe something good
could come from something sobad? Well, my guest today could
have answered yes to all ofthose questions at one time in
(00:53):
her life. Like myself, sheexperienced the loss of a
teenager. Her 18 year old sonMitchell. She too asked all the
questions about her loss, andstruggled to understand the
reason he had to go. She alsofought sadness and despair, and
lack the will to move forward.
But today, she is living proofthat good does come from tragedy
(01:17):
that others can benefit from thelosses we've experienced, and
that there is truly purpose thatcan be realized in the midst of
our deepest pain and sorrow.
Today, she is an author andphilanthropist, speaker, and co
founder and executive directorof the Mitchell Thorp
(01:38):
Foundation, a public 501 C3organization whose mission is to
support families with childrenthat suffer from life
threatening illnesses, diseasesand disorders by providing
financial and emotionalresources to their desperate
situation. Her name is BethThorp and it's my great
(01:58):
privilege to have her on theshow today.
Welcome to Qualified Beth.
Beth (02:03):
Thank you so much, Michelle. It's an honor to be
here to speak with you, and youraudience.
Michelle (02:09):
Well, thank you. Well, Beth, I'm looking so forward to
hearing about all the goodthings you're doing now with the
foundation. But before we getthere, can you start by telling
us about the boy whose lifechanged so many others your son,
Mitchell, tell us a little bitabout him and also about the
condition that he suffered fromfor the last five years of his
life?
Beth (02:29):
Sure, absolutely. I'm, I'm looking at him now I have
hanging on the wall. He's myprecious my firstborn child,
Mitchell. And just a beautifulboy in inside and out in. He was
a healthy child. When he wasborn, no health issues. He was a
4.0 student in school. He lovesschool. And he had a really
(02:50):
heart and a love for baseball.
That was his thing. He playedmany sports. But his his love
fell there because his fatherplayed for the Los Angeles
Dodgers back in the day in theminor league system as a
pitcher. So that's where thatlove grew from. And my husband
coached both of my boys andbaseball through and throughout
this whole community. So manydifferent boys he's coached. And
(03:11):
unfortunately, at the age of 13,strange symptoms became apparent
very apparent, right? When youcome from a to healthy child, to
all of a sudden, you're startingto look in his body language his
head pain and this pain with myhusband, and most of you know,
what's going on Mitchell, what'shappening with what's going on
here. So symptoms came on at 13.
(03:36):
And diagnosed to the age of 18.
When he passed, doctorsscratching their heads, we took
him all over the United States,looking for answers, just
horrific season of lives. Wewere as you can imagine any
parents because he go to theends of the earth to try to
figure out what's going on. Andwe were just going everywhere to
every doctor, every hospitalvisit he was in searching for
(03:59):
the root cause of what wascausing all this head pain, what
was happening to him. Anddoctors not giving the answers.
I mean, that was a season atotal chaos and confusion.
Because then you're left withwell, what is really going on,
Michelle (04:18):
That must have been so frustrating for you because the
normal response for any of uswhen an illness comes is to turn
to the medical professionals andget a diagnosis and then
treatment options. But thatwasn't happening for you. So
faced with this harsh reality,what did she do next?
Beth (04:38):
That was a rude awakening for us as parents, that doctors
aren't human. They don't knoweverything. We might think that
they are gods that they shouldknow everything. But we're
walking into this hoping thatthey have answers and when they
didn't have answers. It reallyleft us like someone pulled the
rug underneath us and then webegan to do our only searching
(05:01):
right at that time and justtrying to figure out Has anyone
seen symptoms like this? Hasanyone heard of things like
this? And when I think back atthat time, a decade ago, when we
were walking this journey into,like, from 2003, he passed in
2008. You know, social media wasany really round, it was
(05:24):
MySpace. I mean, that's whatthey had it, they had to go back
and think. So there reallywasn't a lot of social media, or
I could get it out there. And itwas all print. We took his story
in print to the Union Tribunehere. And that was really hard
to do to kind of let yourprivacy be known. But we were
really trying to search foranswers when no one could help
(05:47):
us and the doctors werescratching their heads, trying
to figure it out. And we keptdoing the next indicated thing,
when people would come to us andwe looked into this, have you
looked into that, you know, youstarted hearing all these
things, and you, again, no stoneunturned, we had them tested for
heavy metals, and yes, metalswere showing up, we had them key
lated and then one thing afteranother, and then you're like,
Okay, well, maybe it's Lymedisease, okay, we had him test
(06:08):
for Lyme disease. But back thenthose tests were not what I
understand today, not reallyaccurate, and can't find lines
in bloodwork because it hidesitself in the tissue. So it
could have been, again,underlying symptoms of that,
again, this is what I'mthinking. But then again,
nothing was concrete. And whenhe passed, you know, it was
(06:32):
horrific for us to even try toread the autopsy report, because
he passed in the hospital ofTexas, from another new took him
to the hospital, they're lookingfor answers. And it said
undetermined.
Michelle (06:45):
Yeah, yeah, I get that. Sadly, I too received
undetermined cause of death fromthe medical professionals at the
time of my son's passing. It'snot an easy thing to deal with,
for sure. So talk about youremotions at that time, and how
did you even begin to processit?
Beth (07:06):
As you know, until this day, people say how do you live
without knowing? You know, and Imight never know the answers
ever, until I get to heaven. Andeven then, you might I might not
know the all the answers. Andit's just it's just, I can't
even explain it. But uh, you'releft in shock. You're left in
(07:29):
disbelief. You're left in? Whatanswering the why God? And then,
you know, I went through thatwhole phase, right? So you know,
sometimes you're not meant toknow why. You're trying to
figure out the Y. Trying tofigure out what do I do with all
this?
Michelle (07:49):
Yeah, the why seems kind of pointless after a time
and we just have to moveforward. Like you said, can you
talk about the specific waysthat Mitchell's illness and his
ultimate passing impacted you?
What emotions did she feel andhave to work through?
Beth (08:06):
confusion, anxiety, there's fear, all those emotions
racing, through but through allof us, trying to save our child
and, and to already be told bydoctors that they don't know
what this is. And yet clearly,he was deteriorating. before our
(08:27):
eyes. It was truly an emotionalstruggle that tested our fate,
literally. And there's so manythings that can happen as we
know in this world that erodeaway at least for me, our faith,
all the little disappointments,the frustrations in life, the
pain we all go through kind ofchips away at it. It chips away
(08:49):
at ourselves or on socialcompetence. It chips away that
faith and other people have totwisting stress starts to be
broken. And it really chips awayeven a god Why are you doing
this? What did I do to deservethis? Right all those questions
that I'm Why would God allow it?
They Yes. And you know, I behonest with your audience. Yeah,
(09:12):
I asked all those questions.
Michelle (09:17):
Yeah, and that's a common response. I hear from
many other guests. I'veinterviewed anger at God
questioning faith. So how didyou ultimately overcome those
feelings?
Beth (09:28):
I had to dig deep to get back into my faith even
stronger. And I even had tobring my husband and my other
son along with me becausethey're just floundering out
there right. Not knowing how tohandle all this. So we as a
family kind of got we for me,open my Bible. I read it daily.
(09:51):
They constantly kind of openingit up going okay you speak to
me, Lord more. Where did youmeet? What do you need to speak
to me about this today and sometimes for new believers or
people who don't believe. Theydon't know where to turn. So
then they are searching foranswers, maybe in all the wrong
places. And they think they'regoing in the right places. And
(10:15):
believe me, I did that. Youknow, because I, we were, we
were running all around lookingfor answers. But ultimately,
when things were not working outto our advantage, you know,
things were really hard. And wewere hard pressed.
Michelle (10:31):
Well, you made the comment that it felt like it was
testing your faith. And then youopen the Bible and read, was
that a comfort to you? And ifso, how did it comfort you?
Beth (10:40):
Well for those who don't believe the Bible is the gospel
of truth. And it's the goodnews, right? So it's, it's the
most, when we're talking aboutbooks, I mean, is the most well
read book in the universe. Imean, it is the book, if you had
to read one book, I would say,pull out that book. If you find
(11:01):
yourself really lost, and in thedeepest pain and grief right
now, or just had no, your couldbe in the state of depression or
wherever you're not start there.
But then the Bible can get kindof confusing for people, you
know, because it can be like,well, I read this, but I don't
quite understand it. So youreally then I tell people who
(11:21):
are like those who are searchingbecause he God created us with
the mind, body and spirit.
Right? And that spirit is whatGod factor our hearts. And he
all He created us all that way.
And he drives us closer to him.
He wants us all not to flounder,and be the Lord and he called
the lost sheep. He just loveswhen he can get one of his last
(11:43):
sheep back to him, because Godis near to the brokenhearted and
the crushed in spirit. Yes. Andso for me, like you said, that's
where it brought me in mycomfort. And probably it was for
me my comfort. Hmm. Also lookingfor direction, the same time.
Michelle (12:02):
I'm so glad that she found comfort and direction
again in reading the Bible.
Beth, in your book, you talkedabout you and your husband doing
everything possible to helpMitchell. And then finally you
had no choice but to come to aplace of total surrender. Can
you talk a little about thatdifficult time.
Beth (12:22):
As a mom, our job is to always make things better.
Right? Then I couldn't fix this.
And it was heart wrenching to methat I couldn't take my son's
pain away. Yeah. And part ofthat process was total
surrender. At that point, I hadto give up that control has
blamed my husband and I werelike two pit bulls trying to
(12:43):
keep them here on this side ofheaven. Right on this earth. We
were praying for his healinghere on this side of heaven. We
did not want him to go. Andultimately, when I was at the
last hospital stayed for over amonth and just so exhausted, so
spent in they basically sentMitchell home with us and said
put them in palliative care.
(13:08):
Basically saying take him hometo die. But we were not ready to
give up on her. You know, we hadthat. Again, strength within us
and we had a lineup when theyreleased. I then at that point
when all integrated medicine Iwere fired and intuitionist he
left the hospital with the GTube luckily, because he quit at
that point couldn't swallowwould take down food. So I hired
(13:31):
a nutritionist, an osteopath, aphysical therapist or pastor and
all these people lined up tojust kind of make these visits
and home to care for him in hedid survive another year from
that point and started to have aglimmer of light a glimmer of
hope he started to look better.
And he wasn't grabbing his headas much in pain. So it was
definitely a challenging time.
(13:53):
Yeah, well
Michelle (13:53):
I understand a mother's instinct and drive to
help your son for sure. So sometime later as you were
continuing to walk this path ofGrief and Healing you
experienced some very specialmoments that you believe were
truly signs from heaven. ThatMitchell's Okay, can you tell us
about one of them?
Beth (14:15):
There are several and in the book I photographed and
people never believed half ofthe stuff that happened. Yeah,
if I didn't photograph it, andthere were several and on
chapter 17, speaking beyond theveil of heaven, is what I titled
it in. Mitchell's walking stickhas a lot to do with why it's
titled a new creation so you'llhave to read the book to know
(14:38):
that but I can tell another signafter his passing a butterflies.
Butterflies are usually asignificant symbol, like
hummingbirds and things of thatnature. But there were so many
signs that when Mitchell's alivewith me would be outside his
wheelchair and butterflies wouldbe flying around us and be
(14:58):
sitting there together. Out sideand I'd be talking to him to him
and, and I just see oh gosh,Mitchell God's gonna heal us.
And I know he's gonna set youfree like these butterflies
flying around us. He's gonna setyou free from this pain and but
in my mind, I'm thinking beinghealed on this side. Yeah, I had
(15:18):
no I didn't think the other way.
Yeah, yeah. When he passed, itwas really within that month we
took our dogs we had twobeautiful golden retrievers one
was his dog, and we were takingour walk when the on the lagoon
down here. And something justtold me to stop. And Britt has
rockin milk. He says, Why areyou stopping? I said, No, I
(15:39):
said, stop. And he's what Isaid, Son was just telling me to
stop, you have to stop and bestill. And we sat there, okay,
don't stop and the dogs arepanting away. And these
butterflies were flying aroundus. And just. And then I just
was just, I don't know whatcaused me just to just be still
(15:59):
and it landed on the post, I putmy finger down to see if it
would come on my hand. And sureenough, it did crawl on my
finger and I lifted it up. Andthen it flew away. Right. And
then it started buzzing myhusband's head literally
flicking his hair. If he's likeguarding this butterfly, like of
looking at him. As a man, itlanded. And we're watching this
(16:22):
and it landed right on his rightshoulder and it just sat. And we
just were both like, he's likethis with his eyes open. Like, I
stopped moving. Just Just bestill. And then I said, Honey, I
said do you realize that's thesame shoulder, you always lift
and carry Mitchell up and downthe stairs on that right
(16:46):
shoulder. Because he couldn'twalk anymore. At that time. He
was always lifting and sharing.
Jesus that butterfly sign on hisright shoulder. I said I think
Mitchell's tiny animal key thenext year all the heavy lifting.
That was the first time we'reliterally that the veil, I
really feel that was lifted offmy husband's eyes. Just really
(17:09):
interpret them. Because he Godknows how to speak to each one
of us individually. And he'llspeak to us the way he knows how
to get to us for what we need tosee. And it's different for
everyone. Right? So it's reallydifferent for everyone.
Michelle (17:26):
It's a beautiful story. And thank you so much for
sharing that. I can attest tothe fact that these moments do
occur because I've had manymyself since Sean passed away. I
call them Sean moments, and Iconsider them to be sacred. What
would you say to someone whothinks this kind of divine
intervention isn't possible? Orit's all in our heads?
Beth (17:49):
Well, you know, first of all, I'd say again, you have to
believe Yeah, and it's it is sotrue in this world. Many
children are not raised to knowthat there is a higher being.
Yeah, yeah. So there are manypeople who don't have faith.
They're atheists or this thatthe other just don't. They walk
to their own drumbeat. They'rebasically god of their lives,
(18:11):
right? And then I would usuallyask people like that, who wants
to know what makes you tick?
Why? How can you get throughthis is what happens when you're
on nonbeliever. When bothhardships of life hit in your
life crumbles, you are not goingto be able to stand through it,
you are going to crumble withit, and you will not. I've seen
it in so many cases, people thathave turned to drugs and alcohol
(18:35):
to numb the pain or, or they doother things that are not
healthy to deal with the pain.
And eventually, it's going toexplode. Eventually, they're
going to crumble. Yeah,
Michelle (18:48):
I always say that when you know, tragedy hits like
this, people either run to Godor away from him. You know, and
even if somebody has arelationship with God, like you
talked about before, it couldcause them to doubt their faith,
and then they can turn tosomething else. So fast forward
all this time. And you talkedabout the foundation, what was
(19:09):
the turning point in your lifewhere you and your husband
decided to use what you had beenthrough to start a foundation
for good?
Beth (19:16):
Wow. Yeah,that was a profound moment. Because really,
it started back in. We werestill grieving. And we went to
grief share many times, but thenwe knew we needed more help.
Losing a child can wreak havocon the marriage. So we needed
one on one counseling for us. Wesaw our spiritual counselor in
(19:38):
the very first thing she workedwith Brad and I. And the first
thing she took us through wasforgiveness. And there were so
much that we were carrying forall those years. Forgiving
doctors who couldn't find theanswers people saying things
they shouldn't have said familymembers that did things that
they shouldn't you know howthose things just keep piling
up, piling up in his gets pusheddown and you're carrying on And
(20:00):
then in order for you to releasewhat no longer serves you, you
need to forgive. And you need toget it off and you need to lay
down. It's like letting go ofheavy bricks, obviously off that
you've been carrying for solong. My husband was a bawling
mess on the floor, right?
Because men have a hard timeexpressing your motion. But it
(20:21):
was a release that he needed.
And, and I'm watching this infront of me, but I knew he
needed it. And then she workedon me. And so same kind of
exercise, letting go of thingsinside, and even forgiving each
other as a married couple, youknow, because you're fearful.
And you're always going afterpeople closest to you that you
(20:41):
love. It's just a natural humanthing, forgiving each other for
things we said, and did,shouldn't have. So once we came
through that whole exercise, wewere exhausted by that by that
night, and the next morning, Iwoke up, you can see that was my
transformational moment. Formyself. I can't speak for my
husband. But as I said to him, Ilooked him in the eyes. And I
(21:04):
told him, I don't want to doanything else on this planet.
Unless it has eternalsignificance. There's nothing
else matters. That's right, youlost so much, you know, and you
lose it. You lost everything youcan. And then you begin to
realize nothing can compare tothe loss of a child because we
(21:25):
could have lost her home, whichwe almost did you know, because
paying for all the medical billsand all I say, but does that
really matter? You know, I wasjust, you get to the point, when
you're like, one, you have nocontrol over anything in our
lives. Really, if you thinkabout it, you try to control it.
We try to control it. Yeah, asbest as we can. But ultimately,
(21:48):
you know, if you think about it,whether you're a believer or not
lever, we're here today, we'vegone tomorrow in a heartbeat,
just like that. Yeah. And it'sreally up to us as humans. What
are we doing with our lives? Arewe doing the most to impact
people's lives? And that can befor people who are just so
(22:09):
you're not a believer, justbeing kind to your neighbor?
Yeah, that you that youoverlooked, you know, just being
kind delivering a littlehomebaked bread with that, it
doesn't matter. It's just likegetting out of yourself. That's
the first thing I tell peopleget out of yourself, and help
someone else, and then you'llstart take the focus off of you.
(22:31):
Mm hmm. And that really washelpful. I didn't know that
lesson really. Because when yousaid one was a turning point,
when I came to thetransformational moment, and
then in my deepest pain ofGreece, and curled up in a ball
and not lying on the bedanymore. God said, this is not
(22:52):
the end. This is the beginning.
That's what illuminated my mind.
And I'm curled up in a ball andI sit in up in my bed and I'm
looking upwards. And I'm like,it feels like the end. What do
you mean, this is not the end? Ipardon me died right in front of
you died. And then that week, myhusband for heard a similar
message. He was in the churchover here. And I heard a similar
(23:15):
message that we should start aphone to start or something
because he was coaching two boysin the community. They both had
cancer, one had lymphoma, one innon Hodgkins both families
struggling against just likewhat we were going through. And
that that strong feeling says,you know, we should form a
bridge, Alicia for ourfoundation helped many way
through what we went through,comes home to tell me that God
(23:36):
spoke to me we should start afoundation and I'm looking at
where you want to do what Iknow, we don't know anything
about starting a foundation.
What? You know, I'm doing that.
And then I kind of had to sitback and listen that go ask what
you meant God that this is notthe end, beginning. And so there
we were, we started with onechild at a time. He went and
filed the paperwork to form a501 C three, we got on our hands
(23:59):
and knees and literally admittedit over to him the Lord and
said, God, you're the CEO ofours. We are not you got to work
through us. We are your vessels.
But you got to help us. Anhonest to goodness, I'll tell
you. It just kind of has grown.
So here we are, you know, 14years later given back, and how
(24:20):
many countless that were banded1000s of our children and
families. We've helped over 3million and counting back out
into the community, helpingchildren and families struggling
like we were and it's just Ikeep pinching myself like wow.
Michelle (24:36):
Wow is right. That is such an incredible story of how
faith played out in your livesand how God used something
tragic for something good. Thankyou for that. Beth, can you tell
us about one of your proudestmoments or someone you help that
just warms your heart when youthink about Mitchell and what
Beth (24:54):
There are a lot of stories and it was hard to pick one and
you're doing now?
but you know, first I have tosay yes, there's there's many
one I have to probably go.
Although a recent, a youngteenage girl 19 years old, I
won't say her name, single mom.
(25:18):
She had osteo sarcoma lungcancer, for one of her legs was
cancer is now spreading to herlungs. Mom's scared out of her
mind, right. And we're goinginto the hospital, my husband
and I to meet this familybecause we get all our usual
referrals from the socialworkers from the hospitals, some
families that are just, youknow, they hit rock bottom, and
they need help. Mom hit, youknow, single mom, imagine how
(25:41):
she thinks are the doing allthis right? So we kind of go in
and and they introduce who weare. And I started talking to
this young girl, and she'ssharing with me in I don't know
where their faith is right? Idon't know. But we're just
talking and letting her talk andjust see what we do. And what
would you be open for prayer inher? They were like, absolutely.
(26:03):
So we did pray, we all heldhearings and came around and bin
Laden hands it and prayed overthe whole situation and the
doctors for care and whatnot.
And then she started to open upto me and she says Ron, I really
wanted to go to college, and I,this is all set back and
everything. You know how youstart that feeling of I'm
defeated. And I just startedright away, bringing life into
her, I said you will look at mein the eyes and see you will go
(26:28):
to college. This part of yourlife may seem like the end, but
it's a chapter in your life. Andyou're gonna turn this chapter.
And I didn't know but I'm justpouring life and faith into her
that she was losing faith can'tlose faith. You got Isaiah, you
are one warrior woman, you arestrong. And you will get through
(26:48):
this. And then we'll fastforward. We have our big warrior
spirit 5k Run walk every year.
That's our big annual fundraiserfor the foundation for a lot of
these families instead of Teampages to come walk for Johnny
and Susie and people can donateand really helps to build a
little more income for thesefamilies more than you know the
(27:10):
foundation are great do a grantbut then some of these cases are
long term. So fast forward, thisyoung lady is in college she has
graduated, the mom says only asshe was passing such as I said,
Well, of course she is. She woreyour you know or your girls. So
you know, it's beautiful to usestories of going down and her
(27:30):
family would always say youknow, your faith was
unbelievable in terms of shesays thank you for pouring into
my daughter. Like that. So lotsof things like those are great
moments. Yeah,
Michelle (27:42):
I love that story. You know, I read your book, and I
just was blown away byeverything that you've been
through and how your faithreally kept you strong and kept
you motivated to continue on.
And then I turned to one chapterand see that your husband got a
diagnosis of throat cancer. Andthen a few years later, you got
(28:02):
a diagnosis of a brain tumor. Somy question to you is, you had
so much adversity in your life?
Was there ever a time then whenyour faith began to waver?
Beth (28:16):
Well, you know, by then, no, because I had so many at
that time when that happenedwhen my husband got the
diagnosis. I had happened aleaving that day, from a Bible
study with a group of women andhe calls me in when I'm walking
in the parking lot and says, Oh,I just got test results. I have
throat cancer. And I just likeyou know, it's like the balloon,
(28:38):
the air gets taken out of yourballoon again. And you're like,
Have I look upward again I'm sayugh I can't do this again. As I
cried out to Him and then again,that still small voice how he
does for me. That's why I'm saypeople you gotta get to know
God, the strong relationshipwith him because, you know, I
don't hear him all the time.
Right? Is that like we but Italked to him all the time.
(29:00):
Right? Right. But when youreally need him and then all he
said is simple words "I gothim".that was all I had to hear.
And he was telling me I don'thave to carry it. Because at how
we want to share it again. I hadto carry my son and through all
this for five years. I couldn'tcarry one more thing. And he
(29:21):
said I got so he said to me, Igot it. And then all's I needed
to know that I'm just thank you.
And I was I need to know it'slove my husband through it. It
was a hard thing or seeing boththrough and loving through it.
So really, by the time it cameto me, it was so amazing. I
(29:45):
mean, not really amazing, but itwas like almost a month before
my big again 5K event coming up.
I was working on that all theplans in place and and I had a
mini seizure in the middle ofthe night. That basically Okay,
scored that drove me to the ER.
And where they took the scansand saw a very large five
(30:07):
centimeter tumor. And you'relike, again out of body
experience and you're looking atthis you're going what the shots
at anyway. And they said, if wedon't remove this, you'll be
dead in two years. So you gottaget this out. And we don't know
if it's cancerous until we sendit off the lab. So talk about
God intervening. And thebeautiful thing about that is, I
(30:31):
know the head ER doctor, here atScripps, and he actually his
outlet he plays in our band atthe event. There, I actually
named their band. It's calledthe doctor, doctor band, and
they are all doctors. Butanyway, he opens a curtain. And
he says, What are you doinghere? and I said Oh, my gosh, I
(30:52):
says, I don't know. But this iswhat's happened. And he says,
Don't worry, I got you intoscans. And you come in, and then
he found the neurosurgeon oncall that day. And he was just
so instrumental in just beingthere for me, which is great.
But the intercessory of prayerof my people around me that was
lifted me up. I'll have to tellyou, Michelle, I had no fear. I
(31:17):
felt elevated above the ground,I can't tell you how important
to have people praying, thepower of prayer, people in need,
is so strong. And to haveintercessors pray for you when
you cannot. That's important ofhaving people around you that
can pray for people when they'reill, or sick or whatnot. And
(31:38):
they can't, it helps lift themup to the situation, the
surgery. Whatever. Yeah,
Michelle (31:46):
I'm so happy to hear that you had peace in the midst
of all of this. It actuallyseems like all the adversity you
had been through in your life upuntil this point had been
preparing you and made yourfaith stronger.
Beth (31:58):
Oh, yeah, it grew. I was there was no fear at that point.
Because I told my husband Isaid, you know, before when the
surgery instead of, if Mitchelland God are calling me home, I'm
okay with it. If he looked atme, and he says, oh, no, I was
No, when you come out. But youknow, I was like at that place
in my life, like, Okay, you'reeither done with me in it. I do
(32:22):
survive. God's got for our workfor me to do. And then when I
woke up from it paralyzed on theright side, I couldn't walk to
your eyes. It took me a longtime to recover from that six
months to learn to walk anddrive for two years. But anyway,
that's a whole nother story. Buttalk about perseverance. And
(32:43):
when I woke up from that, andI'm all bandaged up and
recommend I look at as my guestGod's done, that would be the
perfect guest work to do.
Michelle (32:53):
Yeah, I think you got that right. What a story. So
Beth, given everything thatyou've walked through in this
life, all the trials andadversity you've experienced,
what lessons have you learnedthat you can pass along to
someone listening right nowwhoneeds hope?
Beth (33:11):
Life's a journey, I'll tell you, for all of us. We're
all carrying our own cross,right? Don't give up. Persevere,
fight the good fight upstate.
Faith doesn't always take youout of the problem. Faith gets
you through the problem. Faithdoesn't always take away the
pain that you're going through.
(33:32):
But faith gives you the abilityto handle all the pain and the
messiness. And then faithdoesn't always take you out of
the storms of life. But theFaith is going to help you
carrying through it. So it'susually and I always tell the
story in a Peter getting on theboat. Yeah, the faith just about
boat but one began to doubt hewas saying, you say That's
(33:55):
right. So you know, hang inthere. This is our one strong
Bible verse. That was veryprominent when Mitchell was
sick. That resonated with myfamily, when a pastor spoke
about it, and you could write itdown. Audience, Joshua 1:9. And
(34:16):
it's God speaking to Joshuabefore he went into war, but he
said, Have I not commanded youto be strong and courageous. Do
not be afraid. Do not bediscouraged for the Lord thy God
is with you wherever you go.
He'll give you strength andcourage to get through. Whatever
this life this crazy life throwsat us all right, but ain't over
(34:37):
yet. Think of Joshua 1:9,strength and courage. We put it
on all our T shirts, at all ourevents and our hats and just
it's a reminder that yeah, youknow, sometimes they say Lord,
I'm not this strong. He's like,Oh, yes, you are. Oh no i'm not.
Yes, you are. And they getstrength into I have to repeat
(34:59):
that to myself a lot. Yeah.
Michelle (35:04):
I love that scripture, Be strong and courageous for
he's with us everywhere we go,amen.
Well, before we close, can youjust tell listeners where they
can go to find out more aboutthe Mitchell Thorp Foundation,
and also get a copy of your book
Bet (35:20):
MitchellThorpfoundation.org is where you can go and check
out what we do with helpingfamilies or so you might know
that the only or the child thatreally needs help, and are
struggling, you can refer themto our website. And you can even
get the book on there. And wecreated a separate website for
the book, it's just called a newcreation.org, that a n ew
(35:43):
creation.org, then you can get abook there. Or you can just buy
it online, or in bookstores,wherever you get your books.
It's available, it just cameout. And it's only been out
seven months now. And thebeautiful thing about all this,
Michelle that just came aboutthis. I'm working with to film
producers as we speak, taking itinto a screenplay.
Michelle (36:04):
Congratulations!
Beth (36:08):
When it comes out, it's been a huge undertaking. So I
don't know when. But if itcomes, you'll have to come walk
the red carpet with me.
Michelle (36:16):
I would love to!
Beth (36:17):
You'll get an invite.
Michelle (36:19):
Thank you. I'm going to put a link to your website in
the show notes to make it easyfor listeners to go there. And
that way they can stay tuned forwhen the film comes out. Yes,
wonderful. At this point, I justwant to thank you so much for
agreeing to come on the podcast.
It was just a pleasure talkingto you.
Beth (36:38):
Thank you for the work you're doing. The lessons of
this, there are so many people,especially since so many people
lost people to COVID and so manyhurting people out there. Thank
you, Michelle.
Michelle (36:50):
So for those of you listening, you heard Beth speak
about the pain of losing herteenage son Mitchell to an
undiagnosed illness. She and herhusband did everything in their
power to keep him here to find asolution that would bring him
back to health, but it was outof their control. When we get
hit with the hard stuff in life,we feel out of control and we
(37:13):
don't like it. But when Bethlearned to surrender and begin
to relinquish her control backto God, her faith deepened, and
she became even stronger to faceall that was ahead in her life.
Don't lose hope today, myfriend. Loss is so hard and it
can drag us down if we let it.
At one point Beth lack the willto go on. But she persevered and
(37:35):
now she's helping so manyothers. And Michell's story will
live on in a feature film verysoon. So be inspired. And one
day you too will be able to helpsomeone else with the lessons
you learned in your loss.
Thanks for listening
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