Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index
Previous Features | Send mail to The Voice


MBC student returns to college after battling Hodgkin's Disease



Phil Lamar finished chemotherapy in November, 1998. -Phil Lamar, photo

" I had a week to find out if I was going to live or die," Phil Lamar said as he recalled a series of doctor's appointments and medical tests he went through in February, 1998. Lamar was a sophomore at Multnomah Bible College.

The week began when he discovered an unusual lump on the left side of his neck. He told his friend, John Baima, that he was going to the doctor, and Baima said, "I feel like I need to go with you."

They visited a local doctor who felt the lump. "Immediately, I could tell something was wrong," Lamar said. "I could see it in his eyes." Several other doctors came to the examining room and felt the lump. They told Lamar they thought he had cancer.

Lamar said he was shocked. "I had never had anything wrong with me in my life," he said. The doctor took an x-ray and found another mass of tissue in his chest. Lamar then called his mom. She wanted him to return home to Little Rock, Ark., but he decided to stay for more medical tests.

"I had responsibilities," Lamar said. He didn't want to leave his position as SWOT chairman, his classes and the Latino outreach ministry.

He and the doctor planned to continue with tests the next day. "My life radically changed from the time I walked in [the doctor's office] and the time I walked out," he said.

Lamar said he couldn't handle sleeping in the dorm that night. He hadn't yet told many people about the doctor's speculation. He and Baima stayed in a hotel and returned to the doctor the next day for a CAT scan. The test showed that the unusual tissue was located above Lamar's diaphragm.

Then the doctor ordered a biopsy. This test would examine the tissue to determine the type of cancer Lamar had. The process took several days. During that time, Lamar stood before the Multnomah student body on a Day of Prayer and told everyone he had cancer. He said that people were shocked and crying.

Lamar said he felt a peace about hearing the results and he wasn't scared. He said he often read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day...."

The biopsy showed that Lamar had Hodgkin's disease. This is a cancer of the lymphatic system, which is part of the circulatory system. He had approximately a 90 percent chance of full recovery.

Sonny Varela, Lamar's roommate that year, said that Lamar seemed occupied and acted more withdrawn after he was diagnosed. "I saw him a lot less after that," Varela said.

Lamar began chemotherapy in Portland, right before spring semester's final exams. The doctors implanted a port in his chest. He said they stuck a needle into the port to administer IV drugs.

Lamar returned home to Little Rock for the summer and continued treatments there. He experienced anticipatory nausea, where he would get sick just by walking into the doctor's office. He had other stomach problems and often felt weary.

Lamar said he fought chemotherapyat first. Rather than resting in bed, he once went water-skiing. He said he could only fight so long; then he learned to rest in the Lord. "God taught me utter dependance on Him," he said. Some days, he returned home from a treatment and slept for hours. When he woke up, he still felt terrible.

The cancer had already gone into remission during chemotherapy, but Lamar had to finish the treatments. Then he underwent radiation. Every day for three weeks, the doctors lined up lasers to the areas of Lamar's body that had cancer. Lamar said the radiation made his throat hurt 100 times worse than any sore throat.

In December, 1998, approximately 10 months from the day he first discovered the lump on his neck, he finished the radiation.

Though he was victorious over the cancer, Lamar was still weak from the treatments and not ready to return to the Pacific Northwest. He attended Baylor University for a year and then came back to Multnomah last August.

The cancer must stay in remission for five years before Lamar will be considered cured. He said he feels confident because there is only a five percent chance of it coming back.

Returning to Multnomah has been difficult for Lamar because different people are attending now. "You leave, and you think it'll be frozen in time, and it isn't," he said.

Looking back on the experience, Lamar sees how he has grown. "I thought the trial would change me," he said. "The trial just shows you who you are. It's how you respond to it that changes you."

Varela said that Lamar is "a million times nicer now." He said that before the cancer, Lamar seemed to have an objective in mind in his relationships with people. Now, he said, Lamar sees people on a more real level.

Lamar said that he had a spiritual innocence before the cancer. He said that now the world is not so black and white, and he's not so much of a know-it-all. "During the cancer, I wanted to live so badly. Now I say, 'God, I'll stay here, but I'd rather be with you.'"