Three "S's" For The Chan's

The Chan family would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who is associated with Bel Forest Christian Academy and Bel Forest Baptist Church. There are many families that have touched our lives in the most spiritual and uplifting manner. Adriayn, Lindsay, Haley and I have been blessed by your fellowship.

I hope documenting the following events glorifies Jesus. This is my primary intent! Here goes...

I began pursuing Medical School in Spring 2002. At that time, we were financially stable and had a very bright outlook. I had calculated that at my current income, we would have been debt-free within 3 years. No mortgage, no car payments!

Life was good, but we still felt like we were missing something. We were not Christians and did not yet know about living "abundantly"! Many months passed as we debated and agreed to "Go for it". We decided to sell our townhouse, cars, quit my job and take our children out of Hanalani School, a Christian school that they loved.

A month before our departure date from Hawaii to Bel Air, Maryland, our home flooded. Half of the bottom floor ceiling and the entire east side of our house had been saturated. The damage was so extensive that it flooded our neighbor's house too.

This is where and when we started listening to Christ!

Adriayn called every emergency flood control company in town. The only person who answered was Travis, a Christian man who was repairing our house within an hour. Travis calmed us down a bit. He said "No one is hurt, no one died. Maybe this is God calling you back to church?" He prayed for us. We prayed too, cried and prayed some more.

Ten days living out of our house and a bill for $12,000.00 later, we were tired and stressed, but we were also beginning to feel Christ in our lives. Our children's' teachers said they would pray for us. Even the couple that we sold our van to said that they would pray for us. Chris, our painter, and a pastor, said, "I'll pray for you". Never before had we had so many offers of prayer.

We realized now that Christ has been tapping our shoulders all these years, but we had not listened! It took a house flood to wake us up. We prayed and he answered by sending Christians to help us.

Two weeks passed and 3 days before our departure date, Adriayn called me at work and dropped a bombshell. She told me that her Xray from a routine physical examination showed a rather large lung mass in her right lower lobe. This was very unexpected and not good news.

A slew of blood tests and an additional CAT scan followed the next day. No definitive answers! The doctors had ruled out TB and reluctantly mentioned the remote possibility of cancer. Adriayn was still not feeling sick but, there was something inside her lung and no one knew if it was still growing. Her doctor told her to handle this in Maryland ASAP. We flew out the next day.

On Nov. 7, 2002, we met Melissa and Kari Jackson, Mrs. Carson, Mrs. Bogdan and all their students. Lindsay and Haley played happily with Kari while Melissa gave us a crash course in settling in to Bel Air and Bel Forest. From that moment, Adriayn and I felt that this is the school that we want our kids to attend.

How did we find Bel Forest Christian Academy? We discovered that the Lord even works on-line! He directed us to Bel Forest when we did an internet search for private schools in Bel Air. We liked Bel Forest because it seemed similar to the girls' previous school. We wondered if we could afford the tuition since we would both be unemployed. Well, God had an answer for us: "Sure, you can afford this tuition...all you have to do is come to church." Our girls were on their way to a wonderful Christian school and Adriayn was on her way to Salvation!

The next day, Lindsay and Haley attended Bel Forest Christian Academy for the first time and we prayed that they would make friends and be happy, and the Lord answered our prayers, again. The warm and loving atmosphere we felt at Bel Forest was very attractive. We did not know what it was, only that it was good. We know now that it comes from faith-rooted families that care about each other. We wanted that too.

The next three weeks were spent trying to get our lives in order. We had not forgotten about the lung mass. We had called many Internists but all were not taking any new patients. We debated just showing up in Upper Chesapeake's ER for treatment.

Then, during a get-together at Ernesta Clark's house, Melissa asked if anyone had a good physician that Adriayn could see. Sandra Bocek and Ernesta recommended their physician. Soon, Adriayn, Sandra and I were in Dr. Morrill's office.

Adriayn had her surgery on Jan 20, 2003 and her recovery was miraculous. Visits from Pastor and Melissa brought tears to our eyes. She had a total right lower lung removal with additional left axilla biopsy. Her surgery consisted of five incisions: lung removal, two chest tubes for fluid drainage/pressure control, biopsy, and the epidural line to manage pain. All this and she was out of the hospital in 4 days and without any antibiotics or major complications. And, though the mass abscess had grown, it was not cancerous. Amen!

The many prayers and meals we received were testimonials in itself. The beautiful cards from Mrs. Carson's class and the well wishes expedited her recovery and lifted all our spirits.

We are now packing for our journey to St. Maarten. Medical school begins May 5, 2003. We will all be there for 20 months. Then we'll come back to the US for Clinical rotations for 18 months. After passing all my classes and federal exams, I'll become an MD. The Lord is in control, Amen! We'll be fine.

Looking back...

If I had not pursued Medical School, Adriayn's doctor would not have ordered a chest Xray. An Xray was truly not warranted! She was not sick, no symptoms whatsoever. The mass likely would have grown until rupture. She would have been very ill and an emergency surgery would be required to remove the entire right lung. Worst case scenario, of course, is death.

A few of her Physicians have asked us to write-up Adriayn's unusual case in the New England Journal of Medicine. I don't know about the "Journals". It glorifies the author not God. Perhaps I'll present Adriayn's case when I am a seasoned Physician and am convinced that it will glorify God and help other Clinicians.

I pray that I am following God's calling. I pray that I can minister to people physically and spiritually. I pray for my family and give thanks for the blessings already received.

In these six months, Adriayn and I have been baptized, recommitted to each other through a Convenant Marriage, and have felt the Holy Spirit in many of our fellow Brothers and Sisters. Adriayn has also been born again by receiving Jesus. Appropriately, Melissa said that we came to Maryland for three S's: Surgery, Snow and Salvation. All three floored us. Salvation and Surgery saved us.

We have grown closer to one another as our family is rooted in Christ. We have learned from many of you and know that the Christian walk is very difficult. We also know Jesus died for our sins. I know that our lives have changed. Relocating from Hawaii was a life-changing moment but Christ in Bel Forest has made life worth changing.

God Bless,
Daniel, Adriayn, Lindsay and Haley Chan
Dc79md@hotmail.com