Lori Tarpley, a member of Mosaic, works for the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy (MIRT) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock. MIRT is focused on treating patients from around the world with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer related to lymphoma and leukemia. In time, those diagnosed with the disease become crippled and, sometimes, even paralyzed. There is no known cure.

In the spring of 2005, Lori was introduced at MIRT to a 72-year old woman from Cuba named Ofelia Lima and her daughter, Lissette. According to Lori, “It was clear that these folks were pretty lost, empty emotionally and at the end of the road. Ms. Lima had had myeloma for more than two years and doctors in Miami had told her there was nothing more that could be done. ‘This disease,’ they said, ‘will take your life.’” Lissette learned about MIRT and decided that before they gave up completely, she would bring her mother to Little Rock.

As an intake specialist, Lori does not usually invite patients to church. “But somehow,” she said “in that initial interview, it was clear to me that I should take a chance and invite Ms. Lima to connect with our Latino community at Mosaic. I knew that our folks would be supportive.”

From here, Ms. Lima picks up the story:

“From the moment I first entered Mosaic, I could sense something telling me, ‘You are going to be healed. You do not have anything, you do not have cancer.’ I bowed my head and prayed … and the brothers and sisters at Mosaic prayed for me, too. I heard a voice telling me, ‘Everything is going to be fine.’ And I left that place crying.”

The very next day, Ms. Lima returned to MIRT in order to get the results of tests taken the week before. An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) confirmed well over 100 holes and lesions where the myeloma had done its damage. As Lori read a second test to determine what disease was active, however, she was amazed: The test showed absolutely no active myeloma in Ms. Lima!

“That’s not normal,” said Lori. “One-hundred lesions don’t just empty out over the course of a weekend. It was clearly the fingerprint of God.”

Ms. Lima and Lissette soon returned to Miami, healed in everyway. And on her final Sunday at Mosaic, she stood for the first time in nine months, pushing aside the wheel chair to which she had been bound. “In Little Rock,” she said, “I was filled with joy, inside and out. It was here I began to walk again … and God is who I walk for.”

Having been told she would be in Little Rock to undergo intense treatment of her disease for 6 months, Ms. Lima returned with Lissette to Miami after only 12 days! As of January 2007, Ms. Lima continues to do well. There remains no evidence of the disease.

Gloria a Dios!