Healed from Cancer - Now serving Christ

Healed from Cancer to Serve Christ

Pastor David Ndegwa (left) of Christian Mission Fellowship, Nairobi, gave his life to Jesus Christ in November 1988. Prior to this he was afflicted by a deadly sickness while still a young boy. In 1983 at Nakuru Hospital, he had been diagnosed with scapula cancer, a disease that was eating up his bones and slowly taking him to the grave. He says that passing his Form Four examination must have a miracle since he sat for it when he was undergoing so much pain. After the exams, he was immediately referred to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) for cancer treatment.

After completing his high school education, he stayed with his brother in Nairobi from where he would regularly visit KNH for treatment and consultation. With no hope of recovery, he got a job 1984 in Kitui as an untrained teacher. He would to commute every fortnight to KNH for treatment. Despite having secured a job, the money he got from his salary went to servicing his soaring medical bills at KNH.

As the days turned into months and the months into years, he became increasingly hopeless and a desperate. All he could wait and hope for was death. Despite having a good job and a promising life, up to 1987, Pastor Ndegwa was a very frustrated man.

After working for two years as an untrained teacher, he got a new, more lucrative job. However, he was still frustrated and hopeless. He knew for fact that what kept he alive were the costly drugs he was taking. He knew he could die any time. By this time he had grown so thin and looked very unhealthy to the point that if AIDS were known then, someone would have mistaken him for one of the victims. As he woke up every morning, he says, all he could see was the grave.

Pastor David Ndegwa describes his next action as stupid. While still very sick he got a girlfriend and proposed to her. However he never confessed to her that he had cancer. She was however very concerned since his health was deteriorating and his hair was constantly falling off. Later he married her but the real reason why he did was because he knew he was dying and wanted to leave a seed to carry on his name. His parents were very committed Anglican Church members and together with other church members and friends, they assisted in all the wedding plans for Pastor Ndegwa and his fiancée. On 1^st January 1988 he got married to his lovely wife Margaret Wambui. In July of the same year, his wife gave her life to Jesus Christ. And in the following year they were blessed with their first-born child Jacqueline Waruguru. All this time nobody including his wife had ever known what was going on within Pastor Ndegwa’s body. She was living in upcountry where she had a job as a secretary but after losing that job, she moved to Nairobi to look for new job. At this time, Pastor Ndegwa was going to a Pentecostal Church only to hear a word of consolation because of what was happening within him. He says he is the one who invited her to the his church and on the same day Mrs. Ndegwa gave her life to Jesus Christ. And since then they started going to that church as a family. Unaware of what was wrong with her husband, she diligently continued to pray for him and the family.

On 13^th November 1988, during a Sunday Service at Kenya Assemblies of God, Dandora, a white man was preaching from Psalms 42; that ‘As the dear panteth after the water brooks, so my soul panteth after thee, O God…’. Pastor Ndegwa, knowing how much he needed God because of his situation, gave his life to Jesus Christ. He says his life was totally transformed though he did not get healed at that time. It was after this that he disclosed to his wife the type of sickness he was carrying. This was a very sad day for the family but instead of being discouraged, his wife became very courageous and started praying and encouraging her husband. Pastor Ndegwa says she played a big role in giving him hope. Though the Ndegwas were happy for salvation had come to their family, the prohibitive cost of drugs made life very difficult. It became increasingly difficult to meet the basic needs of the family.

In 1992, Pastor Ndegwa got a transfer to Mombasa ART branch as a very frustrated man. Incidentally, the family had lost everything they had. His wife lost all that she had at her boutique in Kayole Estate when thugs broke in and stole everything. The thugs also struck at their home in Dandora Estate and stole everything in the house. The Christians who knew them would also not understand this situation. It was in the midst of all these misfortunes that Pastor Ndegwa got a transfer to Mombasa - another blow to their already fragile and desperate existence. He says he almost questioned God on why He was allowing them to go through such difficulties.

Pastor Ndegwa was a man of plan and being in a position where he would secure a few things, he bought items like machines and kept them. Through this he managed to revive his wife’s business. He left his wife in Nairobi to take care of the business and proceeded to Mombasa with nothing else apart from Kshs. 1,500 ($20). Life in Mombasa was very hard. In 1991, at the peak of his frustrations, he told God he was willing to die if He was not going to heal him since he could not afford to go to Kenyatta National Hospital for treatment. To prove his point, he destroyed all the documents related to the treatment he had ever received and went home to his wife to tell her he will never take any cancer medicine again

Glory to the Lord God Almighty because since then Pastor Ndegwa had never stepped back to Kenyatta Hospital neither has he taken any medicine related to relieving any cancer pain. He was totally healed. The pain disappeared and he has never again swallowed not even a painkiller. After a whole year of no pain he started putting on weight. To this day Pastor David is a healthy man. He preaches the Good News of Jesus Christ who he acknowledges as saviour and healer.

Pastor David Ndegwa says that before God healed him, he did feel called to preach. However, today he is a pastor of a fast-growing Church in Nairobi.