Home » Discussion » Zola's Battle with Cancer

On Thursday, March 30, Zola was evaluated to see how he did with the radiation and chemotherapy. I’m afraid the results were not too good. The treatments did greatly help the cancer in the lungs and brain but his liver has deteriorated, so I don’t think they’re really concerned with the other things anymore. The prognosis is now set at six to eight weeks.

I’m sorry about having to give this bad news. The good part about this is that liver failure is more gentle than sucumbing to lung cancer. Zola no longer has to be afraid of not being able to take a breath, etc. near the end.

Certainly, no one is ruling out a miracle, though. Zola did say last Friday that if he were to receive a miracle, it would be a big one, because this isn’t just back pain he’s suffering from. On the other hand, though, we don’t want to go against God’s wishes, and maybe it is His will that Zola join him to help welcome people into His kingdom. Maybe God needs some more Levites on His staff.

I say this because, though I don’t know a lot about cancer, Zola’s experience with it has been pretty mild so far. So maybe that right there is our answer to our prayers. If Zola isn’t healed, it certainly won’t be from a lack of prayer. So the only alternative is that this is God’s will.

Zola has access to supplemental oxygen if he were to need it, but it doesn’t seem to help right now. He also has a patch to deliver pain medicine and that has helped a great deal. He’s not in pain, exactly, but he doesn’t feel good and is tired a lot. The patch has helped with that. He has spoken with hospice workers about care that may be necessary down the road. He is now using a walker around the house to keep him steady. So everything necessary is being done.

One thing to remember also, is that the TV shows you see of him talking about his illness were filmed about a month earlier. On days when he feels well enough, he continues to film TV shows. There will come a point where he looks good on TV but is not well in real life. Just something to be prepared for. I will try to keep you updated here.