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Deanna Thompson is a Christian theologian of religion and she discussed the ups and downs to dealing with life after diagnosis of cancer. The recurring phrase to speak volumes about what she is going through is the “toughest times of our lives.” Five and a half years ago, Deanna was informed that she had a cancer that would take her life sometime soon. At first, she did not want to hear the statistics or “guides” out there to deal with her cancer. A common theme she mentioned with this that she read in a book was: a person does not know how to really have cancer. Deanna also struggled with the fact that people saw her as an inspiration. In her mind, she doesn’t believe she could see herself in the same light other people do. Through the hard times though, Deanna did not blame God or lose faith. Her friend had said she thought God gave people problems to fix their gaze back on him. Deanna would not accept this logic though and she found many forms of reason to back this from unlikely sources.
Deanna’s brother started a Caring Bridge site for her that brought a special kind of joy into her life. At first Deanna did not believe in technology but people soon helped her warm up to it. She could talk to people on there so much better than in person about what she was going through. Friends and people she barely knew, even from many different religions, would go to their god or prayer for help to come to her. A girl that Deanna had a loose friendship with got inspired to take her Jan-term class to the Middle East and to prayer for her at the religious centers there. Previously, this friend declared herself not very religious!
Deanna often made connections with her cancer to her theological work. She even wrote a chapter in a book about how trauma links to Christian theology. One big thought she presented was how people go from celebrating Christmas to Easter without looking at what comes in between. This thought comes in reference to the thoughts she has about what is to come after death. She made one last moving parallel comparing people around her loving her to her thoughts of what is to come in the afterlife.