An Israeli woman who had a malignant tumor that almost took her leg had nothing left to do but pray. Miraculously, her prayers worked and she was healed.
Therese Daoud was scheduled to have surgery to amputate her leg, but after it was canceled three times for bureaucratic reasons, the Christian woman believed it was a sign.
Three months later, doctors found that her tumor had completely disappeared. Daoud, a high school science teacher, told her story to Israel Channel 2 Friday.
“I felt pain in my leg, in my ankle, with swelling,” she recalled.
Her doctor, professor Jacob Bickels, says the tumor was “about the size of an orange.” He was shocked when he discovered it had disappeared.
“If someone had told me this story, I would have said that both the patient and doctor were psycho. It’s impossible,” he told Channel 2.
Daoud consulted with oncology experts in Israel and the U.S., and the unanimous opinion was that she should have her leg amputated. When the surgery was canceled three different times, Daoud took it as a sign that she should not undergo the procedure.
“It was clear to me she was going to die within a short time,” said Bickels, head of the oncology department at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital. “She is an educated, intelligent and sane woman, and when a person makes such a decision and is cognizant of its significance, we respect it.”
Daoud returned to her home in Ussfiya, an Arab village outside Haifa, where she prayed for her health. Three months later, she went back to the hospital for a consultation with her doctor.
“I asked her what happened,” Bickels recalled. “She grinned widely and said, ‘I prayed.’ I sent her for an MRI, and the tumor had shrunk dramatically. I had not seen anything like this or heard of such a thing. I do not know of a cancer of this type that retreats.”
Daoud underwent another biopsy, which revealed the tumor was gone.
“Every time I prayed, I felt peace and security,” she said. “I was afraid, but also at peace.”
She added, “It’s a gift from God.”
