Personal Stories

I became a Christian when God showed me that my life’s purpose was found in His Son, Jesus. From that moment on, I decided to get involved in ministry by serving as a youth overseer in my district.

In 2008, doctors discovered 7 lumps in my left breast and one in my right. They were thankfully benign. In 2012, the number of lumps on the left grew to 8. I was told to do a follow up 6 to 12 months later. Shortly after, we welcomed our first baby so I ignored the doctor’s advice to do a follow-up. I also did not follow up out of fear.

During my secondary school days, I was extremely notorious and caused many problems to my peers, school and family. I was also involved in gangs and vile activities that harmed both my body and the people who cared about me.

Growing up, my son, Zachary, had delayed speech, was violent, would zone out for hours on end, and do just one thing all day. Sometimes, he was also uncooperative. Feeding time could not be delayed—if we were late by even just five minutes, he would just move on to play and there would be no getting him back to the table for the meal.

After my girlfriend broke up with me in early 2014, I quit my job with a national television news station and moved from Bucharest back to my hometown, Arad.

I am sixty-seven years old and had trouble remembering names, such as those of film stars in popular movies. I even had trouble finding the right words to express myself and feared this was the beginning of memory problems.

I had always felt like a total failure, as I had always been last in everything—in school, in college, in sports, and in work. I had never experienced success in anything and thought I would ever do well in life.