Soprano soloist Janet Paschal has long been one of the most popular members of the Gaither Homecoming Tour. She was the tour’s blonde-headed Barbie Doll, complete with slender build and perfect features, along with an appealing singing style that captivated audiences around the world.
Two years ago, it looked as if all that might be coming to an end when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Last year she rejoined the tour. Her theme song has become Bill and Gloria Gaither’s “It Won’t Rain Always,” and her experience of fighting and conquering the dreaded disease has given her a new appreciation for rainbows.
Paschal’s career began as a member of the LeFevres, which became the Rex Nelon Singers after the last LeFevre retired. From there she became a member of the Jimmy Swaggart evangelistic team, then launched her own solo career. She has been on the Homecoming videos since the early days.
She seemed to have everything going for her: Numerous industry honors, a midlife newlywed, a growing fan base and several best-selling gospel songs. Then, six years into her marriage, came the bad news.
Paschal recounted her experience in detail at a recent Gaither Homecoming appearance in Fort Wayne, telling how she faced a series of the toughest kind of chemotherapy, known as Red Devil chemo.
“I finished the chemo, then had a simple lumpectomy, and I was told it would be over,” she told the audience. That was not to be. The chemo had not worked, she was told, and another kind of chemo would have to be tried.
“My hair was just growing back in from the first chemo, and it was about an inch long,” Paschal recalled. “I asked the doctor, ‘Will I lose my hair again?’ He said, ‘Yes, but it will grow back, and it will be blonde.’” After the audience laughed, she added, “Eventually.”
Taking it day by day, treatment by treatment, Paschal came through the second series successfully. This time she was given a clean bill of health.
“Three months ago, I had my last checkup, she said. “They told me as far as they can tell, I’m now 100 percent cancer free.”
A portion of the proceeds from her most recent project, “Sounds Like Sunday,” are being donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
No one is a stranger to cancer these days. The Gaither Homecoming series has lost several artists, including Hovie Lister, Danny Gaither, Roger Bennett, Glen Payne and Bob Cain, to cancer. And anyone who has experienced the disease knows it can come back even when previous treatment has been successful.
Given a new lease on life, Janet Paschal is taking advantage of it, singing with conviction as she voices the song:
And it won’t rain always,
The clouds will soon be gone,
The sun that they’ve been hiding
Has been there all along,
And it won’t rain always,
God’s promises are true.
The Son’s gonna shine in His own good time,
And he will see you through.
-- William J. and Gloria Gaither
and C. Aaron Wilburn
-----
While we’re talking about Bill and Gloria Gaither, they caught up to us earlier this month as far as the number of grandchildren. William Benjamin Gaither II was born to Benjy and Melody Gaither, giving the proud grandparents a total of six.
A Gaither Web site release says the boy will be called Liam. OK, I guess besides the fact it’s one of those “in” monikers these days, they’ve used up all the other designations. His father goes by Benjy, and Grandpa is Bill. And Benjy’s sister Suzanne Jennings already has a Will.
(Jim Bailey’s column appears on Sunday. He can be reached by e-mail at jameshenrybailey@earthlink.net.)
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JIM BAILEY: For Janet Paschal, life is a rainbow
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