lynelle.miller@heraldbulletin.com

Pastor Leigh Crockett hesitates to call it a miracle. But he was healed. Completely. From stage 4 lung cancer. What else do you call it?

“I believe it was a miracle,” admitted Crockett, pastor of 23 years for Grace Baptist Church in Anderson. “I’m just real careful how to use the word miracle because it’s misinterpreted a lot of times. It’s not like the healings people see on television. I believe it was an intervention from God.”

His amazing story began only a few short months ago when he was kayaking with his youngest son, Luke, on Aug. 4.

“He loves to kayak so we went out on the White River,” said Crockett. “We were having a great time. There was a rapid a little ways up that is difficult to get over. I sailed up over that rapid. I smoked it. I turned to my son and told him, ‘I’m 54 and believe I’m in better shape than ever. I don’t think I could have made it up that rapid at 24.’”

Despite feeling healthy and strong, that night, Crockett fell asleep and went into severe convulsions.

“It was not very long after we went to bed, around 1 a.m., when I became aware that he was jerking,” said Crockett’s wife Beth. “I knew he was having a seizure. I thought he was having a stroke. I called for my youngest son and he came in and said to call 911.”

Living close to Community Hospital, Beth said the ambulance was there in no time.

Crockett said he remembers waking up to see EMTs in his bedroom but remembers nothing during the seizure. “I remember being upset there were people in my room. They were asking me questions like who the president was and what I’d did that day and I remember it took me a long time to remember George Bush.”

Immediately rushed to Community Hospital, Crockett was given a CAT scan. That’s when he and his wife received the first bit of bad news — he had massive bleeding on his brain.

“They didn’t say I had a tumor, but they said I had a mass on my brain and said I needed more attention than I could get in Anderson,” said Crockett. “So, they took me by ambulance to Methodist in Indianapolis. They kept saying this is very serious.”

Although he was not told a diagnosis before testing, Crockett said he strongly felt it was cancer. “I heard bleeding and a mass and I just kept thinking cancer,” he said.

Arriving at Methodist, the doctors performed a CT scan and showed Crockett the X-ray. “The mass (in my brain) was the size of a large egg.”

Because of the size of the tumor and the location inside his brain, the doctors told Crockett it’s rare that this tumor would have originated in the brain. So, they looked for a primary tumor in his chest.

“It’s routine to do a chest X-ray with this type of mass,” said Dr. Terry Horner, neurosurgeon for the Indianapolis Neurosurgical Group and Crockett’s doctor. “We treated him with seizure medications and did a chest X-ray.”

As predicted, the X-ray showed a mass in his lungs.

The next step was to perform a biopsy on the mass in his lungs to determine if it was malignant.

“We try to get a biopsy of the tumor that is most accessible with less risk,” said Horner, indicating that was the mass in Crockett’s lungs.

After enduring the painful biopsy where a large needle was stuck in Crockett’s right lung to extract a sample of the mass, Crockett said he began to pray the diagnosis would not be bad.

“I have a history of cancer in my family,” said Crockett. “I knew what they were going to say. I remembering praying the doctors would be wrong but said, ‘God, if its your will just have this be a mistake.’”

There was no mistake. The biopsy came back. Crockett had stage 4 lung cancer.

“I take care of myself and don’t smoke,” said Crockett. “I hadn’t had headaches or any medical problems before this. There was no warning. I just had cancer, the worst stage and most advanced.”

The doctors told Crockett, stage 4 lung cancer is virtually incurable. But Crockett was scared. His faith in tact, Crockett said, “If God was going to take me home, I was ready. I thought I didn’t have too long.”

Crockett was then told the first step would be to go inside his brain and remove the tumor, which was believed to be cancerous because medical history shows it would have stemmed from the cancerous tumor in his lung.

The surgery would be followed by aggressive radiation.

“I’ve seen what radiation can do to the brain,” said Crockett, adding he’s counseled many parishioners over his career who have suffered from brain tumors. “I told the doctors they could take the tumor out but we would talk about (chemotherapy) and radiation afterwards. I really didn’t want to go through it.”

On Aug. 11, Horner removed Crockett’s brain tumor and that’s when the pastor’s luck began to change.

“After the surgery, the doctors came into my room,” said Crockett. “They were all smiles — just beaming. The pathologist came back and said the tumor was benign. They said it was a meningioma.”

Although a meningioma is the most common benign tumor of the brain, Crockett’s tumor was rare.

Very rare.

According to Horner, only 15 to 20 percent of all brain tumors are meningioma. “If you look at where his occurred, it makes up only two percent of all men (who have a meningioma),” said Crockett, adding meningiomas are more common in women than men.

“The doctors seemed surprised. One doctor said I won the lottery, he said it was so rare, but I knew where this was coming from,” said Crockett, referring to the Lord.

The rarity of Crockett’s case continued.

Sent home to recover for approximately a week, Crockett then prepared to have the tumor in his lung removed.

“They knew the one in my lungs was cancer because they did a biopsy,” said Crockett. “There was no doubt.”

On August 28, a large portion of Crockett’s right lung was removed. Coming out of surgery, the doctors told him that they believe they successfully removed the whole mass. “They said they thought they got it all,” said Crockett. “But they warned me that even thought they got it all, it could come back.”

As the doctors came in to check on Crockett over the next few days, he asked them how bad the cancer actually was in his lung. “They kept coming in but didn’t say anything,” he said. “They just kept saying they were waiting on the pathologist’s report. I thought it would be worse than originally thought because it was taking so long.”

Then, the miracle occurred.

When the results were in, the doctors told Crockett he had made medical history.

The tumor in his lung was benign as well. No cancer.

“This is really a super rare thing,” said Horner. “We believe, the meningioma in his brain spread to his lungs. Only one tenth of one percent of meningiomas spread to other places. This is extremely rare.”

When asked, Horner said there really is no scientific explanation for Crockett’s case.

“I’ve never really seen anything like this before,” said Horner. “As doctors, we deal with life and death situations daily. We see lots of things we can’t explain. There certainly are cases, despite what we do, that have a spiritual part. I don’t know how you define a miracle but God has his plan and he wasn’t ready for Pastor Crockett to leave us.”

Horner may not call it a miracle and Crockett may hesitate to call it a miracle, but members of Grace Baptist Church have no doubt the Lord was at work.

“It’s definitely a miracle,” said Tracy Tipton, church member. “I’m a (registered nurse) and give chemo to cancer patients. When a biopsy says it’s cancer, it’s usually cancer. For it to come back no cancer is just a miracle.”

According to Tipton, everyone in the church began praying immediately upon hearing the terrible news. “The Lord answered our prayers,” she said.

Church member John Plumb agreed.

“We believe God does heal, spiritually as well as physically,” said Plumb. “The church prayed intently. We feel we needed Pastor Crockett to continue to feed us spiritually from the Bible. God is alive and well and has always been alive and well. It has reinforced many of those things we’ve been taught.”

Plumb said ti’s been a generous blessing from the Lord is allowing Crockett to continue to feed his flock. “We think it’s a miracle but not in terms of the TV propaganda.”

Talking with Crockett today, no one would ever know he has recently gone through such a terribly time.

A few weeks ago, sitting in his church office which is filled with medieval items such as swords, knights and even a life-size suit of armor, a small child wandered in.

“You want to get some candy?” Crockett asked the toddler.

Lifting him up to the height of the helmet on the suit of armor, Crockett lifted the face mask exposing Tootsie Rolls and delicious treats.

“I missed the little kids like crazy,” he said. “I’m so happy to be back at church. I’ve been having to take it easy but it’s hard for me. My wife really makes sure I’m recovering properly.”

For a man who has endured more physical pain in a few months than most will in a lifetime, Crockett said he believes it’s all been a blessing.

Yes, a blessing.

“I should say thank you,” said Crockett. “This has made me a better pastor. I know so much more on how to pastor to others. I can relate better to those who are suffering. There are many good things God has brought out of this.”

Not only has it been a blessing to Crockett, but his case could be beneficial to others in the future.

“We’re preparing to report it to a medical journal,” said Horner, adding this will hopefully make doctors be more leery of benign tumors in the brain.

Crockett is scheduled for a check-up in April but Horner said he will have periodic follow ups about every five years or so to ensure the meningiomas do not return.

“I don’t know what exactly happened, but if you ask me, it looks like God turned my cancer into meningiomas,” said Crockett. “God does amazing things.”