By LeShea Gray
In December 2017, a couple of months after turning 40, I told my doctor I’d been feeling sleepy all the time and not like myself. The doctor went to look at my blood work, and when she came back into the room, she pulled up a chair, put her hand on my leg, and, with the softest voice, told me I was pregnant.
“PREGNANT!?” I shouted. My husband, David, and I had tried for years to have a second child, and nothing. I started to feel faint and had to lie down. I thought, “I’m 40 with a 14-year-old, and now we’re starting over.” David had just started a new business while working at his longtime job; I had quit my job earlier that year to care for my grandmother, who’d passed away in August; and we were living in a rental house while building our new home.
But after the shock wore off, we were excited! Soon, we found out we were having a boy.
I started getting a progesterone shot at three months pregnant to help prevent early labor. A few weeks later, I noticed a small knot in my left breast. David and I thought, “It’s a swollen milk duct,” but I got an ultrasound and a biopsy. A few days after the biopsy, the surgeon’s office called and said they needed to “check the incisions.” When I got ready to go in the following day, my car had a flat, so David took me.
The doctor and his nurse told us: “I’m so sorry, you have stage 2 breast cancer. It’s growing like wildfire because all the hormones are feeding it, and you have to have a mastectomy next week and then start chemo, or you and the baby won’t be here.”
After that, I didn’t hear another word because I couldn’t stop crying. Evidently, I had a tiny cancer cell in my breast, and when I started the progesterone shot, it blew it up like crazy. However, had I not gotten pregnant, the cancer would have shown up a year or two down the road and would have been even further along. Do you see how amazing
LeShea with her miracle baby, Camp, now 5 years old
God is?
At five months pregnant, I had my first mastectomy. Before the surgery, the elders at my mother’s home church laid hands on me and prayed over me, the baby, and my family. My anxiety left after that experience.
At six months pregnant, I started chemo. I did lose my hair, but I wore a wig made by a God-loving lady I’d been introduced to. The wig was so natural-looking that nobody knew it was a wig half the time.
On September 13, 2018, I went into labor five weeks early. At 6:15 p.m., we welcomed a beautiful, healthy baby boy, 6 pounds 9 ounces, with a full head of hair! Campton (Camp) David Gray had made his arrival. Only God can perform such a miracle!
Later, we continued chemo, and on January 7, 2019, with God and my family by my side, I got to beat the “I Beat Cancer” drum at the Cancer Center!
Today, we live in our new home, David works one job at our business, Landri is in her second year of radiology school, and Camp just turned 5. He is the smartest little guy we’ve ever known. He is the life of the party, loves to sing songs about Jesus, and never meets a stranger. There is so much more to our story, but ALL GLORY TO GOD, there have been no more signs of cancer.
Because of cancer, we came closer to God, closer as a family, and closer to our community. We saw how powerful prayer is and that fixing things is not our job. When I quit my job to help my grandmother, God knew I would need to be at home the following year.
My uncle used to sing a song: “I’m a winner either way, if I go or if I stay.” When you let God lead, there is no losing.
LeShea and David Gray live in Pelahatchie and attend Pelahatchie Cornerstone Church. They have two children, Landri (20), and Camp (5). They are also the owners of Deep South Tactical in Pelahatchie.
