Tapping Into Your Higher Power

Stage IV cancer will take you places you never thought you’d go.

I was losing the battle with cancer – I could feel it. I overheard the nurses talking about the day before, when they let my temperature get so high during the treatment that I almost didn’t come back around. My body wasn’t responding to the experimental chemo, and I truly felt they would kill me if I took any more treatments. I confronted my doctor, “What are my chances here? I need to know what I’m up against.” “IF you can get through these treatments, you have a 20% chance of survival. But that’s only for 3 to 5 years. If your body doesn’t respond to the chemo, or you can’t handle the treatments, you don’t have a chance in the world, in my opinion.” That was some of the worst news I’ve ever heard. I was very, very upset. I knew there had to be a better way. I just knew there had to be something else I could do.

The Power of a Prayer

I was lying there feeling pretty desperate and all I could think to do next was pray. I’ve never prayed so hard in my life as I did in that moment. It felt like every cell in my body was praying for God to help me. I can’t explain it, but the atmosphere around me changed. I never had this kind of feeling before. It felt like there was an energy around me. It didn’t take long, maybe 15 or 20 minutes later, and there was a knock at my hospital room door. A friend from college, who I hadn’t seen in about 7 years, came in waving a piece of paper. “I heard about you, James, and I feel so bad. I didn’t know what I should do for you, and I was talking to a friend at my office about it. He said he found an article about a guy who cured himself of cancer on this natural diet.” And he handed that paper to me.

I Got the Answer

I knew whatever was in my hand was what I needed to do. It was an answer to my prayer! I knew where it was coming from, and I decided right then I was going to do whatever this guy did to get well. I believed that whatever worked for this guy would work for me, too. I read the article. It was a book review for Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy by Dirk Benedict. Dirk Benedict at that time was a popular, young actor on the show the A-Team. And it’s a funny thing I know may sound crazy, but his first name on that show was Templeton, which is my last name, and that felt like a sign to me. I could relate to this guy – he was good looking; he was a farmer from Montana and I had a ranch in Texas; and we were fairly close in age. I read that book and I got excited, I really felt like this was going to work for me!

But the story doesn’t end there…

The next day, someone else brought me another book. And this was a book about vitamin C and cancer by Linus Pauling. I had never heard of that either. I read the book and knew this was the right answer for me, too. I got excited because it talked about people who were terminal with cancer and came around with the vitamin C. Listen, I probably don’t pray as much as I should, but my faith is strong. But up until that day, I thought the way you get well was to go to the doctor for anything that bothers you and have them tell you what to do. Now I was starting to learn where the real answers come from. The next day, there came another knock at my door. This time, it was the psychotherapist from the hospital. I asked him about all I had just learned. He walked over and shut the door and looked nervous. He said, “Listen, you have to promise me what I’m about to say will never leave this room. If you tell anybody, I could lose my job, my pension, everything I’ve worked for over the past 30 years. These guys don’t like me talking about this kind of stuff.” “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me everything you know!” I couldn’t just let him leave knowing he had information I needed. So I got him cornered there and he started telling me everything. He told me he knew several people who had gotten well from this approach. He said you really have to put 100% into it and said he felt like I could do it.

Take the First Step

I was so excited, I felt like I’d found the secret to everything. And as I look back on that time in my life, I know that the steps I took from the information in those books were the keys to my healing from stage IV cancer. I believe through that prayer I was given the tools I needed to save my life. I understand we all look at the concept of a higher power through our own life experiences and beliefs. I’m not here to tell you what to believe about that. But we all need to trust that there’s a wisdom and knowledge that come from asking for what we need to heal ourselves, and not wait for someone else to do it for us. I truly believe God helps those who help themselves. You’ve got to be willing to give it 100%, roll up your sleeves, do the work, and be determined to do whatever it takes to get the results you’re asking for. And I’ll be here to encourage and inspire you every step of the way.