“You are cured of MS!”

Some of you may recall how earlier this year I wrote about Trent Timmer, a young man in my congregation who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in June 2012. Through an amazing series of providences, Trent was admitted to a revolutionary treatment program that recently resulted in him being told by his doctor, “You are cured of MS!” His father, my friend Gary Timmer, wrote the following testimony to our congregation last Sunday and I wanted to share this God-glorifying witness with you.

Dear friends,

I want to tell you a truly blessed story of how the Lord made it possible that Trent Timmer had been told by Dr. Burt, from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, on October 22, 2014, “You are cured of MS.”

Psalm 107:21-22

“Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.”

After many years of Trent going to multiple doctors, on June 6, 2012, Trent heard the devastating news that he had MS.

Of course the news was devastating for Trent. We as family felt like Trent’s life was in jeopardy. We really did not know how to comfort Trent because, as parents, having a child with a disease was something altogether new for us. Of course, we showed him all the love we could and directed him to put his care in God’s hands but we never could know what trial Trent was really going through.

Here are the steps God ordered for Trent’s recovery:

1. God made sure that a friend from church (Carol Prince) was listening to a certain radio station in which she heard about a certain procedure Dr. Burt was doing for cancer and MS. This seemingly little piece of information reminded me of the Bible story of the captive young girl who waited on Naaman’s wife. This girl told of a prophet that could heal her master. And with this small piece of information, great things happened. 2 Kings 5 verse 2-4.

2. Carol took note of this and told me at church.

3. I remembered and told Trent that evening.

4. Trent went online and applied to be included in this research study even though he did not meet the requirements which were that in the previous year he would have had to have been hospitalized twice, taking steroid injections. Trent had only had this procedure done once in the previous year.

5. God inclined the heart of the doctor to invite Trent to come to Chicago for an interview even though he did not qualify.  Julie, Trent and I went, but we wondered why Trent was invited when he did not meet the requirements of the study.

6. After Dr. Burt looked at a fresh MRI showing more spots on Trent’s brain, he spent less than 5 minutes with Trent and said “you don’t qualify for this study” and walked out of the room.

7. After Dr. Burt and the nurses interviewed many people to discuss who of the 48 people they would choose for this study, God inclined their hearts to decide to do a stem cell transplant on Trent. This was not part of the study but they decided to do this for him as a special case. They contacted us and told us the good news but said you must first send in $125,000 before we will schedule this. At this time I did not have the needed funds.

8. The Lord inclined the hearts of the people in our church to give at a special collection and also a group of young teenage girls had an idea to have a baked good sale to bring in a combined $35,000; a very generous gift from their hard work and hard earned money. We were told that if we could switch our insurance to a company “Aetna” there would be a possibility they would pay for the procedure. Julie (my wife) worked on this for 4 months and it seemed impossible. All this time Trent is becoming very anxious because if he would go into the next stage of MS, the Doctor would not do this procedure.

9. After hearing a sermon message, preached at church, about the Lord being in control of even the smallest details of our life, that evening Trent told me that even though he would not choose to have this disease, it had taught him to pray. This was a very great thing because now Trent was starting to look outside of human hands.

10. The next morning at 9:00 am, I got a phone call from a friend and he said that he had $90,000 for us so Trent could get this procedure done. There is absolutely no way the Lord did not incline this man’s heart to call at this time. Even a blind man with no eyes would be able to see this clearly. The man knew we needed this money but I believe God wanted Trent to come to a certain place in his life before this door would open.

11. We called the hospital and they got Trent in within 2 weeks. They told us to send in the $35,000 but wait on the $90,000 because “we think your new insurance company will accept you and will pay for the procedure.” Because of “Obama-Care” the insurance company had to take Trent even though he had pre-existing conditions. Our friend never had to write a check, and recently the $35,000 from the church was returned to the church. Friends of the family who live in Illinois offered use of their condo for the two month time frame that Trent would be in Chicago. The condo was located 2 blocks from the hospital.

12. God blessed this procedure. Every movement of the doctor’s hand and every cell in Trent’s body the Lord directed so Trent is cured today. When you see Trent, look at him as a walking testimony of what the Lord did for his body but also believe that He can do this for every soul that calls out to him. Mark 2:9 “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?” He can make the impossibilities possible. The Bible is full of examples. He is the same God. When you don’t see a way out, search God’s word for a word from Him to you. He never will go back on His word. One word that God speaks to your soul is worth more than 10 thousand words from man.

Psalm 34:8

“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

Psalm 68:20

“He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.”

Thanks so much for praying for Trent!

The Lord heard YOUR prayer.

Sincerely,

Trent’s father.

You can read more about Dr Burt and see videos about the treatment here. Once this treatment is approved and becomes available to many more, it will drastically cut the cost of MS treatment, which in many cases can amount to more than $100,000 a year in drug costs.