On April 27, 2001, at 5:50 am, cancer crashed into the near-perfect world of Ivan and Verna Acker. The doctor said the word cancer and nothing would ever be the same. It had always been a word for other people. Now it was a word for them. The diagnosis was advanced Stage IV non-small cell adenocarcinoma, lung cancer with brain metastasis. The prognosis was poor six to eight months was the expectation. The Ackers fought the cancer together. They loved and laughed. They cried and they prayed. Now perfect had a new meaning.
At 76 years old, Ivan was the healthy and happy. As patriarch of a huge family of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, he had seemed to be invincible and timeless.
He met the cancer head-on.
If it’s going to get me, it’s going to have to work really hard!
This memoir gives the reader direct access to the harrowing struggle the Ackers lived from the day cancer crashed into their lives. Walk with them, hand in hand, through eighteen months of their life. It’s a long walk. Experience the highs and the lows, the joys and the sorrows. Learn with them. There is a lot to learn.
The story goes beyond their physical and emotional battles. It shows the devotion of two people and the power that love and prayer can have over even the greatest odds.
