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What She Does: Works as an advocate for patients diagnosed with cancer in Hanover, Pennsylvania
Why she does it: To offer support and encouragement to the individuals and families of those with the disease
For More information: Send Eib an e-mail at equip2encourage@juno.com or visit the Cancer Patient Advocate website
When Lynn Eib was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 36, her surgeon told her the disease had spread to several lymph nodes. "I had a 40 percent chance of survival," Eib says. "I figured I'd die."
Instead, the former journalist lived through surgery and chemotherapy while trying to understand the confusing world of cancer terminology and worrying about what would happen to her three young daughters and husband if she didn't survive.
It was the loneliest time of Eib's life, and when her treatment was completed, she never wanted to step foot inside an oncologist's office again. Yet deep down she knew other patients must be battling the same anxiety and despair she'd faced.
"I remembered how lonely it felt to sit in a recliner and watch those toxic chemo fluids drip through my veins during treatment," she says. "I wanted to take away other patients' pain and give them peace, but I couldn't. Then God told me: You know the One who can. And you can tell them about me."
So Eib started a cancer prayer support group and discovered such joy in this ministry that she asked God for a chance to help patients full-time.
God answered Eib's prayer in 1996 when the oncologist who'd treated her, Marc Hirsh, approached her about working for him as a patient advocate. He'd seen how Eib's group impacted people and wanted to better meet his patients' spiritual and emotional needs.
Eib, now 49, meets with patients to help them navigate through their diagnosis. "I give them information about their cancer, as well as a list of support groups they can join," she says. "If patients are alone, I'll even take notes for them during a doctor's appointment. I'm there if they need to talk. When I introduce myself as a cancer survivor, I have instant credibility."
This proved true when Eib first visited a new patient named Susan several years ago. Like Eib, Susan had been diagnosed with colon cancer. She was still in her forties.
"We really connected," Eib says. "I prayed often with Susan, and she attended our support group. Eventually her cancer went into remission. Then one night Susan called and told me, 'I think I know about God, but I don't know him personally.' We prayed over the phone, and she accepted Christ." Shortly afterward, Susan's cancer returned, and she passed away a few months later.
While losing someone is difficult, Eib says she loves to see what can take place in patients' hearts while they're coping. "A life-threatening illness makes people ask questions," Eib says. "My greatest joy is to see patients meet Christ, as Susan did, or draw closer to him."
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