Pilgrims of Hope, Episode 6: Walking with Cancer Survivors

Conversations about Finding and Sharing Hope: A video series for the Jubilee Year 2025

Hosted by Fr. Ron Will

Welcome to Episode Number 6 in the series, Traveling with Pilgrims of Hope. Pope Francis declared the year 2025 as a jubilee year with the theme Year of Hope. Our mission statement at Precious Blood Renewal Center states that we are a safe and sacred place offering healing and hope, renewal and reconciliation for all people. So our mission statement and the encyclical of Pope Francis dovetail with one another.

We are committed to offering hope, which includes naming experiences of hope in the midst of a lot of darkness in our world today.

This series, Traveling with Pilgrims of Hope, introduces us to individuals who have experienced hope and who are striving to bring hope to others. One of the groups of people who struggle with hope are those who have received news about a terminal illness or a very serious illness for themselves or for a loved one.

I have invited Kathy Keary to have a discussion with us today so that she can share some of her own experiences as she has dealt with a couple significant health issues in her life. I believe that the rest of us can gain some insights into hope so that we can become pilgrims of hope ourselves.

In 2016 while she co-director of the Precious Blood Companions, Kathy was diagnosed with hemochromatosis, a rare genetic blood disease where the body stores iron at toxic levels, levels that damage organs. After many months of intensive, exhausting treatments, the condition was brought under control. Then in 2018, Kathy was diagnosed with stage four metastatic lung cancer with metastasis to her lymph nodes, her spine and other bones. The doctor gave her a year to live. (The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity. Watch to video for the full, uncut interview.)

Kathy Keary: By the time I was diagnosed [with hemochromatosis], it was like way out of control. I started treatment, which involved every other week drawing a pint of blood. Between the disease and the treatment, I was very run down. During that time, I developed coping skills. I’ll talk about a few of them. One advantage is that both during this period of illness and the subsequent one, I journaled. So I have the advantage of being able to go back and look at my journaling to see what was going on then.

I was focused on being present in the moment. When something like this is going on, that is life threatening, you have a lot of mental chatter. So I engaged in activities that would turn off that mental chatter. If I realized I was engaged in that [mental chatter], I would reach up [raise hand to side of head} and click it off, like I was turning off a lamp to turn off the mental chatter.

I availed myself to nature, connecting with nature, allowing the divine within me to connect with the divine in creation. I was drawing mandalas, doing art journaling. Centering prayer is a lifesaver for me. It always has been, keeping my spiritual practice, my daily spiritual practice up. Along the way, acknowledging that both joy and struggle can coexist and be being thankful for the good things.

A year later, when I was diagnosed with lung cancer, I became extremely sick. I was treated with immunotherapy and then a trial. But the trial about killed me. Because of the side effects of the treatment, I had to stop treatment for a while. At that point you know, hope actually vanished. I did have a period of questioning our beliefs in eternal life, but hope eventually returned, making me realize that hope is something that’s planted within me.

Grace enabled me to rediscover, reclaim, and embrace hope once again. You know, it can dim, but when tended to, it’ll come back to life. I came to trust that hope has to do with me knowing that I’m always in God’s hands, whether that is in this life or the next. And when fears arose, I would be comforted by that fact, trusting that God will be right there with me through the tough times.

I carried over the coping skills too that I had developed during the hemochromatosis to this cancer diagnosis.

Fr. Ron Will: You named a number of coping skills that you used. They would be helpful for our listeners.

Kathy Keary: I had a spiritual director (before the diagnoses), so I continued with my spiritual director. … I think my centering prayer practice helped too. …

While I was still being treated for cancer, I [returned to] working part-time at Precious Blood Renewal Center, which was a great platform to share a message of hope. You know, I wrote over a hundred articles about contemplative living that are still on the website. I did a retreat at Keeler Women’s Center about finding hope amid uncertainty. I’ve done retreats on managing stress. Now I’m real involved in nursing home visits, bringing communion to nursing homes. There’s three that I visit, bringing hope to people who were struggling with health issues.

Fr. Ron Will: We take good health for granted. Good health is pure gift, and we should be grateful for the day that God gives you pure gift. Is there anything else, Kathy, that you would like to emphasize?

Kathy Keary: I think what’s been important to me is to have a prayer practice that I practice on a daily basis. That helps me understand where God is leading me, to discern what I’m being called to. I think that we’re all called to something. The first step would be to have a routine prayer practice, which would look different for everybody. For me right now that would be centering prayer. By having a practice, your heart is more open to God. … It brings joy.

A few months before my cancer diagnosis, this scripture passage kept going over and over in my mind: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence, relying on in all your ways, be mindful of him and he’ll make straight your path.” It was kind of God’s way to prepare me for this moment where I needed to really trust in him. And it continued, it still goes through my mind, that particular passage.

Fr. Ron Will: Very good. Well, thank you, Kathy, for taking time to share with us today. And thank you for being a pilgrim of hope, inspiring me, and hopefully inspiring our listeners.

And I invite our listeners to please join me again next month for this continuing series as we travel with another Pilgrim of Hope.

All of the videos in this series can be found here: Traveling with Pilgrims of Hope

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[Fr. Ron Will, a Precious Blood priest and spiritual director, is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union and Creighton University’s School of Christian Spirituality. He has a special interest in helping form intentional disciples of Jesus, encouraging others to go spiritually deep-sea diving to explore a deeper relationship with God, and walking with people as they dive into the ocean of God’s mystery actually experiencing God rather than simply dipping one’s toe into the water.]

Photo Credit: ID 321463961 | Anchor © Yulia Ryabokon | Dreamstime.com  Music Credit: “We Are Marching” (Siyahamba). Performed by First Christian Church of Tacoma. Text: South African. Tune: South African. © 1984, Utryck, Walton Music Corporation, agent. Used with permission under onelicense.net, #A-725830

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