I challenged the Community CRC church family during a Sunday morning worship service in the summer of 2011:“We are partnering locally with Latter Rain Ministries (pastored by Bishop Reginald Blackmon) to share the gospel in Fort Wayne.The bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend has issued a statement that he is receiving "palliative" care in his hometown of Boston for a "very rare" form of cancer.
The Rev. John M. D'Arcy has asked for prayers "that I will accept this and whatever is to come with a full heart and a full 'Yes' to God."
Palliative care is meant to relieve suffering and ease symptoms rather than effect a cure. The term does not necessarily mean that a condition is irreversibly terminal, and can be used in cases of serious or chronic disease. But it often refers to care as a patient nears the end of life.
In the statement dated Wednesday, D'Arcy wrote that his doctors at the Dana Farber Cancer Center had ordered 15 days of radiation treatment for the cancer, the type of which he did not specify.
The treatment has eased symptoms, he wrote, adding: "After that, there will be some consideration of chemotherapy."
On Jan. 2, D'Arcy issued a statement that he had been diagnosed with cancer of the lung and brain. He said then he had feeling unwell shortly after Christmas while on a visit to see his family in Boston, and would undergo radiation. In 2011, D'Arcy was diagnosed with intermediate-stage prostate cancer.
For more on this story, see Saturday's print edition of The Journal Gazette or visit www.journalgazette.net after 3 a.m. Saturday.
rsalter@jg.net
