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A match made in Heaven:
Nine-year-old cancer victim strikes chord in heart of letter carrier
By Richard Thayer
Special to the TIMES

- Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all you ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.
Proverbs 3:5-8


City letter carrier Kathy Gibson had a heavy burden on her heart that hot and humid August morning as she prepared to go to work at the Thomasville Post Office, but she didn't know exactly what.

She sensed in her heart that she was supposed to help someone in need. But who?

"While I was at my cast that morning I prayed a prayer and said, Lord, you know I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, please show me what you want me to do," Gibson said.

Later that day as she was putting mail in the curb box at 117 Browning St. she glanced up and saw 9-year-old Erin Browning standing at her mail box at 111 smiling expectantly, waiting for her mail lady.

"I want a hug," said Erin when Kathy pulled up to the box.

"Well, Erin, let me warn you, it'll be a sweaty hug," Gibson said.

"I dont care," said Erin with her disarming smile. "I want a hug."

And as the two hugged one another, Kathy could feel the tears rising up in her eyes as she realized this was who the Lord had placed on her heart.  Little Erin Browning was to be her assignment.

A Deadly Diagnosis and an Angelic Visit
Two years earlier on another hot summer day, Erin, who was then 7, was lying on the couch in the living room, watching television, swinging her feet back and forth. Suddenly, her feet collided, causing her to cry out in pain.

At first her doctor thought it was only a minor injury, which could be treated with a cold compress.

However, when the swelling didn't go down after three months, tests were run, X-rays taken and on Sept. 11, 2001 as America reeled from the news of the terrorist attacks and thousands of lives lost, Erin and her family found themselves at a ground zero of their own.

Erin had cancer.

But that wasnt the worst of it. The cancer had already spread through her body.

Not only was it in her foot, but her lungs and her skull.

The doctors gave her less than a 2-percent chance of survival, and suggested her mom and dad, Laurie and Joey Edwards, go with a type of treatment that would ensure that Erin would be comfortable in her last days.

Erin's parents had faith in the physicians who were treating their daughter, but they had a greater faith in the Great Physician. They instructed doctors to do whatever was necessary to rid Erin of her cancer.

Shortly after the chemotherapy was begun, a lemon-sized tumor in Erins foot completely disappeared in five days. Physicians had to admit that chemotherapy has no effect on hard-mass tumors.

So, they wondered what could have caused it to disappear?

Erin and her family knew God was at work.

And as if that wasn't enough, there was another sign given to the family in December of that year.

That particular night Erin had a dream. It was vivid. It seemed real. In that dream an angel appeared in Erin's hospital room and told her, "Erin, dont be afraid. Youre going to be OK."

Chemotherapy, Radiation...and Prayer
Laurie and Joey Edwards aren't the kind of folks who sit idly by wringing their hands and worrying while their child is being treated,  hoping for the best.

They got involved.

As the Baptist Hospital staff bombarded Erin's body with chemotherapy and radiation, her mom and dad and two sisters, Mary Beth and Caroline, were busy enlisting people to pray for her.

On Nov. 27, 2001, they started a website requesting prayer and giving updates on Erin's progress.

The response to the news stories and Internet updates was phenomenal.

Cards and e-mails poured in to the family offering encouragement and assuring them of their prayers for Erin's recovery.

They received responses from people as far away as Russia and Peru.

One couple on the verge of divorce wrote to tell the family that Erin's battle with cancer had inspired them to put away their own petty differences, to eradicate a kind of cancer affecting their own lives and give their marriage another chance.

Unprecedented Healing and Perplexed Physicians
On Jan. 18, 2002, perplexed physicians told Erin and her family that the cancer, which had invaded her body and looked as if it was going to destroy it, was completely gone.

Erin's cancer was in remission.

The doctors also conceded to the family that the destruction of this virulent form of cancer in such a short length of time was, as they put it, unprecedented.

Erin's response to their report was typical she smile that radiant ear-to-ear smile of hers and brightly said, "Am I supposed to be surprised?"

The doctors were speechless.
And speaking of surprises, Erin had a surprise in store for all of her nurses on her last day at Baptist Hospital.

This, too, was typical of this little girl who embraces life with outstretched arms and a smile.

Erin has her family invite the unsuspecting nurses into her room one by one and there proceeded to loudly ambush them, shooting them with Silly String.

Another Dire Diagnosis and a Carrier with a Burdened Heart
This brings us back to the beginning of our story where Erin and Kathy embrace in a sweaty hug and Kathy suddenly realized that Erin is the one God wants her to help.

Several days before this, during a routine examination, the doctors discovered a dark spot on Erin's left lung.

They surmised that it was the remnant of her cancer.  Cancer that chemotherapy and radiation didn't destroy.

Again, their prognosis wasn't very optimistic.

This time they gave Erin a 5-percent chance of survival, and said if there was any trace of cancer in her bone marrow, all they could do was make her comfortable.

Once again, the word went out, and people began to pray.

It wasn't long after this latest diagnosis that God brought Kathy and Erin together, two kindred spirits providentially brought together whose lives would never quite be the same again.

Whatever you do, don't ever suggest to Kathy and Erin that their meeting one another was a coincidence or a happy accident.

They know better.

Late that afternoon, Kathy got busy putting together a committee that would sponsor a walk-a-thon on Erin's behalf to help raise money to pay off her family's enormous medical debt.

She was bubbling with excitement as she told people about this remarkable young girl, her family and their incredible faith.

People's hearts were touched by Erin's story, and they, like Kathy, felt a burden on their hearts to help the family in any way they possible could.

Plans were soon under way for a Nov. 2 walk-a-thon.

Not long before her surgery, Erin and her grandmother were reading their devotions for the day when they came across Proverbs 3:5-8, the verse at the top of this article, and they realized that this was another sign from God that everything was going to be all right.

Again, don't ever tell Erin and her grandmother that their coming across that particular verse just before her surgery was a coincidence.

They know better.

Add One More Miracle to the List
On the morning of Sept. 8, 2003, 9-year-old Erin Browning was rolled into surgery at Baptist Hospital to remove the cancer from her left lung. It was 10 a.m.

By 11:30 a.m., the surgery was over, and the cancer was removed.

The operation, by all accounts, was an overwhelming success.

Had Erin been awake at the time, she no doubt would have smiled that smile of hers and said, "Am I supposed to be surprised?"

Again, it seems, the doctors had underestimated Erin and her God.

The doctors told Erin's family after the operation that it would be at least another day before Erin would be able to get up and move around, but they shouldn't worry because that was normal after an operation like this.

But Erin isn't exactly what you would call normal.

By 4 p.m., she was up and about, laughing and eating.

Meanwhile, Kathy Gibson's heart has been totally ensnared by Erin.

"This little girl," Gibson said as tears began filling her eyes, "has touched my heart in a way I never thought possible."

It is, as they say, a match made in heaven.

Read more about Erin Browning by visiting her website at https://prayforerin.tripod.com/smile/.

Richard Thayer is an employee of the U.S. Postal Service, and works out of the Thomasville Post Office.

Published Saturday, Sept. 27, 2003

 

(Medical update:  The biopsy of Erin's tumor showed that it was cancer but her doctor feels sure that all of it was removed.  She will return to Baptist Hospital for routine scans on December 8, 2003.)