Jonathan’s Miraculous Recovery from a Brainstem Tumor

At “An Evening of Worship and Healing” on 3-29-22 Caroline, Jonathan’s mother, shared the following:

In June 2009 my son Jonathan was 9 years old and he was just finishing 3^rd grade. On Father’s Day morning around 2AM, Jonathan became shaky in middle of night and came to foot of my bed and later to the head of the bed. When I looked at him I saw his arms started to turn inwards. I said, “Are you okay? Are you breathing?” He was unresponsive. So immediately, I called my husband telling him, “Something is wrong with Jonathan. We got to call 911!”

I set Jonathan upright. By the time the EMT arrived to our house, Jonathan seemed normal again, except his eyes were a little dilated. The EMT checked Jonathan out. Everything seeming okay except the EMT noted that the left side of Jonathan’s face was drooping. The EMT instructed them, “If I was you, I would take him to emergency to make sure all is right. Just walk in. There is no need for us to take him in the ambulance.”  

After taking Jonathan to the emergency room, the doctor asked, “What are you doing here? He is fine! You can go home.” But, Caroline insisted, “I know something is wrong with my son.” The doctor argued with me. But, I guess authority came out of me, saying “I am not going to leave here until you do some tests.” To make a long story short, the doctor said that he would do some blood tests, but that they would find nothing. Caroline responded to the doctor, “That is fine.  After we get the results, then we will go home.” Immediately, Caroline added, “But, I want a CT scan!” 

Thank, God that I requested the CT scan, because they found a 7 cm brain tumor in his brain stem. And, his brain swelled up and fluid built up. From one hour to the next we were on a helicopter from CMH hospital to Children’s Hospital.

Jonathan had no prior symptoms. I say that because the grace of God and His protection was there the whole time. So, they began the process of draining the fluid on his brain with tubes coming out of his brain to do so. Before they attempted to remove the tumor they said, “We need all of your blood to be donated, because he may lose massive amounts of blood.”

The tumor was very low in the brainstem, which is an area of the brain that you normally don’t touch. Because the way the tumor had grown around the brainstem they were only able to get a biopsy of the tumor. The doctors declared the tumor non-operative and that they would figure out the treatment, which turned out to be 24 months of chemotherapy and radiation. When they attempted to do this Jonathan did not get out of bed and walk again. He basically went in walking and left partially paralyzed on his entire left side of his body. 

At that point for me as a mom with this bombshell hitting our family, we had to make quick decisions. I asked the Lord, “What is going on here?” I then made the decision to call my pastor to try to gain understanding. The pastor asked to be put on speaker phone so both my husband and I could hear what he was going to say. My pastor said, “Right now, right this second, you have a choice to make. What are you going to believe? Are you going to believe the doctor’s report that are going to come at you? Or, are you going to stand on the Word of God?  All I could remember was “Where is my Bible?” From that point, I grabbed the Word of God like a bull dog. I stood on God’s Word from that point on it.

He stayed in the hospital as an inpatient for 4-5 months. He had to rehabilitate to learn how to walk and everything again. There was one thing that happened when Jonathan had tubes coming from his brain. He had a vision, which he will share.

This has been a 13 year journey so far. The one thing that I want to impart to you is that God is faithful no matter what you are facing. I want to make it clear that it is the enemy satan who brings sickness and disease upon us. God does not give sicknesses and diseases to us to teach us lessons like some people think and say, because God does not have any sickness or disease to even give.

Right away as a mom in response to Jonathan’s suffering, I said, “Don’t put that on my son. I will take it for him.” But, I was corrected by the Lord.  Jesus said to me, “I don’t want you to bear it, because I bore it 2,000 years ago. So not even you are to have sickness or disease.

Matthew 17:20 “… for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”  This is the foundation of where we began.

Then, in response to this invasion that came, I had to assess how we were going to speak. Proverbs 18:21 states, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” We declared the Word of life over Jonathan. We declared, “He will move again, He will walk again.” We spoke to the brain stem itself, saying to it, “You have been invaded. But, thank-you for being strong. Thank-you for recovering. Thank-you for pushing this tumor out of this body, as it does not belong here.” 

Also, we did a lot of visualizing. We visualized the tumor shrinking. We visualized that every MRI report saw the tumor shrinking until it got smaller and smaller to the point where they could no longer find it.

I made sure that Johnathan as a 9 year old boy did not attach his identity to the tumor and how it affected his body, but rather I kept him focused on his true identity in Christ.

We chose to believe and declare that “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.” Joshua 21:45  The journey we have been has caused us to grow in the Word –  taking it and declaring its authority over all the works of the enemy.

No matter what happens in your life – whether it is cancer, anxiety, fear, or whatever else – you have authority to use God’s Word. Take your stance on it, knowing that God is not a man that He should lie. (See Numbers 23:19) Don’ attach your identity to what has come against you, but rather allow who you are in Christ to define you.

Jonathan’s Vision

Jonathan shares: 

When I was in the hospital, on the stretcher, I had an encounter with God, a one-one-one encounter with Him. I met Him face to face like I am talking to you guys right now. I met Him in person. In my vision of God, I saw a cloud that looked the sun glowing inside of it. It came closer and closer. While I was staring at its beauty, I saw bright flames within it. 

Soon, a Man with a white robe and hands spread out came out. This Man had orangish facial hair, blue eyes, white pale skin, and hole in the palms of his hands. He said to me, “Don’t be afraid. Remember, I am the One who save you from that mountain.”

As I walked up to Him, He said, My son you have work to do on this earth. I soon agreed and said, “I know. Lord, you have revealed a lot to me. I am your servant. Please, oh Lord, teach me Your way. Reveal it to me. Reveal more. Show me Your kingdom. I thirst for more of You.” He then said, “My son you have strong faith and for that you are a strong servant. 

He said, “Come walk with me. Take a journey with me. There’s more to know.”  I then reached out to Him. He grabbed me and in a blink of an eye, we appeared at the top of a tall mountain. It had forests, animals, and birds. Everything was bright and glowing. 

Then, we both heard a small delicate tree fall from its stem. He immediately walked up to it. Held it. He held the dead branch in His hand. At that moment the tree grew; it had goldish brown colors. He then looked at me and said, “In my Kingdom not one of the living natures shall die of any sort. Remember, I promised everlasting life to those who are of and from God.” I was speechless from what He said and from what He did with the plant, because there was such power in it. 

He said to me, “You have work to do on this earth my son. Share your story with others and reveal to them God’s power. It has great healing contained inside of it.” 

That was the greatest encounter that I have had, because from that point on, it was just a matter of taking this faith and the tasks that were ahead of me – learning how to walk, going through treatment. I took what God promised me in that time and up until today. I am currently in remission. It has been 12 years, going on 13 years. I cannot express how important it is to have faith in God.

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