Feature Story from 2024:
In what’s being widely described as a ‘miracle,’ one of the nation’s most dedicated campaigners for traditional Christian values on marriage and life is back in his rightful place as Director of the Australian Family Coalition (AFC) which has around 50,000 grassroots subscribers and supporters.
Just over a year ago, the organisation’s founder Damian Wyld stepped down as director after being told he had terminal cancer.
“My body was riddled with cancer and my brain tumour had advanced to the point where I was days away from death.”
“I received the last rites, got my affairs in order, and had a steady stream of family and friends come to say “goodbye,” the father of seven children wrote, but added: “We never gave up hope. None of us did.”
In September Damian Wyld told his incredible story to Neil Johnson on Vision Radio’s 20Twenty program.
“Neil, It’s an absolute privilege to be back. And I certainly didn’t ever think I’d be speaking with you again and the good listeners. But here I am and how wonderful it is.”
“I guess I was lowered into a bit of a false sense of security because a Stage-4 melanoma is normally something that can increase in size quite rapidly. We found it around Australia Day last year, and by November I still seemed relatively well.”
“I ducked away from church on a Sunday morning to go and have my quarterly scans, and I was at a church picnic when the call came through from the oncologist.”
“I said: It must be pretty bad if you’re calling me on a Sunday morning. And he said: You have no idea. We’ve lost all control. It’s shifted across the midline of your brain. This is really, really bad. You really need to get everything sorted.”
“But the next lot of scans in January was just mind blowing, because we saw a 50% reduction in the size of the brain tumour. My brain had gone back to a relatively normal state.”
“Subsequent scans have shown similar reductions to the point where my body is now utterly free of cancer, but for one small lesion in the head. It was just an astonishing turnaround. And the only word I can use to sum all of this up is gratitude.”
“[Facing death] was a very strange experience. I had seen all the different aspects of my faith at work in my lifetime. I’d seen the anointing of the sick but I’d never actually seen the last rites [until it was my turn].”
“The priest asked me: Would you like the children to leave the room? This can be a little bit difficult for people, can be a bit harrowing. And I said: That’s probably a good idea.”
“So after we all prayed as a family, they left. But then, interestingly, as I heard the prayers which talked about being welcomed into heaven, I thought to myself, there’s nothing harrowing here at all. This is wonderful stuff. This is lovely stuff.”
“I know that spiritually and in myself, I was prepared. Having the anxiety of leaving my family behind was always an issue.”
“And I guess, you know, even to make sure that things like the Australian Family Coalition would kick on without me, was in the back of mind.”
“But ultimately, I think having faith in God’s plan and knowing that he’s in charge does cause you to rely on and trust in ways that perhaps you haven’t had to before.”
“Having so many children and having them all at different ages of their lives, they all had a very different level of understanding. I think certainly for the older ones — the teenagers — they might have been asking questions.”
“But I think perhaps they saw the way I handled it and we had those sorts of discussions, and I don’t think there were ever those doubts or senses of anger and frustration — perhaps sadness at what could have been, when everyone thought that I was slipping away.”
“For the children in the middle, perhaps there was a bit of an understanding that Daddy’s sick, but maybe it’s just a cold or something. He’ll be better next week. And for the younger ones, perhaps very little understanding at all.”
“You know, perhaps one of the most scary thoughts I had was that our youngest, who was only two when I was diagnosed, might never know me. And that was a really horrifying thought.”
“I guess that was one of the motivations to put faith aside in a human sense and do everything physically possible to try to keep myself alive. It was wonderful that we had family time together. They tried to help more around the house. They contributed more to prayer time. So I’d like to think it had good effects, too.”
“I think moving in the circles I do, [Is this a miracle?] is the first thing that comes to everybody’s lips. Speaking to so many Christians, the very first thing that I want to say is: This is divine. This is miraculous.”
“But I’ll have to take a step back because I just don’t know. I know that God works through human instruments. So what do we want to put it down to? Some of the treatment I’ve received of different types? Because I’ve certainly done many, many different things, as you can imagine. Everything that was physically possible.”
“Whether we put it down to divine intervention or to human means, I know that ultimately God is behind everything. Whether He chooses to use the things we ingest, the treatments we go through, or whether it is something simply miraculous. I know that God’s behind it all, and that’s a great comfort at the end of the day.”
“I’ve had a conga line of people asking me, what did you do? And it’s through that that you realise just how much cancer affects people. You know, everybody seems to know someone if they’re not personally affected themselves.”
“I preface anything I say by saying that I’m not a doctor, and this is not to be taken as medical advice. We’ve done a combination of mainstream treatment, alternative treatment, you might say, and a whole lot of prayer. ”
“People have asked me: What do I attribute it to? It’s not for me to say, but I’m sure that all three of those things have had a huge impact.”
“I point out that I’ve not had chemo or surgery or anything of the sort. Some of the medications I’ve been on have only been around for a few years. I have a particular mutation of my own, Just a few years ago my cancer would have been a death sentence.”
“It grows at a speed and ferocity that would have killed me in weeks or months, but these new medications can block the pathways that cancer uses to feed cells which is quite astonishing.”
“So that combined with some other things, has really allowed my body to fight [the cancer] in a way that it wasn’t able to previously. But as I said, I’m sure that prayer plays a huge part in this as well.”
Damian announced his recovery and return to the AFC with this quote from C.S. Lewis:
The world might stop in ten minutes; meanwhile, we are to go on doing our duty. The great thing is to be found at one’s post as a child of God, living each day as though it were our last, but planning as though our world might last a hundred years”
“I first stumbled across that quote by chance, like 20 years ago, and I reflect on it from time to time. I guess the temptation might have been there after what I’ve experienced, just to count my blessings and lead a very simple life.”
I think I could quite happily get away with convalescing, sitting in my backyard, planting some veggies and counting my blessings.”
But I can’t help but feel that if God has given me this second chance that I should use it to His glory. In whatever way I can contribute as long as I can, because I’m certainly not out of the woods. We never really know when our world will end. And I feel that using our time wisely is something we should do.”
To listen to the full interview with Damian Wyld about his cancer battle and recovery, click the link below:
