Sun, Nov 08 2009
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Published May 09, 2008 04:14 pm - Bill Simmons’ sleep was restless the first night after he was told he had 22 months to live. RELAY FOR LIFE: Keep the faith Man puts future in God’s hands By BRAD DICKERSON Glasgow Daily Times GLASGOW — Bill Simmons’ sleep was restless the first night after he was told he had 22 months to live.
“People asked me how I survived through the night,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, I turned my face into the pillow and I cried and prayed until I went to sleep.’” In November, the 75-year-old Glasgow resident was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer. The tumor was stage four, making it inoperable and terminal. “I thought I was in control of my life, basically, and now this is ... it’s almost like you’re blindsided when somebody tells you you’ve got 22 months to live,” Simmons said. Even harder was having to tell his five children the news. “Calling and telling them the news was a very traumatic experience for me,” he said. All five of his children live in Florida. Since the diagnosis, however, Simmons’ outlook has changed. He has turned to his strong faith as a source of comfort and inspiration, leading him to the conclusion that his life won’t end as early as the doctors said. “I don’t believe all that,” Simmons said. “I don’t think a doctor can tell you when you’re going to die because that’s in God’s hands.” Faith in God, as well as chemotherapy treatments, have changed Simmons not only mentally, but physically. “The lesions and tumors that were in my liver have shrunk significantly,” he said. “My energy level has grown in the last six, seven, eight weeks. At one time, I was just hard-pressed to go to a mailbox and come up the steps out here.” Simmons stays active by fishing, cutting the grass and taking trips with Hallie, his wife of 58 years, to Florida to see their children and grandchildren. Still, because of his treatments, travel is somewhat curtailed. That has not stopped Simmons from remaining close to his family. “We’ve grown closer because we talk on the telephone just about every day, all five of my kids,” he said. Simmons not only has the support of his immediate family, but also his Glasgow Baptist Church “family” and the friends and colleagues he amassed during 42 years working for the J.C. Penney Co. All are praying for him. 
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