- Shock, fear, fear of the unknown.

You don't know what to say,there is nothing you can say.

It was like our world just stopped.

- [Narrator] In 1996,

Tom and Sid Renfro wereliving comfortable lives

in their small town of Coeburnin the Virginia mountains.

Tom was a well-respected physician

and had a thriving medical practice.

Life was good until December of that year

when Tom was diagnosedwith mantle cell lymphoma,

a very rare, aggressive canceralready in its final stage.

There was no cure.

At 41 years old

Tom was told he had justa few months to live.

- What is my family gonna do?

How am I going to provide for my family?

What are we anticipating?

What are we gonna be going through?

- [Narrator] His oncologist said

chemotherapy would onlyprolong the inevitable

and the side effects wouldimpair his quality of life.

- He was saying, you've gota limited amount of time

and I want you to make thebest of what time you have left

before the ravages of thisdisease gets hold of you.

- [Narrator] Tom and Siddecided to forego the treatment

and stand on their faith andbelieve God for a miracle.

- I knew I had reached the maximum

the medicine had to offer,

but as a Christian and a manthat was walking in faith,

I knew that I had notreached the limits of God.

- [Narrator] As thecancer ravaged Tom's body

over the next several months,

trusting and believing wasn't always easy.

- I would feel the tumors,

they weren't getting smallerthey were getting bigger

and despair would set in.

I'm getting worse and not better.

And the way I would counteract that

is I would pull the scriptures out

and the more I spentthinking on the words of God,

the less the despair, and the worry,

the frustration had on me.

- I had to rely on God.

I had to rely on the scripturesI had hidden in my heart.

Either we trust or wedon't and I had to trust.

- [Narrator] They weren't the only ones

asking God for a miracle.

By now, thousands of peoplethroughout the region

were storming heaven in prayer,

especially their own church family.

- [Sid] And I would call and I would say,

I don't see how he can live

if God doesn't help him right now.

Many nights they went all night.

- I had people around me saying,

look, Tom, we're standing in faith.

We serve a God that'sunlimited in power and ability.

We want you to continueto hold on in faith

because I'm believing.

Sid even told me,

I get up every morningexpecting the Lord to heal you.

- [Narrator] Tom's conditionrapidly deteriorated,

doctors believed hisdeath was just days away.

With Christmas approachingthey administered chemo

hoping it would buy time

for Tom to spend theholidays with his family.

Immediately, right beforetheir eyes, a miracle unfolded.

- I noticed that the tumorson my neck had softened

and it wasn't happening justhere, it was under my arms

and then they started shrinking

and life, it just flooded into me.

Where there was weaknessand there was worry,

now there was, therewas hope, there was joy,

there was anticipation.

- [Narrator] And good things would come.

Tom went back to his practice

and would lead a fulland happy life with Sid,

and the cancer, it never returned.

Over the years,

Tom and Sid have rarelymissed an opportunity

to tell their story.

In fact, Tom recently wrote a book

about his miraculous journeyand God's healing power.

- I wrote

Avenues of Healing, Reachingfor the Healing Power of God,

to equip people withunderstanding of what's going on,

what the enemy is trying to do,

where sickness and disease comes from,

and to encourage people ongetting into the presence of God.

Words cannot express mygratitude to the Lord.

It's changed the way I look at things.

It's changed my understandingof my role as a physician.

When I can see things in alittle bit different light

that brings greater joyand understanding to me

compared to where I was beforethis illness hit my life.