Family Dog Healed of Cancer

 “I love what, what my family gets me for Christmas and stuff,” Tim Rupard says, “But that was an incredible Christmas gift.” The best Christmas gift Tim received in 2018 wasn’t from his family. It was from God. He recalls, “I was standing there just going, I can't believe what I'm seeing.” His wife, Karen says, “My faith grew more and more and more that the miracle had happened. It definitely made Christmas so much better.”
 
It started in June of that year. Tim was doing some retrieval training with their golden retriever, Winston. The four year isn’t just a hunting dog. Tim says, “A hundred percent part of the family. Yeah. In fact, I feel like we live with him instead of him living with us.” Karen adds, “He is a joy to our family. I mean, he, and to me particularly, he's my buddy.” After training Tim noticed Winston starting to limp and favor his right front leg. He recalls, “It wasn't uncommon for him to come home with something kind of an ache and pain. At first, I thought that, yeah, he's pulled a muscle or maybe even a strained of ligament or something like that.” When Winston didn’t improve, Tim took him to the vet. X-rays showed Winston had bone cancer – a diagnosis Tim had a tough time believing. Tim says, “There's no possible way he has bone cancer. He's four years old and he's in fantastic physical shape, and bone cancer is for, you know, older dogs. My initial reaction was that she's wrong.” The vet gave Tim two treatment options: amputate the leg, or radiation. Either way, Winston had less than a year to live. The vet left the room so Tim could call Karen. He recalls the phone call, “We were both pretty distraught about the situation and the diagnosis and what we were gonna do about it.” Karen says, “I just started crying because I thought he's only four and how can that be? He's in the prime of his life.”
 
As Christians, Tim and Karen believed in god’s power to heal. They just weren’t sure if it applied to their pet.  So, after Tim hung up, he said a quick prayer, asking God for guidance. Tim says God spoke to his heart, “He answered it with, ‘if it's important to you, it's important to me’.” When the vet returned, Tim told her there was a third option: prayer. Tim recalls the vet’s reply, “At that point in time, she kind of said, ‘well, if that makes you feel better’. When I walked out of the vet's office, I was scared and confused and filled with faith and wondering if I was insane and just thinking, ‘okay, God, you are really gonna have to show out’.”
 
Throughout the rest of Summer and into Fall, the family prayed for Winston. Friends were coming over to pray as well, but he wasn’t getting better.  Tim says, “We saw him limping around and it broke our hearts. I was beginning to really see the muscles beginning to deflate, you know what I mean? He was atrophying.”  Around that time, one of their friends encouraged Tim to not just ask for healing, but to pray with authority. Tim recalls,  “I was speaking to the cancer, ‘you don't have a right to be here. You have to go in the name of Jesus, and by the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, you gotta go’.”
 
As Thanksgiving and Christmas  approached, the Rupard household grew somber. It had been over three months since the diagnosis. If the vet was right, Winston’s time was running out. Karen recalls, “I'm trying to emotionally prepare for God to heal him, but also prepare that if He doesn't, because our family is gonna be distraught. My kids are gonna be distraught. It was definitely a time of sadness and just the waiting.” Tim says, “It really, really broke me. I would sit on the floor on my hands and knees and just cry over him because I thought by now God would have done it.”  Then, on December 1st while Tim was working in the yard…  Winston came racing around the house, jumping like a puppy. Tim recalls, “I was definitely in shock and I was struggling with real disbelief.” Karen says, “I didn't know what to think. I didn't know how to feel. I was scared but excited all at the same time.” Tim goes on to say, “He was healed a hundred percent. And I think it just settled on me. God did what He said He was gonna do.”
 
The Rupards weren’t the only ones who believed God had done a miracle. Veterinarian, doctor Nancy Moore heard about Winston’s story, and had to examine him herself.  Doctor Moore says, “He had this, looking like a hole in his leg. There's no longer this hole, in the leg that looks like you could pass a quarter through. In fact, she presented her findings to the Christian veterinary mission’s conference in 2023. Doctor Moore goes on to say, “And the only therapy that Winston had was prayer. The bone is filled in. It is no longer painful for this sweet, precious dog, and we have the glory of God to, to thank and point back to the Lord because no one from a human medical standpoint intervened.” 
 
It was a Christmas gift the Rupards will never forget.  Today, Winston is still going strong. Tim, Karen, and Dr. Moore believe God is in the business of healing… for all those we love. Doctor Moore concludes, “God loves these four-legged creatures, two-legged creatures, winged beaked creatures more than we do. We are meant and called in the Bible to be good stewards of them. And so, this includes that being a steward and being a voice and letting the power of prayer be part of their care.” Karen says, “So, my faith has been increased by, by praying with expectation. I'm definitely tracking and journaling to see what I prayed for, to see if God gave it to me or not.” Tim says, “We have not 'cause we ask not Jesus meant that when He said it. God cares about the most, the finest, most insignificant details of your life. If it's important to you, it's important to Him and you should bring it to Him because He cares.”

To learn more about Winston and his family, click the LINK! and purchase their book today!