A Gift from God': Woman and Her Doctor Say Prayer Miraculously Healed her Malignant Cancerous Tumor

An Israeli woman and her doctor say they believe the malignant, rapidly growing cancerous tumor in her leg was healed by prayer.

Therese Daoud recounted her experience to Israel’s Channel 2 on Friday night after she was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her leg. After the surgery to amputate her limb was canceled three times for bureaucratic reasons, the devout Christian woman believed it was a sign that she should forego medical intervention and instead pray.

Miraculously when she arrived at her next screening five months after her initial diagnosis, doctors discovered her tumor had completely disappeared.

Therese Daoud prays at church. Doctors view the shrinkage of her malignant tumor as miraculous (Screenshot: Israel Channel 2)

“If someone had told me this story, I would have said that both the patient and doctor were psycho. It’s impossible,” Dr. Jacob Bickels told Israel’s Channel 2 of the high school science teacher whose violently spreading cancer simply disappeared with no treatment whatsoever.

"I felt pain in my foot, ankle, along with swelling.  At first I ignored it," Daoud recounted. Doctors ran an MRI and discovered a large tumor the size of an orange.

She was taken for an immediate biopsy which further revealed that the tumor was a malignant sarcoma and spreading fast.

"It was a huge shock," Daoud told Israeli television. “I started thinking about what my life would look like without a leg.”

After consulting with oncology experts in Israel and the U.S., the opinion was unanimous that she should undergo an amputation.

But the surgery was canceled three times for reasons unrelated to her treatment. To Daoud, that was a sign she should not undergo the serious procedure.

Dr. Bickels, who heads the orthopedic oncology department at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital said, “It was clear to me she was going to die within a short time. She is an educated, intelligent, and sane woman, and when a person makes such a decision and is cognizant of its significance, we respect it.”

Daoud returned to her home in Ussfiya, an Arab village outside Haifa and prayed intensely for health.

“It’s a gift from God,” Therese Daoud says. (Screenshot: Israel Channel 2)

Three months later, she returned to Ichilov Hospital for another consultation with Dr. Bickels.

New tests confirmed the cancer was gone. "I was in shock when I heard the result, I could not believe it. I asked the doctor if it was a mistake," she said.

"I asked her what happened. She grinned widely and said, 'I prayed.’ I sent her for an MRI and the tumor had shrunk dramatically,” Bickels recounted. “I had not seen anything like this or heard of such a thing. I do not know of a cancer of this type that retreats.” Here are the before and after images from her MRIs:

The first MRI showed a large mass around Therese Daoud's ankle (Screenshot: Israel Channel 2)

The MRI Therese Daoud underwent five months later showed the cancer had disappeared. Her doctor said a mass can be seen here, but it is not cancerous (Screenshot: Israel Channel 2)

To be certain, Daoud was sent to undergo another biopsy, which was performed by the head of the orthopedic oncology department himself.

"This phenomenon is unfeasible and undocumented," said Dr. Bickels

“Every time I prayed, I felt peace and security. I was afraid, but also at peace," Therese Daoud said.

"The effect of things that occur in the soul of man over things that occur in his body is an area in which we understand practically nothing,” Dr. Bickels said. “In my opinion, that is Therese’s story.”

"I'm a practical man. I’m a cancer surgeon. I don’t search for solutions from the heavens, but the only thing we did for Therese was to wait. She in fact wasn’t treated," Bickels added.

“It’s a gift from God,” Daoud told Israel televsion.

--

[related]