Spreading Faith and Hope Decades After Advanced Disease
- World-renowned pastor Joel Osteen’s mother Dodie Osteen, 91, has inspired millions of fans with her approach on life, and her dedication to family and faith, especially with her story of beating metastatic liver cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 1981 at 48 years old, told by doctors at the time that she had just “a few weeks” to live.
- Over 40 years later, Dodie — who co-founded Lakewood Church, America’s largest church in Houston where Joel, 69, serves as Senior Pastor — is still with us today, sharing words of wisdom and messages of hope that can be applied to all, religious or not, as everyone’s journey with cancer is different, and so is their faith and the level at which they practice, though many people believe in the power of prayer. Turning to faith may help you get through the emotional and physical tolls of a cancer journey.
- Advanced liver cancer means the disease has progressed quite far, often involving significant liver damage or spreading beyond the liver. It often stems from chronic liver diseases, such as hepatitis B and C infections, cirrhosis, or exposure to toxins called aflatoxins found in contaminated foods and mold.
- If you are diagnosed with advanced liver cancer, it is important to know that you do have options. Even a late-stage diagnosis has an open door to a range of effective treatments. Medicine has made huge strides that can help patients live longer, healthier lives.
Over 40 years later, Dodie — who co-founded Lakewood, America’s largest church in Houston where Joel, 69, serves as Senior Pastor — is still with us today.
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Doddie Osteen’s Liver Cancer Diagnosis
Recounting the story of her diagnosis on the religious network Praise, in 2019, Doddie said son Paul was the one who first noticed that his mother was looking a little tired. He told her she appeared “older” and had a little bit of jaundice, which is yellowing of the skin. Paul had been in medical at that time. She got checked right away and said they did “every test under the sun.”“I never expected the diagnosis of cancer of the liver,” she said in the YouTube clip.
She spent 20 days in the hospital right before Christmas. Her doctor told her late husband, John, who died in 1999 at age 77, that there was nothing they could do for her, but she wound up defying her prognosis, beating the disease.
When she got out of the hospital, Doddie and John prayed together on the floor at the foot of their bed, with John asking the Lord to heal his wife from cancer. “That’s when I started praying for other people. That’s my life, is praying for people.”
Joel, by her side in the clip, chimed in saying that he believes that having that positivity alone can certainly heal, telling yourself messages of healing. “I am healed, I am whole, I am healthy, I am strong, I am energetic … ”
“Learn about Jesus, learn about healing,” Doddie said later.
Doddie’s Words of Wisdom
Whether you’re deeply religious, somewhere in the middle, or not at all, you can learn something from Doddie and her messages of hope.
Doddie shared some of her life wisdom in a 2022 YouTube video with her daughter, April, who led a segment called the House of Hope with the Osteens.
When asked what Dodie’s “secret” to a “long-lasting happy marriage” was with her beloved John, Joel and April’s father, she instantly said: “To not go to bed angry.”
“He always said, the Bible says, don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,” she shared, saying that if they ever got upset with each other in the car, he would say, “you see that sign right there … when we get to that [sign] we’re not going to be mad anymore. And so when we got to that sign, we’d just start laughing.”
She also urged parents to be “loving and kind” to their children, “because when they grow up, they’ll be the same way when they have children of their own.”
Also, no cursing. “Please don’t do that,” she said sincerely, also asking parents to watch their drinking and other habits. “They’re going to do the same thing when they’re older. Just be careful what you do,” she implored, coming from a place of concern rather than judgement.
For her legacy, Doddie told her daughter that she wants to be remembered as a “woman of compassion” and that she “walked in love.” She also said she is frequently told by people that she is “like a mother to them” to so many. “I tell people, if you don’t have a mother, I’ll be your mother.”
“People love to be loved like that. They love to be told they’re loved. I think that’s the greatest thing.”
Turning 91 Years Old
Dodie, who had five children in her loving marriage with John, just turned 91 on October 22.
“Happy 91st Birthday to my Amazing Mama (aka Little Miss Fancy Hands and the Original Polly Pocket❤️) Prettiest 91 year old I ever ever seen!” April wrote in her post, sharing a glamorous shot of her and her mother.
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Joel shared his own tribute the same day, expressing how remarkable it is that his mom prays for her entire family of 60 by individual name, each and every day.
“Happy 91st birthday to my beautiful mother. She and my father started Lakewood when she was 26 years old and she has been faithfully helping others ever since,” Joel began to his 5.7 million followers.
“Every morning, she prays for all of her children, grandchildren, and each of their spouses and families. That’s over sixty people she calls by name. What a great example she is of prayer, faith, and keeping God first place. I’m very grateful to have such a Godly heritage, and I realize I’m reaping many of the seeds my parents have sown through the years. Happy Birthday Mama.”
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Turning to Faith During Cancer
Many people believe in the power of prayer. Though it’s not necessarily for everyone, turning to faith may help you get through the emotional and physical tolls of a cancer journey.
In fact, a 2015 National Health Interview Survey found that 69% of cancer patients reported praying for their health compared to 45% of the general United States population.
And we have reason to believe that faith plays a very important role for some people when they’re considering treatment options. In a study published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers interviewed 100 patients with advanced lung cancer, their caregivers, and 257 medical oncologists and asked them to rank how factors like the cancer doctor’s recommendation, faith in God, the ability of treatment to cure disease, side effects, a family doctor’s recommendation, spouse’s recommendation, and children’s recommendation influenced treatment decisions.
Faith Perspective: Opening yourself up to others after a cancer diagnosis
The results of this study showed that while all groups ranked the oncologist’s recommendation as most important, patients and caregivers ranked faith in God second, and physicians ranked it last. This suggests that, for some people, faith is an important factor in medical decision-making, more so than even the efficacy of treatment.
Additionally, a study published in The Journal of Medicine and Life suggests that “religious beliefs and religious belongings can be a real relief and can have an excellent effect on the future of the patients.” The researchers even go as far as to say that there is “a significant relationship between praying and life expectancy” and “the patients can overcome their illnesses with the help of praying and of other religious actions, thus helping them gain more power and being able to control their illnesses, as they know a lot about their sickness. Therefore, they can stand the pain and suffering and become hopeful to future.”
The National Cancer Institute refers to the act of cancer patients relying on spirituality as “spiritual coping.” It may help decrease “anxiety, depression, anger and discomfort.”
Learning About Advanced Liver Cancer
Advanced liver cancer refers to a stage of liver cancer where the disease has progressed quite far, often involving significant liver damage or spreading beyond the liver. It often stems from chronic liver diseases, such as hepatitis B and C infections, cirrhosis, or exposure to toxins called aflatoxins found in contaminated foods and mold.
If you are diagnosed with advanced liver cancer, it is important to know that you do have options. Even a late-stage diagnosis has an open door to a range of effective treatments. Medicine has made huge strides that can help patients live longer, healthier lives.
RELATED: Treating Liver Cancer With A Tailored Approach Can Improve Results With Fewer Side Effects
“We have so many treatment options available for liver cancer. That is a fact,” Dr. Ariel Jaffe, a board certified internist, gastroenterologist, hepatologist, and assistant professor at Yale University Medicine tells SurvivorNet. “And what options are available to patients typically depend on the state of the background liver, like how sick is the liver? And then second what is the extent of spread? And so there are a lot of factors at play.”
Personalized care plans, innovative therapies, and clinical are shaping treatment, offering a new sense of hope and possibility for patients and their families. Risk factors include excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, and diabetes.
Determining the advancement of liver cancer means assessing the size, location, and spread of tumors, as well as the liver’s functionality and the presence of cancer in nearby lymph nodes or distant organs.
Staging liver cancer
Staging helps doctors understand the extent of the cancer and plan the best treatment approach.
The most commonly used system is the TNM system, which considers:
(T) Size and number of tumors
(N) Spread of the cancer to nearby lymph nodes (the bean-shaped glands that play a key role in the immune system)
(M) Metastasis, or spread, to other parts of the body
Advanced liver cancer typically corresponds to higher TNM stages, indicating larger or multiple tumors, cancer that has spread to lymph nodes, or to distant organs elsewhere in the body.
Screening for liver cancer is crucial, especially for individuals at high risk, such as those with the chronic infection known as hepatitis B or C, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), or a family history of the disease.
Regular screenings may involve blood tests to measure alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, a protein produced in the liver that is often higher in people with liver cancer, and imaging tests like ultrasound, CT scans, or MRIs to visualize the liver.
Early detection through these screenings can be challenging, as symptoms often do not appear until the cancer is advanced, underscoring the importance of regular monitoring for at-risk individuals.
Liver cancer symptoms
Liver cancer symptoms can include:
- Jaundice: yellowing of your skin and the whites of your eyes
- Intensely itchy skin
- White or clay-like stool (acholia)
- Dark urine (choluria)
- Fatigue
- Abdominal pain on the right side, just below the ribs
- Losing weight without trying
- Fever
- Night sweats
Assessing liver function
An assessment scale known as the Child-Pugh score is another crucial factor in determining the stage of liver cancer, particularly in assessing the liver’s function and the patient’s prognosis. This scoring system evaluates the severity of cirrhosis, which is a significant risk factor for liver cancer.
It takes into account several clinical and laboratory parameters, including:
- The level of bilirubin, the yellow pigment produced when red blood cells breakdown. Its levels indicate how effectively the liver can excrete bile, a fluid produced in the liver that aids in digestion.
- Albumin levels, reflecting the liver’s ability to process proteins.
- The prothrombin time, measuring the liver’s ability to produce blood clotting factors.
- The presence and severity of ascites, which is the accumulation of fluid in the abdomen due to liver failure.
- Hepatic encephalopathy which assessed the brain functions affected by liver disease.
The Child-Pugh score categorizes liver disease into classes:
- A (least severe)
- B (moderately severe)
- C (most severe).
This classification helps doctors determine the liver’s functional capacity and guide treatment decisions, as the liver’s ability to withstand certain treatments is variable.
For patients with advanced liver cancer, a higher Child-Pugh score might limit treatment options due to the liver’s reduced ability to recover from aggressive therapies, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that considers both cancer treatment and liver function support.
Dr. Jaffe says there is reason for hope, even in advanced liver cancer.
“There are an increasing number of options. We may be able to convert a patient from having extensive disease to potentially curable disease. So that’s been a really exciting a really exciting aspect in the field,” she says.
Treatment options
According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a non-profit alliance of major cancer centers through the country, surgery for liver cancer is not always possible because of the location of the tumors or because the liver is not healthy enough.
A tumor that cannot be removed with surgery is called unresectable.
For some patients with liver cancer, surgery is a good option
NCCN guidelines recommend a liver transplant for patients who meet the criteria for one. After a liver transplant, you will undergo “surveillance” which means testing on a regular basis to watch out for tumor growth.
If a liver transplant is not an option, or to prevent the tumor from growing then your doctor may recommend other therapies that may help manage the disease and provide relief from symptoms.
“So we basically we now have some first line agents, and they have shown a significant survival benefit where people are living closer to the two year mark. And even in a subset of patients, like not an insignificant portion are actually, entering complete remission, which is really unheard of,” Dr. Jaffe says.
Understanding liver cancer treatment
These treatment options may include:
- Chemotherapy: Uses of powerful medications to target and kill cancer cells. While it may not cure advanced liver cancer, it can help shrink tumors, alleviate symptoms, and improve quality of life.
- Targeted Therapy: These are drugs that work by targeting specific abnormalities within cancer cells, disrupting their growth and survival. An example of a targeted drug for advanced liver cancer is Cabometyx. It is a medication that has been successful in helping some liver cancer patients live longer by slowing down the growth of their tumors. It works by blocking special proteins known as enzymes hat help cancer cells grow.
Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy harnesses the body’s immune system to help fight cancer. It can be used to treat some cases of advanced liver cancer by boosting the immune response against cancer cells. A combintaion of two drugs (Imfinzi and Imjudo) is an option for the treatment of advanced liver cancer. Ideal candidates for taking this combo include patients with inoperable liver cancer and positive genetic biomarkers for specific proteins. - Radiation Therapy: Radiation therapy uses high-energy beams to target and destroy cancer cells. While it’s less commonly used for advanced liver cancer, it can be effective in relieving symptoms and shrinking tumors in certain situations.
- Clinical Trials: Participation in clinical trials may offer access to new treatments and therapies that are not yet widely available. These trials are essential for advancing our understanding and treatment of advanced liver cancer.
Looking to the near future
In a recent phase 3 trial called Phase 3 CheckMate -9DW, researchers found that using a combination of two drugs, Opdivo and Yervoy, helped people with advanced HCC live longer compared to the usual treatments like Nexavar (sorafenib) or Lenvima (lenvatinib).
This combo extended the lives of patients with advanced liver. They were also found to be found safe and didn’t cause any new problems.
RELATED: Cabometyx: A Promising New Targeted Drug Therapy for Liver Cancer
Specific details from the study aren’t yet available. The makers of the drug are conducting a full evaluation and will present their results at an upcoming medical conference sometime in the near future.
With the possibility of an effective new treatment on the horizon, this news presents an exciting update for advanced liver patients.
Liver Cancer Clinical Trials
The uptick in clinical trials research offers cancer patients with advanced disease new options, including new drugs and new combination therapies. Benjamin G. Neel, MD, PhD, director of NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, explains the importance of these clinical trials and what they can do to help patients.
RELATED: SurvivorNet’s Clinical Trial Finder
“There is an incredible bevy of new therapies being developed,” Dr. Neel says. “If I were a cancer patient with a widely spread metastatic cancer, I would want to be on a clinical trial.”
Although some drugs tested in trials will fail, they increase the odds for a successful outcome.
Coping With Late Stage Liver Disease
In addition to medical treatments, there are various ways to cope with the challenges of advanced liver cancer and maintain hope:
- Seek Support: Surround yourself with a strong support network of friends, family, and healthcare professionals who can provide emotional support and practical assistance throughout your journey.
- Educate Yourself: Knowledge is empowering. Take the time to learn about your diagnosis, treatment options, and available resources. Ask questions and advocate for yourself in your healthcare journey.
- Practice Self-Care: Taking care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally is crucial. Eat a balanced diet, engage in regular exercise if possible, and explore relaxation techniques such as meditation or yoga to help manage stress and anxiety.
- Find Joy in Everyday Moments: While living with advanced liver cancer can be challenging, it’s important to find moments of joy and gratitude in everyday life. Cherish time spent with loved ones, pursue hobbies and interests, and focus on the present moment.
- Stay Hopeful: Although the journey may be difficult, advances in medical research and treatment options offer hope for the future. Maintain a positive outlook and believe in the possibility of better outcomes and new opportunities.
Questions to ask your doctor
- Am I eligible for surgery or for chemotherapy?
- What side effects can I expect and how will we manage them?
- Am I a good candidate for surgery? What types of surgery will you consider?
- What results can I expect?
- Am I eligible to receive targeted therapy? Am I more, or less, likely to respond to this treatment?
- What part of my treatment is covered by insurance and how much can I expect to pay out of pocket?
- Should I join a clinical trial?
SurvivorNet’s material on liver cancer in this piece has been medically reviewed by Dr. Robert S. Brown, Jr./Medical Source: Dr. Milan Kinkhabwala, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center/Written by Dr. Rodrigo Leão Edelmuth
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
