Mrs. Lori Williamson

Lori WilliamsonNurse

At 54, Williamson didn't plan on retiring from AK Steel any time soon.And he had lots of outside interests to keep him busy: He loved playing with his grandchildren and strumming the guitar.He was an ardent University of Kentucky basketball fan and a devout Christian.

About a year ago, something changed.Williamson found himself unable to let go of tools at work, even his fork or spoon.It was like a button in his brain that controlled his reflexes had been turned off.

His wife, Lori, recognized the symptoms as ones she'd seen in her job as a nurse for Community Hospice.Her family doctor thought the behavior was being caused by mini-strokes, but Mrs. Williamson suspected differently.

Tests proved what she thought: there was a lesion in her husband's brain - and it was inoperable.

It wasn't long before the once strong and vibrant Williamson lost control of the left side of his body.But he continued to get out of bed each day and trusted God to take care of him.

His wife and children never left his side.His son, Rod, a Boyd County sheriff's deputy, took five months' medical leave to help his parents.

Friends and others in the community started coming over to pray, holding long vigils at his bedside.

But the cancer was stronger.Williamson got worse.

Angels singing

Someone in the family mentioned Shiloh Deliverance - a small country church near Prestonsburg that they'd heard worked ``miracles" on the sick and those hungry for spiritual knowledge.One church member was believed to have a power in his hands that took the anguish away.

In March, the family loaded their husband and father into the car - beckoned by the ``sounds of angels singing," Mrs. Williamson said.

``It was just a tiny country winding road up a hollow to get there," she said. ``We weren't sure where we were going, and as we neared the church, it just looked like a garage.

``But what we heard – oh, the sound.Everyone in the church was standing in the doorway singing for us until we found our way.We could hear them from down the road.They later told me they had to go to battle in song before we got there.It took us over an hour to get Denny out of the car and they sang from that doorway the whole time."

Inside the church, members laid their hands upon Williamson.He later described it to his family as an intense, warm healing power.For nearly four hours, the worshippers asked God to take Williamson's cancer away.

But after it was all over, there was still sickness.

In May, Williamson slipped into a coma that lasted for days.His family was warned death was only days away as they gathered around his bedside.

A few days later, the unforeseen happened.

``He just woke up one morning and sat up in the bed, asked for his glasses and said he wanted biscuits and gravy," his son said with a laughed.

His doctors could not explain his surprising health improvement, but the Williamsons attribute the change to the prayers of the community and the people from Shiloh Deliverance.By then, church members had started making the hour-drive to the Williamsons' home once a month.

Another miracle

As Williamson continued to get better, and his 55th birthday neared, he made a request of his wife.

``He told me he wanted a puppy," she said. ``But I just didn't know how I could take care of him and a dog, too.So I told him 'no.'"

On his birthday, Mrs. Williamson heard a noise at the front door.There, she found a small brownish-gold spaniel.

Despite Mrs. Williamson's wishes, the dog walked into the house, directly to the hospital bed in the living room and climbed up beside Williamson.

``Denny fell in love with him immediately," she said. ``But I wasn't sure if we could keep him.I knew he had to belong to someone."

Their daughter, Mica, learned the dog's owner lived down the street and took the dog home.

``Every time we would take him home, he would show up back on our doorstep again.… He wanted to be with Denny," Lori Williamson said.

The neighbor finally decided to give the dog to the Williamsons.

``He's our Charlie the Angel Dog," Mrs. Williamson said. ``He's an angel sent to lift up Denny's spirits."

Sharing his story

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A group of about 10 neighbors and close friends from Grassland United Methodist Church now converges in the home each night for ``Night-Night Prayer" - asking God to keep Williamson safe and free of pain as he sleeps.

Last week, as Williamson battled pneumonia, Hospice workers told the family he had only minutes to live.

The next morning, he was trying to talk to his family.

``He really shouldn't be here with us.Anyone else probably would have died after all he has been through," Rod said. ``But God isn't done with Dad yet.He still is working through him.… He has bigger plans for him."

Rod hopes his dad gets to meet the child he and his wife, Amy, are expecting in less than a month.They have a 7-year-old daughter, Emily.

Not giving up

The Williamsons' new friends from Shiloh Deliverance won't give up the fight either.

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Hands gathered around Williamson and some fell to their knees in prayer as the family sobbed at his bedside.Williamson stared into the distance, forming indistinct words his wife could not understand.She moved closer to him, putting her hand on his bare chest as she wiped her eyes with a tattered Kleenex.

Williamson lifted his right arm, then quietly moved his arm from the elbow in time to the music.

``Look, he's playing the guitar," Rod said, smiling as he sat on a barstool nearby. ``He always loved that."

Toward the end of the service, a woman from Shiloh played piano and another sang ``Everything's Going to be Alright."

Mica reached up and stroked her father's head, bowing her head and weeping in slow bursts as her mother looked helplessly into her husband's eyes.

Then, the church members all joined hands for a quiet prayer.

Williamson slowly closed his eyes to signal he once again had made it through another day and was going to sleep.

``He's going to be OK," Mrs. Williamson told Phyllis Marsillett, the pastor's wife as they walked toward the bed. ``He's going to make it.