Hello everybody! I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween and you’re enjoying this fall weather. Since November is the month when Thanksgiving falls, I thought why not share a story about being thankful? This is a true local story that deals with perseverance and overcoming setbacks in our lives.

I always tell people there are three things that affect everybody—finances, romances and health. This is another story that covers all three.

The main figure in the story is a gentleman by the name of Doug Dennis. Doug was born in 1952 and grew up in Gainesboro, Tennessee. He actually went to a one-room school. His first grade class only had two students.

He and his family later moved to Millersville, just north of Nashville, and then he went to White House High School. In 1970 Doug started college at MTSU, where he met his wife, Cathy. He began working at Shoney’s on Broad Street here in Murfreesboro as a bus boy. He graduated from MTSU in 1974 and he and Cathy married in 1975. They began growing their family in 1979 with the birth of Sarah, followed by Amy in 1980 and finally Julie in 1982.

I met Mr. Dennis because the girls practically helped raise my son, William, when he was a child.

After working at Shoney’s, Doug went on to become a manager of Pizza Hut here and managed several stores in 2001. It was around this time when his life changed forever.

You see, he had gone to Atlanta for a business meeting. He had to use the restroom and noticed afterwards that there was a lot of blood left behind. Doug got in to see a gastroenterologist and had a colonoscopy done. He found out that he had adenocarcinoma, which is a form of colon cancer. The doctor told him he’d probably had it for years. This was October 2001. He proceeded to have 14 inches of his colon removed, but did not have to have a colostomy. Over the next several weeks he had 28 treatments of chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors also found cancer in his lymph nodes and they showed up in protein in his blood.

Doug during the time he was sick

A year later, the cancer had moved to Doug’s liver and also into his right lung. Between 2001 and 2005 he had four different kinds of chemotherapy at the same time. He lost 50 pounds in six months and would stay in bed for a week at a time due to exhaustion from the treatment. When they found the cancer in his right lung, his oncologist told him to get his affairs in order. He and Cathy went to a funeral home and made his arrangements in 2004.

He told his doctor he was going to get a second opinion, so he went to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where it was revealed he had a pencil eraser-sized spot on his lung and a golf ball-sized spot on his liver. He had three lobes of his liver removed and the lower lobe of his right lung removed.

As you can tell by the story so far, things aren’t looking too good. But here is when the good parts of the story start to happen. On April 14, 2004, after getting all of the bad news mentioned above, Doug and Cathy, along with some of their motorcycle riding friends, decided to go to Coconut Bay Cafe here in Murfreesboro to try to refocus on what to do next. While there, a gentleman tapped Doug on the shoulder and told him he had a gift for him. Of course, Doug thought this was crazy and said, “How do you know I need a gift from you?” But the guy said “I have a gift for you” and told Doug to hold his hand up in front of his hand. Their hands never touched but Doug said he felt heat from the stranger’s hand and the man told him that he would not die from cancer. At that point Doug’s anxiety he had had concerning his well-being left him and never returned.

That stranger was James Rippy.

“James was a person who had a spiritual gift and freely shared it,” Doug said. “He was a very kind and caring person who ‘gave me the gift’ without any strings attached. He didn’t say ‘if you do this or if you do that . . .’”

At that time, medical professionals were telling Doug there was a 25% chance of surviving after surgery. However, 22 years later, James was right and the doctors were wrong. Doug did six more months of chemo to make sure it was all gone, but soon ended treatment. Doug goes to the doctor once a year to do the CEA blood test to make sure the cancer is still gone.

Doug with Mr. Murfreesboro

“If it hadn’t happened to me, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Doug said about the miraculous encounter.

Doug’s faith kept him going. He prayed that if things did not pass, to be given the strength to endure it.

What’s even wilder, Cathy and Doug, along with some motorcycle friends, were at Handlebars on East Main Street here in Murfreesboro. While they were talking to friends, his phone butt-dials James Rippy, the man who gave the gift to Doug at Coconut Bay a year earlier. James called back and told Doug he heard him telling him that story to their friends.

Here’s another interesting story of survival.

It was Good Friday 2009, and Doug’s mother-in-law had called to let them know to be prepared for the tornado that was headed their way. Doug said he heard stuff starting to hit his house so he ran upstairs, grabbed his truck keys and his cell phone and got into the half bath under the stairwell of their home. When the tornado hit, he heard all hell break loose. But when it passed, he opened up the door, walked towards the front door and saw the blue sky. Their home had been split in two.

Doug saw Julie’s wedding dress hanging on a closet door, just like it was before the tornado. It was in a keep-safe bag and never moved. Doug went outside and said it looked like a war zone. He called 911 to let them know, like thousands others did that day, and thankfully found out his family was okay.

These are just two true stories that made me so thankful to be alive. We all have so much to be thankful for. We never know when we’re walking amongst angels, or someone blessed with a spiritual gift, or when a miracle will happen. We never know when it’s gonna be our last breath we take while we’re here. Faith sometimes has a way of healing where knowledge does not.

Remember, go get your colonoscopy, have a happy Thanksgiving and go out and do something nice for somebody. God bless!