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iQuestions Faculty, June Hunt 
 
 
Question: 
 
I’ve just discovered that I have breast cancer. How can I face this 
reality?  
 
Answer: 
 
I remember one particular day when I went to the doctor. I had felt a 
lump, and really that was not unusual. I had had a number of lumps 
along the way. And yet, on this particular day, my secretary said, “I’m 
going with you.” I said, “Oh, you don’t need to do that.” 
 
And she said, “Yes, I do. I’m going with you.” I said, “Really, you don’t 
need to come with me.” 
 
She said, “I am coming with you.”  She typically wins all arguments, 
so she came with me. She said, “I’ll just sit outside and wait. If you 
need me for anything, just call me.” 
 
When I went in for the examination, a doctor came in, came back out. 
Came in, came back out. Came in, came back out.  And I thought, 
“Hmm.”  
 
I was told, with the final return of the doctor: “You do have a 
malignancy. You will have to have a mastectomy. And you will lose 
your hair.”  Now, I wasn’t sure what the hair part had to do with the 
significance of the cancer. But nevertheless, I started hearing words 
that were being spoken.  Basically, I was thinking, “Oh no! I’ve got to 
be in New York. I’ve got to deal with this whole tragic situation of 
9/11.” I was asked to speak in New York for pastors and counselors. 
 
They said, “We need counselors to come in and help us with crisis 
counseling.” 
 
And I thought, “I don’t have time for this [cancer]. I can’t stop. I’ve 
got to go to New York, because this is a huge national tragedy.” I’m 
thinking all of this, and then I thought, “Oh, yes. I forgot. I do know 
that when I teach on the topic of terminal illness, you always take 
somebody with you if there’s a possibility of a diagnosis of cancer.” 
You should have somebody waiting for you, because you’re only going 
to hear a few of the words. You’re going to miss well over half of what 
is said by the doctor. 
 
So, all of a sudden, I said, “Excuse me. There’s somebody named Kay 
in the reception area. Would you mind asking her to come in?” They 
bring Kay in. Kay’s got her pad, and I said: “Kay, I have a malignancy, 
so we need to get the information of whatever is being said here.” 
And, she dutifully writes out whatever is being said, because I was 
missing a great deal of what the doctor was saying. 
 
Well, I did have a biopsy. It was proven to be malignant. In fact, I had 
two biopsies. As I was in the airport, ready to fly into Baltimore to do a 
retreat, and then immediately to go to New York—which they allowed 
me to do. I got a call saying, “Oh. You do have two types of cancer—
two entirely different types—and they are on both sides, so you will 
have to have a double mastectomy,” which I already planned to do 
anyway.  
 
You know the thing that surprised me about the whole thing? (And I 
mean, I was really surprised.) I never had fear. I would have thought 
that I would have been fearful.  But, immediately what came to my 
mind—you see, when that doctor told me I had a malignancy, was, 
“Oh. This really is a surprise. Nothing in my mother’s background, no 
female on her side of the family has had a malignancy. This is a total 
surprise.” I had not thought about my father’s side of the family. 
 
 
But immediately what came to my mind was Philippians 1:20: 
“Whether by life or by death, may Christ be exalted in my body.” I 
never focused on that scripture before. That was not a key scripture 
for me. But all of a sudden, it just popped in, because somewhere it 
had been stored in there. And my view was, “Well, whether my time 
be long or short, no matter what, I just want to be sure that I am 
doing what God wants me to do because of being what He wants me 
to be. If my time is short, Lord, may my time be lived truly to 
accomplish Your purpose for me.” I knew that God already knew my 
last day. In Psalm 129, we read: “All the days ordained for me were 
written in your book before one of them came to be.” So, I knew I 
couldn’t extend the time for me. God already knew my last day. 
 
So, truthfully, I just had a peace—and everyone around me knew I 
had that peace. My friends and family, they were incredible. They 
supported me in ways I never could have dreamed. I learned so much.  
In fact, I remember telling my audience—the audience I have on a 
radio program called “Hope in the Night”—I would tell what was going 
on. All of a sudden, I had all these people calling. I never had all these 
calls before on cancer. But, all these people were calling, wondering 
how to handle this, how to handle that.  
 
Well, I was just in the midst of the journey, but I saw that there was a 
whole mission opportunity, if you will, a whole ministry that I had not 
had before. Because, you see, I never before had cancer.  
 
Let me tell you one thing that was helpful. I learned the value of going 
with someone when they’re going to have chemotherapy. That was the 
only time I felt this sense of anxiety. It wasn’t fear. I knew what I was 
going to have to endure, but there was this feeling of real uneasiness. 
And my friends kind of signed up. Different ones signed up to go with 
me to different chemo treatments, every three weeks. I finally called 
 
my dear, precious friend Sue. I said, “Sue, please forgive me. I have 
to ask your forgiveness”.  
 
And she said, “Honey, there’s nothing you have to ask forgiveness 
for.”  I said, “Oh, yes there is. I had been insensitive to you. When you 
got cancer, I know I wasn’t sensitive. I mean, I thought I was 
sensitive, but I wasn’t. What could I have done that would have been 
meaningful to you?” 
 
She said, “I wouldn’t have wanted you to have done anything. Your 
time is needed in so many ways. . . ” I said, “No, no, no. Wait a 
minute. Start over. What could I have done that would have been 
meaningful to you?” 
 
“Well, June, you were so busy. . . ” I said, “No, no, no, no. Start over 
again. What could I have done that would have been meaningful to 
you? 
 
(Long pause) 
 
“Well, if maybe just once you had come with me for chemo. . . ” I 
thought, “Oh, how easy that would have been!” I said, “Please forgive 
me. I would have done that if I had just known how to be sensitive.” 
 
And she said, “I know you would have.”  
 
I learned the value of going with someone who has to go through 
chemo—and I have not forgotten it. As a result of several people now 
that I know who have had chemo appeared that first time. 
 
With my friend, I was with her when her oncologist said, “It’s time for 
hospice”. And Sue went, “Oh! Really. I guess I need to get my affairs 
in order.” She only lived a few weeks more—but it was a privilege to 
 
be with my precious friend Sue. To do whatever I could to let her know 
how dearly she was loved.  
 
And I pray that, as you have someone in your life who contracts 
cancer, that you also would be able to say, “Oh, God, what could I do 
that would be meaningful? What could I do that would be sensitive?” 
Specifically ask that question, “What can I do? I want to do something. 
Give me something practical to do to help you.” 
 
You know, we’re told: “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way 
you fulfill the law of Christ.” You’re called to bear another’s burdens 
when they can’t bear that burden for themselves. And indeed, you will 
find that you are blessed, and you will be a blessing. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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