A Vietnam veteran and a policeman for 30 years, Craig Hutchinson was used to being in charge. Suddenly, he wasn’t; doctors were. “The day we found out it was pancreatic cancer, I started crying,” said his wife Terri. “We thought it was a bowel duct tumor. Then, the poor girl from the billing department came in and told us what we owed and I burst into tears again.”
The family was overwhelmed by the heavy burdens they were carrying: the frightening diagnosis, the fatiguing treatment, Craig’s early retirement from the force and the loss of income and the family’s health insurance, the crushing hospital bills. “All I thought about was, we’re gonna have to sell everything and lose our home,” Craig said. “I was down. I don’t like owing. I was so stressed I had a hard time sleeping.”
But in those anxious times, there were moments of grace: The cancer was discovered early, at stage 1B, unheard of in pancreatic cancer. Craig’s brothers in blue stood by him, visiting often. Friends and family prayed for them. Then the Hutchinsons received a gift of hope: much of their hospital bill was paid by compassionate and mission-minded North Carolina Baptists through the Mother’s Day Offering. “When we got the letter, we cried,” Craig explained. “It was humbling. The gift was a blessing.”
“Not only did it lift some of the financial burden, but it also lifted our hearts,” Terri pointed out. “I’ve made those Mother’s Day offerings in the hope that I would help somebody. But, this was the first time I truly realized there are people who want to help any way they can. God blesses those who give to make others’ lives a little easier. It’s a confirmation of God’s love, that we take care of each other when we can. The Mother’s Day Offering intensified my faith in people and in God: I know everything will work out. Craig had to undergo some awful stuff but he’s here and he’s cancer-free. Thank you, NC Baptists.”
“Then our light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly.”
–Isaiah 58:8
“My people shall be satisfied with my bounty.”
–Jeremiah 31:14