Christian apologist Nabeel Qureshi has asked for prayers just hours ahead of his first round of immunotherapy and expressed a belief that God could work a "miracle" through the treatment.
In a brief video blog post shared Monday morning, Qureshi, who is suffering from advanced-stage stomach cancer, announced he is preparing to undergo the treatment in just a few hours.
"I'm on my way into the hospital to get some chemotherapy, but more importantly, today we're starting the immunotherapy," he said. "We wanted to ask you for your prayers. I know you've been praying so much already, and I really thank you. I can't express how much I appreciate and am grateful for your continued support as this continues to go on. I was diagnosed last August, and you've been praying ever since."
While the procedure only has a 40% chance of working, Qureshi said he's confident God will work a miracle through it.
"Now there's a new turn of events, this immunotherapy, and it has this potential to do great good," he said. "God could work a miracle through it. He could work a miracle through anything, but I have high hopes for this immunotherapy...I'm really praying God would bless this immunotherapy and work miraculously."
Qureshi promised to give continued updates throughout; the coming weeks, but said doctors won't know if he's made any progress until the next scan - which will occur after two rounds of immunotherapy - and won't make a full assessment until four rounds are completed.
The author and former speaker with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries went on to pray for a miracle: "May it be that this would extend my life not just 15 years, but 51 years," he prayed. "That I might be able to see my daughter grow up and have more children and raise them in Your way, and proclaim Your might to another generation and also continue to proclaim Your name throughout the world and tell people of what You've done."
He concluded, "Please bless this immunotherapy, please Lord, give me supernatural blessing through it...satisfy me with long life, Lord."
Qureshi first announced he would be undergoing the highly expensive immunotherapy treatment last month thanks to donations he received on his GoFundMe account - which raised over $320,000 - and a private donor.
"I am not able to anticipate what my costs will be, which is the reason for the high goal of $1M," Qureshi wrote on the GoFundMe account. "Should the worst happen, I hope to leave the remainder of these funds to my bride Michelle and my little daughter Ayah."
As reported, in a previous vlog post, Qureshi's wife, Michelle, said that while witnessing her husband's battle with cancer has been incredibly difficult, God has enabled her to have an "overwhelming peace."
"Since September, I have had this just overwhelming peace about this whole situation, a peace that means this is going to lead to healing," she said, adding that she had felt the peace even before she and her husband started to receive prophetic words about healing. "So I believe it's coming from the Holy Spirit."
"When we went through that really rough time with radiation ... nothing has shaken my hope because that peace is there," she said.
Qureshi affirmed his wife's words and praised her for being "a tremendous source of encouragement," for always believing that he would come through because God has great plans for him.
"in this past year, for me to have her be the solid pillar of support and encouragement has been such a great blessing," Qureshi said. He encouraged husbands and wives "to love one another tremendously and to be a source of hope when the other one's faltering."
