Christian apologist and author Nabeel Qureshi, in a recent update, said his cancer treatment has been going well so far, but he is still hoping that the cancer would be completely gone.
In a vlog posted to his Facebook page, Qureshi said he received the results of his new PET scan on Jan. 20, and “the doctor was very positive about the results.”
“The metastatic tumor, the one that has traveled away from my stomach to an aortic lymph node, has shrunk. It is now down to a normal size,” Qureshi explained in the video. However, “it is still uptaking glucose at a higher rate than it should, which indicates there’s still cancer in it.”
He said the scan showed a “mixed picture” and that it “wasn’t quite clear about what’s going on in my stomach.”
It was difficult to say for certain if the cancer in his stomach has shrunk as well, Qureshi said. The scan also showed there appeared to be inflammation, which distorted the picture. However, because the lymph node has shrunk, his doctor was “pretty confident” that the cancer within the walls of his stomach has also shrunk.
In November, Qureshi shared the news of a partial healing wherein the primary tumor in his stomach was already gone but that the walls of his stomach still registered increased glucose uptake, indicating it could still have cancer.
The apologist said his doctor was considering skipping his next four rounds of chemotherapy and going straight to chemoradiation and surgery.
“He (the doctor) said we should be very encouraged by the news, that things are moving in a good direction and that it looks like things are going to head toward surgery,” Qureshi said, adding that surgery is “the best possible end goal” when chemotherapy has successfully taken care of all the metastatic cancer and there are no signs of it returning.
The doctor has put rounds 9 to 12 of his chemotherapy on hold. He would be consulting with other oncologists at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, where Quereshi is receiving treatment, on Tuesday if they should go ahead with the surgery.
So far, “from the medical perspective, all very good news,” Qureshi said.
However, Qureshi admitted he still hoped for “an overt miracle” wherein all the cancer would just be completely gone. While he acknowledged that his response to chemotherapy could be a miraculous “intervention of God,” he’s still asking God for complete healing.
“I’m hoping for an overt miracle wherein the cancer is entirely gone,” he said. “I’m still praying for that, still asking you to pray for that.”
He said he would give another update about the next steps for his treatment no later than the middle of next week.
“So that’s where we are. I’ll keep you posted next week as to what’s going on,” he said. “Please do continue to pray for me. I really appreciate your prayers.”
He closed his vlog with prayer, acknowledging God as his great Healer.
Qureshi was a former Muslim who converted to Christianity and became a defender of the faith. He was one of the speakers at the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. He also wrote several books, including the New York Times bestseller, ‘Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity.’
