Funny Looking Mole

Three years ago, the 17-yr old son of one of my close friends was diagnosed with melanoma.  I am a skin pathologist, and his disease was detected after he had a skin biopsy by a dermatologist and the biopsy came across my microscope at work.  I was surprised to see his name associated with the diagnosis, and struggled to decide if it might be a normal mole that was just masquerading as a melanoma.  I shared the slides with my colleagues, and they too struggled with the diagnosis, because “funny-looking moles” in teenagers are not unheard of and can mimic malignant melanoma.  Melanoma in teenagers is also very rare, so all these indicators pointed us in the direction of calling it a benign mole.  It would have been easy to do so and shrug off the findings as changes associated with youth.  But the subtle patterns under the microscope continued to bother me, and I prayed for guidance in what to do.  I felt impressed to send the slides off to a world expert in California for further review, and this expert concurred with the diagnosis of melanoma.  Praying and hoping he was correct, I released the diagnosis to the family.  It was heartbreaking to see this happen, and to see my friend and his family deal with the diagnosis and treatments.  He subsequently had a lymph node dissection, and metastatic melanoma with found in a node.  This latter finding absolutely confirmed the diagnosis now by default, so we were all grateful for that guidance.  Fast forward three years, he is now healthy and well.  It is a miracle that followed a string of events, both medical and spiritual in nature:  chemotherapy, radiation, prayer, fasting and priesthood blessings.

LESSON LEARNED:  The subtle promptings of the Holy Spirit may lead us in directions that we are fearful ­­­­to go.  We need to be courageous and follow that direction.

FEEDBACK:  WHAT DIFFICULT EXPERIENCES HAVE YOU HAD WITH FOLLOWING SPIRITUAL PROMPTINGS THAT LATER TURNED OUT FOR THE BEST?