STT. Will Diagnosed With Rare Stage 4 Bone Cancer After PET Scan Reveals Multiple Lesions

God’s plan was perfect, or at least that was what Charlie had believed from the very first day she knew.

She had repeated it like a quiet promise, whispered in hospital hallways, clung to in the middle of sleepless nights, held close when fear tried to hollow her out from the inside.

God’s plan was perfect.

That belief had carried her through the diagnosis, through the first shock, through the days when the word “cancer” echoed in her mind louder than anything else.

But on this day, her grip on that belief slipped.

Not because she wanted it to.

Not because she had stopped believing.

But because fear found a crack, and the devil rushed in where doubt had briefly opened the door.

They had just pulled out of the parking deck at the children’s hospital after their second long day.

The kind of day that drained every ounce of strength a family had.

The kind of day that made silence feel heavy instead of peaceful.

They were already on their way home when the phone rang.

It was the oncologist.

Her voice was calm, measured, careful.

She asked if they could come back.

Just for a moment.

Just to talk.

Charlie’s heart sank before she even answered.

By the time they turned the car around and walked back toward Clinic 8, every step felt like it was breaking her heart all over again.

She already knew.

She didn’t want to know.

But she knew.

They had just finished the PET scan.

That scan had carried so much hope with it.

Hope that the first rounds of treatment were working.

Hope that the worst was behind them.

Hope that their child’s body was responding the way they had prayed it would.

As they sat waiting in the small clinic room, the air felt too still.

Too quiet.

Too full of unspoken fear.

When the oncologist finally walked in, her expression told the story before her words ever could.

She explained carefully, gently, as if every syllable mattered.

A second lesion had been found.

It was referred to as a “skip lesion.”

It was located at the top of the left femur.

There was also another suspicious spot on the right leg.

Another possible osteosarcoma.

The oncologist admitted something she rarely had to say.

She had never had a case where osteosarcoma appeared in both legs.

The room seemed to tilt.

Charlie felt like she couldn’t breathe.

And yet, in the same breath, the oncologist shared the one piece of good news she could offer.

The lymph nodes were clear.

The lungs were clear.

No visible cancer there.

It was a blessing wrapped inside devastation.

Charlie asked the question she had been holding back.

The question every parent fears asking.

She asked if their chance of survival was low at this point.

The answer came softly.

Yes.

That single word shattered her.

She broke.

Completely.

She pleaded through tears that she could not bury a second child.

She could not survive that.

Not again.

Will had already fallen apart.

His voice trembled as he asked the question no child should ever have to ask.

“So there’s a great chance I will die?”

The room collapsed inward.

Then Jason spoke.

Jason, who had always carried strength like it was stitched into his bones.

Jason, who refused to let fear have the final word.

He pulled them all back together.

He looked at Will and told him the truth.

Only God knows that.

He reminded them that none of them were promised they would make it home that afternoon.

Life itself was never guaranteed.

He told Charlie and Will they needed to push the devil out.

They needed to lift their eyes back to God.

He reminded them of David standing before Goliath.

Small.

Outmatched.

Unlikely.

And yet chosen.

He told Will that this fight would be one their oncologist had never faced before.

A rare fight.

One written into their family story.

Into their genetics.

Into the lives they had created together.

And that they would prevail.

The oncologist reached for all of them then.

They stood together.

They held hands.

And she prayed.

It wasn’t a long prayer.

But it was a powerful one.

Peace washed over Charlie’s heart in an instant.

The oncologist reminded her of Jason’s testimony at Darby Kate’s service.

She quoted John 3:16.

She reminded Charlie that God loved Will even more than she did.

More than his parents ever could.

And that they were called to trust Him through the battle ahead.

The truth remained.

They were facing stage 4 osteosarcoma.

It was going to be a brutal fight.

But the lungs were still clear.

The lymph nodes were still untouched.

And that mattered.

They went home that night.

Charlie held herself together.

She smiled for Charlie and Ashley Hines as they left for a planned night of fun.

She made sure her daughter saw strength instead of fear.

But when the door closed and she reached her room, she collapsed.

The meltdown came in waves.

She was broken.

But she remembered her promise.

She would trust God.

Even if she lost sight for a moment.

Jason had pulled her back.

Just as Jesus pulled Peter up when he began to sink.

She would not focus on the waves.

Jason was her strength.

And when they surrendered everything to God weeks earlier, Jason had held her faith steady.

The devil would not win.

Not this battle.

Not the ultimate one.

And so the first chapter of Will’s healing journey began.

Not with certainty.

Not with easy answers.

But with faith, fear, tears, and a family refusing to let go of hope.