Several years ago, Emily was patiently sitting in a hospital waiting room.
Her 2-year-old son, Hudson, had been showing signs of an inner-ear infection, and doctors were performing an x-ray to verify the diagnosis.
But the results from the x-ray revealed Hudson's diagnosis was far more grave than Emily had anticipated. Hudson was diagnosed with an inoperable glioblastoma brain tumor, and the doctors estimated he had only one year left to live.
"I have such a vivid memory of sitting on Hudson's hospital bed and his oncologist coming into the room and sitting down and explaining to us that we could do chemotherapy and radiation, but that the outcome would be the same," Emily says in a This Is the Gospel video. "That regardless, the tumor would inevitably start to grow and take his life."
Instead of cancer treatments, the oncologist recommended the family take Hudson home, make him as comfortable as possible and enjoy the time they had left with him.
Faced with such a heart-wrenching possibility of watching her son slowly die, Emily, her family, and her bishop met in Hudson's hospital room to offer Hudson a blessing and to seek for guidance about what they should do next.
And the answer was almost as unexpected as the cancer diagnosis.
"And in the priesthood blessing, they told Hudson that he had more faith than all of the people combined in that room," Emily shares. "Heavenly Father wanted us to know that we were to do everything medically possible to save his life."
After the blessing, the decision was made to fight the cancer and fight for Hudson's life.
But two days after beginning radiation treatment, Emily found herself on the floor of the hospital bathroom. The horrors of watching her 2-year-old son suffer through cancer treatments had begun to take its toll.
"[I was] pleading with the Lord to take this burden and to just coach me to breathe so that I could survive the rest of the day," Emily remembers.
Emily's sister, knowing of the intense emotional toll Hudson's battle with cancer, purchased a picture of Christ and gave it to Emily as a present.
Knowing the peace and comfort the Savior brings, Emily was sitting on Hudson's hospital bed looking at the picture when her son crawled into her lap.
"With his little finger, he traced the eyes and the face of the Savior, and looked up at me and said the name of his great protector: 'Jesus,'" Emily says. "I knew that Hudson knew his Savior. And that he testified to me as he traced the Savior's face that the Lord really does visit His people during their afflictions."
Watch the video below to see the rest of Emily's story.
Lead image from Getty Images
