International Brain Tumor Day 2024: Priest gives message of faith and hope

On World Brain Tumor Day this June 8, Father Omar Sánchez Portillo, a Peruvian priest who carries out a vast solidarity service for the poorest and who overcame the disease thanks to a “miracle” by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, offers a profound message of faith and hope for those suffering from the same condition.

According to estimates from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, published in February 2024 by the World Health Organization (WHO)In 2022, brain cancer affected around 320,000 people worldwide, with 248,500 deaths. That year, the total number of cancer patients was about 20 million people, with 9.7 million deaths.

Brain tumors and death

In dialogue with ACI Prensa, the priest said that “unfortunately, in our minds, cancer is immediately linked to death, even though one reads and understands that this is not necessarily the case. What’s more, many people are saved.”

When he learned of his diagnosis, he recalled, “as a priest and man of faith that I try to be, I immediately thought that it was time to prepare, that God was giving me time to prepare to meet Him.”

“I do not deny that there was some fear, not so much of death but of the process: the pain, the symptoms, the disability that I could have in my ordinary life, being such an active man, and of my ministry,” he confessed.

How to face the disease? Faith as a crucial element

Father Omar Sánchez stated that, in his opinion, “there is no single way to deal with an ailment, a disease of this type. Each one, according to his own personal experience, his history and his relationship with God or his relationship with transcendence in life, faces it in a different way.

“I believe in eternal life and we are all going to go through death, that is a scientific reality, not one of faith; However, eternal life is a reality of faith in which I firmly believe,” he continued.

After pointing out that his reflections and the way he faced the illness was “like a step to eternal life, to the encounter with God,” the priest highlighted that it is true that “friends and family help, but the illness is experienced by one personally. No one can put themselves in the other’s shoes. It is very difficult. “Even when one has experienced something similar, the experience is not the same.”

“It’s like when a family member dies and you say ‘I understand you.’ No, we don’t understand anything of what the person is going through. Friends and family help, but what helps most is the support of faith.”

Faith, miracles and trust in God

Father Omar Sánchez also told ACI Prensa that “miracles exist and I say this from experience. I don’t know if my tumor was incurable, but I immediately thought of the possibility of miracles. The Word says that God can do everything.”

Father Omar, director of the Association of the Beatitudes, shared in 2022 that a malignant brain tumor had been detected and that he should undergo cancer treatment. Shortly after, and after placing a relic of Mother Teresa of Calcutta on his head, he said that he had been cured.

For the priest, when faced with a tumor, “the first thing a man or woman of faith must do is to fully trust in miracles, but at the same time know that I have a short or medium time left to live, and prepare for the encounter with the Lord knowing that one can die from this: it is the wisest and most intelligent path.”

It is a favorable time to “reconcile ourselves with those who are in life, to do good. If I have six months left, I can live them in full holiness.”

What would you say to non-believers who suffer from a brain tumor?

“I would say to those who do not believe in God to open their hearts to that possibility, because that longing for life that we have there, that cry to live forever cannot be there uselessly. God cannot sow that if he is not going to satisfy it, only He is going to satisfy it.”

Father Omar Sánchez finally expressed his hope that “non-believers open their hearts to the possibility of eternal life and faith. “That will give them hope and strength to continue fighting.”