By Kathi Stearns

"I overslept and missed my surgery," Father Robert Baker, SM, pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Marietta, quipped before leading daily Mass in his parish on Sept. 16. But privately he says that a reprieve from a planned five-hour surgery for throat cancer was the result of faith.

Scheduled to undergo surgery for a recurrence of throat cancer Sept. 16 at St. Joseph's hospital, Atlanta, Father Baker received word from his physician on Sept. 13 that in five separate biopsies taken Sept. 8 no evidence of carcinogenic cells was found. Because of this discovery, surgery was canceled.

While a doctor might not use these words, Father Baker proclaimed the event as miraculous. "It's a miracle. It's that simple. Four months ago, I was told my cancer could be terminal. We tried chemotherapy to shrink the tumor which had reoccurred, but it wasn't working like the doctors had hoped. I was preparing myself for surgery when I got the news that the cancer was gone," Father Baker said.

While doctors did not return repeated phone calls from The Georgia Bulletin, Father Baker said "The healing itself, I credit to the prayers of the people throughout the diocese and my personal faith in the Lord."

A three-hour healing service, the idea of parishioner Veronica Cook, was celebrated by St. Joseph's parish on Aug. 29 for Father Baker and other sick members of the parish. Over 300 people participated in the first hour of the healing service, while many more participated in the other two hours.

Reflecting upon the service, Father Baker said, "It was very humbling...it was the most powerful expression of faith, love and concern I have ever experienced."

Mrs. Cook explained that St. Joseph's needed to develop a unified way to come together as one body of Christ and pray for the sick members of the community. "In the past organizations like the Knights of Columbus, Legion of Mary and the liturgy committee all had separate prayer services and intentions. It was time that all of us came together and asked the Lord for his healing presence."

Earlier this year, Mark Hall, St. Joseph's music director, lost his life to cancer. "Individual groups had prayed for him, yet we didn't ask the Lord as a parish for the healing," she explained.

For Mrs. Cook, Father Baker's was the second healing phenomenon she had experienced. In 1985 her husband was in a near-fatal bicycle accident while she was pregnant. Even if he survived she was told that her husband, Robert, would never walk again. Her parish, St. Peter's in More Island, Calif. gathered together to pray for her family. "We had to depend on our parish as our family," she explained. Ten days after the accident her husband walked into church to attend Mass. "I'll never forget the reading that day...it was from a letter of Paul and it read, 'The Lord does not delight in the destruction of the living.'"

"The prayers saved my husband's life, and now they have saved Father Baker's. I am not as shocked as I was the first time God intervened on our behalf," she said.

Mrs. Cook said the parish had been ecstatic in response to Father Baker's news. Parishioners’ phones have been ringing off the hook. "The first thing people say is 'You'd better sit down.' And then they tell you that your prayers have been answered," she recalled.

"When the news got out at the liturgy committee meeting, people were shaking and crying. The parish is filled with so much joy right now. Praise God!" she exclaimed.

One friend of Father Baker's who wished to remain anonymous, saw healing in the spiritual sense occurring. "Even if the cancer does return the sudden disappearance of the cancer provides the community of St. Joseph with a renewed sense of faith and hope," a friend stated. "Father Baker's battle showed the parishioners a man who faced his battle head on; because of that he has been an inspiration to us all."

"Just the fact that he didn't have to have the surgery is a miracle," she said. The scheduled surgery would have involved the removal of the cancerous tumor and extensive plastic surgery to reconstruct the lower jaw with a bone graft. If the tumor could not be completely removed, radiation pellets would have been implanted, Father Baker explained to parishioners.

Father Baker believed that honesty and forthrightness with his parishioners was of monumental importance to his congregation. Using the parish bulletin, Father Baker had explained to his parishioners the harsh reality of his condition throughout the past four months. "What I'm dealing with, and I ask your prayers, understanding, and support is the reality that I may not survive this, I intend to survive it with the help of God, my faith, prayers and support of so, so many. But the bottom line is, I may not survive. That's what I need people to allow me to deal with," Father Baker wrote earlier this summer.

Yet his continuous battle with cancer provided him with a new outlook on life. He explained to parishioners, "I'm actually enjoying life more right now than I ever have because I've come to grips with a lot of those issues that hopefully many of you won't deal with for years."

Currently Father Baker is scheduled to meet with his primary doctor Sept. 24 to determine the next course of action. While rejoicing in the news that his cancer has disappeared, his family's medical history leaves him with the knowledge that the battle is sometimes tough to win. His father, James Baker, succumbed to cancer October 7, 1991; his mother, Charlotte lost her battle to cancer March 26, 1974.

Upon hearing the news Father Baker called and told his sister Barbara Baker, a Religious at Transfiguration Church, "You know what you were planning to do Thursday, (sit in the waiting room at St. Joseph's as her brother underwent surgery). You don't have to do that anymore. I'm okay."

Father Baker originally underwent surgery for throat cancer in June, 1991, at Emory University and radiation treatment at Kennestone Hospital. During a routine physical in May of this year, doctors ran a biopsy when Father Baker complained of a sore throat. Results showed that the cancer had returned.

"Since learning...of the recurrence of my cancer following my June 24, 1991, surgery for throat cancer, I am most grateful for the prayers that have been offered by many parishes and others of the diocese," Father Baker stated.

For now, Father Baker says, "I'm just going to take it one day at a time, and rejoice in the miracle which God has so graciously shared with me."