David Ong had been a pastor at Faith Community Baptist Church for 15 years before being diagnosed with stage 3 multiple myeloma, an incurable blood marrow cancer.  

People with high-risk myeloma generally survive two to three years. For those with standard myeloma, only half would live beyond five years. 

Today, it is the second most common type of blood cancer, afflicting more than 100 patients in Singapore a year. Most are in their 60s, though it can hit people in their 40s. Little was known about the disease back then.

David and his wife Whee Leng and son Joshua.

Ong was 44 when he received his “death sentence” in late 2004. Today, he is 60.

The news came as a big shock to him and his family.

Ironically, it was while he and his son, Joshua, were ramping up their exercise routine that David discovered something was wrong with him. 

Motivated by watching sportsmen compete in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens on television, Ong had started swimming 20 to 30 laps every day. But he developed a chest pain which he initially thought was a muscle sprain.

Later, his doctor friend found three fractured ribs and referred him to a specialist who eventually delivered the diagnosis.

Becoming hole-ly

Multiple Myeloma is a type of bone marrow cancer characterised by abnormal expansion of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow. Among other damage, myeloma cells weaken the bone, causing many lytic lesions or holes in the bones.

“I became very hole-ly,” joked Ong with his characteristic brand of humour.

Thoughts of death haunted him constantly. His mind was filled with negative thoughts and questions: Why me? Why do I have to go through so many ordeals? How long will I live? Who is going to take care of my family? 

Young Joshua feeding his father in hospital.

The pain was unrelenting. He was put through chemotherapy and radiation, and was perpetually shuttling in and out the hospital.

It was during that time that the former pastor realised how hurtful some comments from well-meaning believers could be.

When he was feeling down and discouraged and shared his feelings with some visitors, one suggested that he ought to have more faith in God to be healed since he used to be a pastor. 

Another visitor told him that God had a purpose for him to go through this illness. Because He had a big ministry in store for David.  

“In all honesty, when he said that to me, all I was thinking of was that I would rather give him the ministry if he could take over my suffering as well,” said Ong.

David lost all of his hair from chemotherapy and radiation.

Fortunately for him, two of his sisters were found to be compatible donors. A stem cell transplant was scheduled for him.  

Those who have a stem cell transplant have a better rate of remission. But the procedure comes with high risks of mortality: Up to one in every three end up losing their lives from the procedure or its complications.  

After the transplant, although the new stem cells grafted well into his body, he experienced acute Graft versus host disease (GvHD). In GvHD, the transplanted marrow from the donor starts to function as part of the immune system and the transplanted cells begin attacking the host cells when reading them as foreign bodies.  

The skin on his face and body began darkening. His mouth, gums and throat were covered with ulcers and began bleeding.  

To alleviate the pain in his ribs and spine, he was given morphine patches. But they caused further distress as he experienced withdrawal symptoms when the patches were taken away.

One of the bookmarks the Ong family made to distribute to friends during David’s battle with the illness.

In 2006 when he was spending a fair amount of time in hospital, God woke him up from his sleep and spoke to him: “Unless you are ready to die, you are not really ready to live.”

God imprinted this on David’s heart.  

Ong thought God was telling him that his time was up and he was about to die soon.  

Bargaining with God

He began to weep. Embarrassed at causing a scene in the four-bedder hospital ward, he drew the curtains around his bed and started bargaining with God for his life.  

He told God that he was not ready to go because he still had a five-year-old son. His parents were also old and might not have been able to withstand losing him – they had already lost another son from chronic renal failure.  

As he wrestled with God, he felt a peace come upon him when he heard God reply: “It is not how long one lives but how well one lives.”  

Ong resolved to live his life well for God, even though he did not know how long more he had to live. 

Two months later, he received a prophetic word from a speaker at a Christian seminar. The speaker said God had told her that Ong would live to see his grandchildren.  

On hearing the prophecy, he recalled an exchange he had with his son two years earlier. His son had said: “Daddy, you must see me grow up, get married and have children, ok?”  

Yet like the doubting Thomas in the Bible, he found it hard to believe the prophecy and did some mental calculations.

David spent precious time bonding with his wife and son.

At that time, he was already 46 years old and Joshua was six. It would be at least 20 more years before Joshua reached marriageable age. Would he live to see him get married and have children?  

Instantly, he was reminded that God told Sarah who did not believe that she could have a child in her old age: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14)  

Healing of a different kind

During the course of his illness, his faith was tested.  

The former pastor had read and taught much about the subjects of healing and the cause of suffering. But in the light of his own illness, which was deemed incurable, he began questioning biblical theology.  

In his quest for answers to his questions on supernatural healing, he read many books with different interpretations and explanations. The more he read, the more confused he became.  

So he asked God for His peace.

One day, the Holy Spirit impressed upon him these words: “I want you to put aside all the theological arguments about why some are healed and why some are not. I just want you to know My true heart. Just know My heart, for My heart’s desire is to heal and My will for man is not to give sickness.”  

He continues to trust Him for the promise that he will one day see his grandchildren.  

“I still believe I will see them in spite of the 40-year age difference between Joshua and myself. But, even if this miracle doesn’t come, there is no shame,” he said. 

This is because he knows that some people are not healed and some promises may not come to pass in this lifetime.  

“I do not have the answers but I know that God is sovereign. We can’t command him to heal us or to take us away. As the Bible says: We do not know the secret things of God and His thoughts and ways are higher than ours.   

“Healing is more than just physical. It often involves emotional healing that deals with resentment, bitterness and unforgiveness. Sometimes, one may not experience complete healing physically, but I’ve seen so many people healed inside even when they pass on. That in itself, is worth it,” he added.  

The Lazarus generation

In 2008, Ong’s doctor told him that his cancer was in complete remission. For the last 12 years, only a miniscule amount of bone marrow cells have been found to be cancerous.

“I am amazed and in awe of what God can do. Now, I am focused on using the time I have been given to serve God’s purposes,” he said.

He is working on publishing his second book on how to live life with a sense of gravity, priority and purpose. His first book Talking The Walk, was about his journey with God through the ordeal of cancer.  

“Now, I am focused on using the time I have been given to serve God’s purposes.”
During his remission, he became a pastor of Petra Church along Armenian Street for four years. He then felt God calling him out to start a healthcare and pastoral ministry in which he, a former nurse, could go to hospitals and homes to provide medical and spiritual support for the sick, especially those stricken with cancer.

He named it The Lazarus Generation.

The name was inspired by article he had read about the resurrection of the “Lazarus Generation” – men and women who know what it is like to be at death’s door, and are therefore fearless in rescuing those who have come from dark places.  

Today, Ong’s son is 20 years old and will soon complete his National Service. Ong is thankful to still be alive. His wife, Whee Ling, has been a huge pillar of support.   

His favourite verse has long been Acts 13:36: “For David served God’s purposes in his own time, and then he died.”

Years ago, he had had a dream in which he fell from a hill and a man in white on a white horse picked him up. As he rode with the man, the scene zoomed in to his HDB flat where he was shown a video reel of his entire life.  

“I knew I had seen Jesus and He was showing me my life story, though I couldn’t remember what I saw in the video. But I knew from then on that I had to live my life in view of eternity and His second coming.”

This story was first published on Stories of Hope.

More stories on God’s grace during battles with illness:

“I am a dead man walking”: He was pronounced dead by four doctors

“God told us: Trust in me”: Deon and Chew Chor Meng on their hope despite illness

“If you heal me, Hallelujah. If you don’t heal me, also Hallelujah”