Tammy Jo Thompson

In May of 2018, Tammy Jo Thompson's abdominal pain was so intense that she missed a loved one’s funeral and nearly missed her daughter's 5th grade graduation.

Around that time, Tammy tried to go to bed one night but was in so much pain that 72 hours later, after sleep continued to elude her, she went to the emergency room and was soon admitted to the hospital. Upon admission, her pain remained off the charts and medicine only slightly reduced it.

Two days later she found out what the problem was; inoperable, incurable, stage four, cervical cancer.

On the sixth day of her hospital stay, 200 members of her church, friends and family came to the hospital, surprised her by standing outside her window and prayed. At that time, she was still in so much pain that she had to have extra medicine just to get to the window where she watched her pastor, her daughter and countless others go to the Lord on her behalf.

That night she went to sleep and miraculously woke in the morning with no pain.

The day prior, Dr. Kevin Ridenhour, her medical oncologist, prescribed her first round of chemotherapy which she received overnight. She inquired as to the rapid pain relief she received and Dr. Ridenhour noted, “That’s not the chemo, that’s your prayer service.”

A few days later she was allowed to go home.

Tammy Jo, from the outset, never shed a tear for herself on getting the news she had cancer, but she had been daily babysitting her five grandchildren and wondered who would watch them during her illness and recovery. Just like Owensboro Health staff, many gathered around to assist her in her time of need.

After returning home, she had six rounds of initial chemotherapy treatments. Tammy stated,

“At the third treatment, we got really good news – everything in my neck and chest was resolved and 75% of the big tumor in my cervical area was resolved.

We just knew God was working. I had three more treatments after that and then we got the news that all the tumors were resolved, that was a great day. Super great day!”

Tammy Jo continues to receive regular chemotherapy treatments from Owensboro Health's Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center every 21 days over the course of the next two years. She was able to attend her daughter’s 5th grade graduation and many other important family events over the past year.

Tammy Jo gives credit to the Lord, the great staff at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, Dr. Ridenhour, and the kind and caring staff at the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center for getting her back in the swing of things.

“It was phenomenal. Everybody…the whole staff, everybody was phenomenal, I can't complain about anything.”


See Tammy's 30 second video