Posted on 05/24/2010 6:37:44 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Teen runaway Rifqa Bary now fighting cancer Christian convert Fathima Rifqa Bary made headlines last year when she fled Ohio and sought shelter in Orlando.
Fathima Rifqa Bary, the Muslim teenager from Columbus, Ohio, who converted to Christianity and ran away to Orlando, is being treated for uterine cancer.
Rifqa, now 17, has already undergone two operations and will have a third one on Thursday, according to a close friend and her former Orlando lawyer.
"The only reason she wants this to be known is she wants people to pray for her," said John Stemberger, who represented Rifqa in her 2009 fight to stay in Florida.
She lost that battle and was returned in October to Columbus, where she lives with a foster family.
She has been in and out of the hospital but remains under the care of the foster family, said Stemberger, who said he spoke to her last week.
Jamal Jivanjee, an ordained pastor who directs an Orlando-based ministry, also confirmed that Rifqa has cancer.
In an email to her friends and supporters, he wrote, "Her situation is very serious, and she will need the help of many people in the weeks and months ahead. . . . As soon as Rifqa heals from the major surgery that she will undergo this Thursday, it is expected that she will need to undergo several rounds of chemotherapy. . . .
"Rifqa is in desperate need of an army of supporters to know about what is occurring regarding her situation, and to pray for her healing," Jivanjee wrote.
Reached by telephone, Rifqa's father, Mohamed Bary, would not discuss his daughter's health.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
My earnest prayers for her health and safety. In my first year of survival myself but this girl is so young and I am not.
She converted to Christ knowing it could get her killed...risked it and fought for her life. Now, she faces another entirely different fight for her life again. This is so incredibly sad.
Prayers here....
Prayers up.
Those who come to America understand America’s freedom and love it more than most who were born here.
Those who convert to Christianity from oppressive religions understand God’s grace and love it more than most who were born and raised Christians.
How devastating! Poor child. I will certainly pray for her. Bless her heart. She has been through so much.
And you know those kind and loving representatives of her former religion will blame her cancer on her conversion.
This poor kid can’t catch a break.
I will pray that her Christian faith carries her through this latest challenge, and that her army of new Christian friends will pray her back to fullness of health.
However, given the feelings expressed in various FR posts concerning the late Representative Murtha of Pennsylvania, we Christians are hardly ones to talk.
Prayers for this brave young lady!
Sadly that thought crossed my mind immediately when I saw the headline.
A rare disease in such a young gal. I’m so sorry to read about this. And though I’ll pray for her, I praise God that it is now well with her soul.
Well said.
I, too, am in my first year surviving this cancer. It is completely curable. The Lord is giving this young woman some incredible experience for His purpose. We pray He cures her and that she follow what He will ask her to do for Him.
Comparing Murtha to this child is just stupid. Do you have some kind of agenda?
And I’ll say it. I’m glad the old fool Murtha is dead! Now more on troll!
My one or two posts on the man show that I had no more love for Murtha as a legislator than anyone else. That said, I wanted him defeated at the polls so his liberal, opportunistic, porkbarrel agenda could be defeated and rejected by the voters of his district.
I never actively wished for his harm or death. And the way he died was certainly something I would never wish on anyone.
Excepting only the active enemes of the United States (which Murtha wasn’t), if pointing out that it is both unethical and unChristian to ever actively wish for harm or the death of any person is is a troll, so be it.
I’ll wear that badge proudly.
I disagree. He was a very active enemy of the US. He single-handedly gave support to our enemies in war by his slander of our Marines. Murtha can rot in hell! Wear your badge!
Prayers up for this beloved child of God.
And just what kind of a pedigree as a Marine do you have?
Mine is 23 years as an enlisted Marine and as an officer of Marines.
So I’ll keep my own counsel as to whether or not Jack Murtha was an “enemy of the United States.”
He was a mean blowhard and a political opportunist who didn’t have the strength of character to recant (or atleast moderate) what he said about the accused Marines. But having bad character hardly puts him in the same category as al-Qaeda.
You need to take a step back and get some perspective.
I, too, am in my first year surviving this cancer. It is completely curable. The Lord is giving this young woman some incredible experience for His purpose. We pray He cures her and that she follow what He will ask her to do for Him.Only a Christian who has lived the disease (or another one similar!), could comment so precisely, and right on! God be with you ... and with Rifqa Bary too.
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