The Daily News

A Wahpeton native is not letting the side effects of cancer stop him from continuing his ministry. The Rev. Lyle Kath was diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in 2003 — a golf ball sized lump on the side of his throat — just one month after accepting a position at St. Martins Lutheran Church in Winona, Minn.

"The day I got the lab results back, the doctor said, 'I have bad news and I have good news. Bad news - it's cancer. Good news - we think we can get it all,'" wrote Kath in an e-mail interview.

After going through chemotherapy and radiation, X-rays showed gray areas and the doctors said he could wait and see or have surgery. He opted for the surgery, which took part of his tongue and muscle and tissue from the right side of his neck. Eventually he had a permanent trachea tube placed in his neck, which has given him difficulty talking. However, his ministry has blossomed into a different type — a book.

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"There's a joke regarding pastors and their speaking," he wrote. "'Why say 50 words when you can say the same thing in 500?'"

He recently had a book published called "Conquering Cancer Through Faith in Christ." Because nearly everyone has been touched by cancer in one way or another, he hopes it can bring readers "some sort of comfort and encouragement. Also, to give glory to God and Lord willing, lead someone to Christ," he wrote.

This is Kath's first published book, but he's written eight other unpublished devotional books for congregations he served and for Immanuel Lutheran Church in Wahpeton.

Kath didn't always want to be a pastor. In fact, he spent four years as Wahpeton's recreation director from 1974-78 and 10 years at North Dakota State College of Science as the activities coordinator. During those years, he led Bible studies at Leach Home, Richland County Jail and three group homes in Wahpeton. He also taught Sunday school at Immanuel Lutheran Church.

A verse he'd heard many times before struck him during a Sunday school teacher's meeting one day - "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."

"This time it hit me in such a way I couldn't get around it," he wrote.

As a pastor, Kath was stunned when diagnosed with cancer, especially of the throat. He took quite a while to accept the situation. He admitted his first thought was he's always had good health and would be back to work in seven weeks.

"I didn't have a clue what I was in for," he wrote. "The treatments left me so weak I couldn't even open the hospital door."

Kath spent quite a bit of time in a fog, he wrote, of self-pity, fear and doubt. But that fog led to writing his ministry and learning he can still minister in person. His experience later gave him the inside track when visiting hospital patients, for example. He said they're more open when they see the trachea, knowing he understands their physical troubles.

"The trachea has allowed me to be aware of and more thankful fore a simple breath," Kath wrote. "It's been an indirect blessing in strengthening my faith."

Although it is has been difficult, Kath said purpose has driven him to continue ministering. He added that God has helped him the entire way through doctors and nurses at Gundersen Lutheran Hospital-LaCrosse and at the Mayo Clinic. But his main support has been his wife, Jody.

"Her vow to love, honor and cherish in sickness and in health has really been tested with my cancer," he wrote. "And she's fulfilled that vow over and above."

Kath's book has the duel purpose of ministering and helping Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Eyota, Minn., with its capital drive fund. The book is available online at conqueringcancerthroughfaithinChrist.com and in more than 30,000 Christian and secular bookstores, including Barnes and Noble.

"To me, a new church is not just a building, it's people," Kath wrote. "I see this as a mission opportunity in answering our Lord's Great Commission to 'disciple all nations.'"

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