Remembering Diana Hummell

Popular wisdom will tell you that Diana Hummell lost her battle with cancer last week.
    I don’t believe that. I think she won.
    Hummell, a beloved mother, wife, daughter and sister was diagnosed with colon cancer last December. Doctors gave her just a few months to live, possibly two years if her body held up under the weight of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Diana and her husband and Brighton native, Cameron, decided they would use non-traditional medical treatments to combat her cancer. And rely on their faith in the Lord to grant healing.

Kevin Denke

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    Diana believed she would be healed. And she told me, when that happened, she wanted God, not the power of Western medicine, to take sole credit.
    “Every day since that diagnosis has been a miracle,” she said this spring. “Every day for the rest of my life will be a miracle.”
    The real miracle was Diana. I watched her, small and frail, take to the stage at a benefit in her honor in April and spend nearly an hour reminding us why she was so blessed. Telling us that if she had to go through the whole experience all over again, she would – no doubt about it.
    She exhibited a faith, optimism and an unfettered hope that many of us can only aspire to reach on our very best days, let alone our worst.
    I work in a business filled with cynicism. I live in a world that no longer believes in miracles.
    Diana made me believe.
    She convinced me she could beat this. That cancer wouldn’t get the best of her.
    I still believe that.
    Diana defied the odds for nearly a year. And, when she had enough of this battle, she returned to her Heavenly Father. To say “she’s in a better place now,” is true but a bit of a misnomer. Diana made everywhere she went a better place.
    She won her battle. She showed us miracles still happen. Faith can still move mountains.
    I am better for having met her. I’m grateful for what her journey taught me.
    Hummell, 28, died Oct. 13. A celebration of her life took place Sunday at Northern Hills Christian Church in Brighton. A memorial fund to help her husband and two sons, 7 and 5, has been established at Valley Bank and Trust in Brighton.