Jan Unger

8 | THINK PINK Breast Cancer Awareness Month

An unwavering faith

Cancer diagnosis strengthens Fredericksburg pastor’s faith

By Ken Esten Cooke

Standard-Radio Post editor

It seems natural that when things get rough, a person’s faith is tested. But this wasn’t the case for Jan Unger.

Unger, a visitation pastor at Holy Ghost Lutheran Church, was diagnosed with Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer and 80% of all breast cancers in women.

“(Faith) means that I accept this cancer as something that comes along in life, perhaps as a gift, because it changes my perspective on life and my relationship to people,” said Unger, who is 70 years old. “I need to use that in a godly way.”

In her job, Unger shares her faith in God and encourages the growth in faith of others at all times. It’s her calling.

With this diagnosis, even in her darkest days, her faith and prayer helped get her through.

“I’ve been through four chemo treatments 21 days apart. My last chemo was July 8 and it was late August when I started radiation and that went swimmingly,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh, there’s nothing to this’ until my skin started to burn, blister and peel. It was very painful.”

The Bible is filled with persons who struggle, the most telling of which is Job. While Unger never compared herself to Job, she knows medical struggles make people uneasy – some question their faith, while other grow stronger in it.

Still, Unger faced the struggle with the humility that has defined her career in ministry.

“I try not to ask God a lot for me,” she said. “My prayers have helped me get through this little struggle that I’m in right now.”

Diagnosis

Unger said her diagnosis hit her husband a lot harder than it hit her.

“He was terrified that he was going to lose me and didn’t see how life could go on if that happened,” she said. “Now, he realizes that I’m going on and this is not the final curtain, so he’s pretty much back to doing everything he normally does.”

The Ungers married late in life in 2012. Paul, who retired from GM, now stays busy with archeological pursuits and is a master naturalist.

The couple thought their year would be defined by the punch-in-gut cancer diagnosis on March 5. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. around that same time.

True to form, Unger saw it as a blessing.

“I’ve found it very convenient to have everybody at home right now, so I don’t feel so left out,” she said. “It’s just Paul and I at home, and the two cats. We have not gone out except to doctors’ offices.”

They let the outside world in through pizza. She does dial-up church every Sunday, and watches from her back porch.

“I do miss people,” she said. “If I were in church with them, I’d want to be hugging them and shaking hands.”

A little help

The Holy Ghost congregation has also been instrumental in helping the Ungers through this trying period in their lives and through the global coronavirus pandemic.

“The congregation has been very supportive. They keep me in their prayers, send me gifts and cards. It’s pretty awesome,” she said about Holy Ghost Lutheran Church members. “Women who have had breast cancer have been coming out of the woodwork. When I run into something and wonder about it, they can reassure me.”

A cancer diagnosis confronts people with the fact that they are vulnerable to disease and suffering, that they are mortal, and that their time is limited, wrote Dr. Andrew Kneier and Rabbi Jeffery Silberman of Stanford University.

“When we are in good health, these realities often reside at the back of our minds; but when a serious illness strikes, they surge forward and challenge us,” they wrote.

“They challenge us especially with the question of whether we are using our time wisely. This question is linked to what our time is for — to what our life is all about. For many, these questions take on a central and compelling importance, which is why cancer is commonly referred to as a wake-up call.”

Like she’s been doing in her 30 years of ministry, Unger has been relying on her faith to find tranquility and meaning in her struggles.

“I told Pastor Bobby (Vitek) one time, ‘You know, none of us knows, how we’re going to die or when.’ Now, I’m at this ripe old age, I kind of look at (death) like, ‘Well it’s going to be surprise and on the other end of that surprise will be a wondrous beauty,’” Unger said.