By Mark Ellis —
Carol Waisanen, the founder of Angels for Christ, had a remarkable improvement in her battle with cancer that some were calling miraculous, immediately following a worldwide prayer vigil. But sadly, the reversal was short-lived and she passed into the arms of her Savior June 7th. She was 67.
The sequence of events that led to her passing unfolded with stunning rapidity.
Carol preached a message on “Facing Your Giants” May 7th at Solid Rock Restoration Church in Riverside, California. That same evening she began to feel sick. “She threw up and we thought she had food poisoning,” Don says. Her condition continued to deteriorate through the week.
On May 12th Don rushed her to the emergency room at Kaiser Hospital in Fontana. After running a variety of tests, doctors discovered a fast-growing, aggressive form of endometrial cancer.
As the days went by, Carol continued to decline. On the 19th she was transferred to ICU.
“All of her vital signs were disintegrating fast,” Don recounts. The tumor had tripled in size, impacting other organs. Pneumonia had set into her lungs, affecting her breathing. She had blood clots in her legs and other infections that were life threatening. Her vital organs were shutting down as she lapsed into a coma.
Don was told to make preparations for her funeral, but he had faith that God could heal his wife. He organized a prayer vigil for Carol on May 25 that brought responses from around the world.
Amazingly – later that night — Carol came out of the coma and began to speak!
Within hours of the massive prayer offensive, the pneumonia disappeared and her breathing normalized. Her other organs began to function properly.
Her doctors were completely dumbfounded, saying ‘this is the most amazing thing they’ve ever seen.’
Carol did well for the next week, but on May 31st her condition deteriorated. Carol asked Don to take her out of the hospital and they had a frank talk about the future.
“I’m not doing any more procedures,” she told Don. “God has shown me the power of what He can do. I know if He wants to take me home He can and if He wants to heal me He will heal me. I want to leave it in His hands.”
On June 7th she went to sleep and never woke up. “She wasn’t in pain or distress. She was at peace,” Don says.
Still, Don was shaken by her passing. “I was not mentally prepared for what actually happened. I thought she would be healed. I thought she would go on. She has too much to live for. I had no idea that would be the end of her life,” he says.
When Carol and Don met, she was an actress visiting the U.S. to audition for a role in a film. Born in Scotland, she attended the Royal Academy of Music and Art and was part of a long-running TV series in the U.K. called “Dr. Finlay’s Casebook.”
Neither one of them knew the Lord when they married in 1978. A year later, she came to Christ after they attended a couples Bible study. “From that day forward she never stopped talking about the Lord,” he says. “She grew and grew spiritually. She was so on fire for God.”
Don resisted faith until a business crisis left him reeling a dozen years later.
Carol put her acting career aside to focus on being a wife and mother. But when their son turned 15, she launched Angels for Christ. “She impacted so many people’s lives,” Don says. “Every place she went she talked to somebody about the Lord. She was always trying to help people in need, especially kids that were disenfranchised or disadvantaged, homeless or foster kids.”
“I am thankful for the 39 years we had together,” Don says. “She was an incredible woman, a wonderful wife and mother.”
A memorial service for Carol will be held June 29th at 3 pm at Solid Rock Restoration Church in Riverside, California.To find out more about Angels for Christ and it’s continuing work honoring Carol’s legacy, go here
