Tumor Discovered in Left Eye, 2002

David was racing against a biological clock, the tumor was growing and it was growing quickly. David needed to make a decision soon; however his decision was not ultimately his. It was his caregivers, in this case the VA hospital. The normal procedure for the VA Hospital, in a situation like this, the standard operating procedure would be to nucleate the eye. David took all the evidence he had back to the VA hospital to Dr. Joy Robinson, who after seeing all the evidence made a command decision to allow David to have the radiation plaque treatment, instead of the nucleation of his eye. By the time this decision was rendered, the tumor had grown so large that if it had gotten any bigger Dr. Buckley, a pediatric eye surgeon and the number two Doctor in the world, in radioactive plaque therapy, told David he would not have to remove the eye. He told David if he could do surgery immediately and as long as the tumor had not grown out of the eye, he would still be able to save his eye.

After receiving eye surgery at Duke, the tumor had been killed, and it looked like it had been contained, only to the eye. Approximately 6 weeks later, after spending five days at Duke. David was recovering from the eye surgery to his left eye. One day when he reached up to scratch the back of his neck. Just underneath his ear, he noticed what felt like a piece of sand, almost three quarters of an inch, below his right ear. Thinking how it felt strange, but not feeling any pain in it or really worrying about it, he just decided to monitor it. After about four to six weeks longer, David knew it was growing. It had almost doubled its size and still wasn't really very easy to see. During the next eye checkup, approximately 4 months after finding the place on his neck and after the doctors were finished with their eye examination, David asked his doctor to take a look at the place on the back of his neck.

Immediately after examination, the doctor became pale and told David he needed to go out and get another doctor. David had seen this look before and it immediately confirmed his suspicions. Evidently the cancer had dropped cells before the doctors at Duke killed the tumor. Dr. Joy came in immediately and started examining David's neck; she took the same posture as the physician who had examined him earlier. She told David that she was going to have him set up for emergency surgery immediately, if possible. She told David because of his history, she suspected it was the melanoma cancer in the lymph node system. Surgery was performed immediately and the biopsy was confirmed by both the hospital and the number one rated lab in the country, located in Bethesda, Maryland, it was melanoma cancer in the lymph node system. David's physicians immediately set up every kind of test which could be performed.

After all the evidence and been studied the final diagnosis was that David had melanoma cancer throughout his lungs, lymphatic system, liver and probably already in the brain. David was told he had less than six months to live and to really get ready for only about three, because of the severity and how fast the cancer had spread. The VA Hospital of Durham and Duke Hospital shared their staff and worked like a hand in glove together. In the final analysis it was told to David by the foremost leading authorities on cancer anywhere in the world, there was nothing they could do for him. They could not even give him experimental drugs, because the cancer had already gone to his brain, and not even the most modern chemotherapy medicine could pass the brain to kill the cancer.

David immediately looked up and said “Thank You Lord, now You and I can work this out.” The doctor looked at David as if he was crazy. He advised him about how intense the pain would become and that they would try and keep him comfortable. David thanked the doctor for everything he had done. David and his sister calmed down and then on the way home, while his sister was driving, David began to talk to the Lord again, thanking Him for all the blessings He had bestowed upon him. He was especially grateful to the Lord for letting him see his children grow up. David told the Lord that if it was His will for him to die, then he was ready to go.

David then told the Lord, if He would give him the opportunity, he would write three books in His Honor. David went to bed for almost 30 days from all the pain that was in his chest, before getting out of bed to sit down and start doing his part, of the promise he made to God. There were two reasons for David being in bed at the time, the first was the pain from the chest which was being created by the cancer. The second was that David had just gotten a flu shot the same day he had started running a fever, from the flu. He spent three weeks so sick in bed from having the flu shot same time he started getting the flu. David had taken the double whammy of the flu, and the shot at one time.

The one thing the flu shot did for David, besides giving him the opportunity to have a double dose of the flu, was that it showed him that he did not want to take any chemotherapy like the flu also attacked his body and his immune system. According to David's doctors the only thing that was keeping him alive at the time was his immune system. David knew that the chemotherapy would directly attack the immune system. This was why when the doctor told David there was nothing they could give him, not even any experimental chemotherapy drugs. David immediately looked up and thanked the Lord for his condition. David knew that if he was going to die, he wanted to die with the last little bit of dignity that he had and this would allow him to do so. The doctors had told David that because of the severity of his condition, when they were entertaining the idea of chemotherapy, that the doses would be almost lethal, and that the chances of survival from the chemotherapy were slim.

After almost completing 2/3 of his promise, David had just finished writing his second book, when he started experiencing pains throughout his back that even the morphine wouldn't touch. He contacted his primary care physician and told him what was happening and asked him if he could come see him immediately. After careful examination by his physician, they came to the conclusion it was muscle strain and not the cancer. David had spent so much time at the computer writing his two books, that his muscles had been stressed and strained through the tension of what he was writing. The doctor was thumbing through the computer, while writing David’s prescription for muscle relaxers, when he told him that his last x-rays done two weeks prior were negative. He was getting ready to tell David about his labs. When David interrupted him and asked him what he just said. This was a complete shock to David’s Dr. He told David “oh my God, that stuff doesn’t just jump out of your chest.” David looked at the doctor with astonishment and reluctance; however David believed that the Lord had saved his life and given him a second opportunity. It looked like the Lord had done His part. David’s doctor being skeptical and being a doctor, immediately ordered every test to be run again, making sure that the cancer had not gone into hiding.

What they found was overwhelming for everybody involved, especially David. The doctor looked at David's Mom, Dad and daughter Lindsay and said “there are no more signs of cancer anywhere in his body.” The doctor told David he did not know what he had done, but whatever it was, he needed to keep doing it. He then warned David and the family that the cancer could come back anytime, he just did not know. The doctor said he had never known this to happen before. The next day David went back to the hospital and turned in 707 tablets of morphine, along with some other highly addictive pain killers. He requested an audit and receipt for the medicines being turned in.

David had almost completed his promise to the Lord and has been told for the most part, he is a walking miracle. Bradley North was so inspired he felt the story had to be shared with others what happened to David could and would give hope to others who feel hopeless and alone. The only medicine David took during this whole ordeal was the pain killers, until the pain was gone. David just completed a 13 month checkup after he was supposed to be dead, and even though there was still a tumor in his eye and the remnants of nodules on his lungs, everything was inert and he was cancer free. David had three different doctors, and in three different departments which were, ear, nose on and throat, oncology, and primary care.

David had just finished up another set of examinations during the 13 month check up with his oncologist, again finding, there was no cancer anywhere his body. With tears in his eyes, a doctor of 40 years and a cancer specialist told David how he had seen many people in his life in all stages and tight of cancer. The doctor told David and Lindsay that he had never seen anybody survive melanoma cancer before. He told them that this was a miracle. The doctor told them there was no other way to explain it. To David and to his daughter, it sounded like the doctor had been waiting all his life to see this kind of miracle. David went primary care doctor a week later and was given some antibiotics to clear up the congestion in his lungs. His primary care physician told David that nobody understands how he is still alive except by understanding of the Lord works in mysterious ways and he felt that this was way beyond his understanding; however he would accept it as a miracle of faith.

David doesn't know what gave him grace with God, nor was he going to ask the question, “Why God would give him an opportunity again to stay alive, when so many other people have fallen to the same disease.” David felt compelled through what God had given him to share his story with others, in the hope they could find peace, comfort and the knowledge that faith can move mountains, it could open doors, even when we don't know there's a door present.

David’s story doesn't end here, unlike most cancer patient’s who have been told they are terminally ill, and have been given a death sentence; however in this case David was given a reprieve by the highest Judge there is. Whether David ever gets his name back here on earth is unsure and the possibility that he will remain branded with this wrongful conviction for the rest of his life. The one thing David went through all his documentation which included court documents, while having this story written was that after he was convicted of this crime and after his post-trial endeavors to get his name back failed. He found that Moody deliberately lied to the State Bar, the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Federal Court for the Eastern District about the actions he had taken after being paid to represent David in a post-trial relief effort. Moody was both clever and competent and he used his skills and name to protect himself after failing to provide the proper representation he had promised. He was able to go back to his life just like nothing had happened. David's life was forever changed due to the actions of others, because they claimed to be able to do something and did not possess skills or qualifications in order to fulfill their promise or commitment.

The Federal Court judge against David because Moody had already been exonerated in the lower courts of Virginia, therefore she was barred from hearing the same case over. She told David he did not establish fundamental error enough that she could do anything with his case. David had never gone after Andy in any court, nor did he go after him in the federal court. David always felt Andy had made a mistake in the way he represented him, and because and he was young and unskilled. The story was different with Moody, because he was negligent and then he succeeded in hiding his negligence. Moody also told the court(s), and the State Bar that David had not come into his office and hired him in time to note an appeal and that David came in after the 21 day period for Moody to file a motion to reconsider.

Moody also threw a smokescreen when it came to an appeal being filed on David's behalf. He told the courts that David had not retained him in time for him to file an appeal. The oxymoron of this statement was why Moody would have filed a motion to reconsider; that he knew had to be in within 21 days of the sentencing date, when he knew the time jurisdiction had run out. The other question for one to understand is if what David said is true, and Moody had the judge sign a motion to reconsider on the 27th day, then why was there not enough time to file an appeal with regard to the wrongful conviction. A competent attorney would have never filed any motion, especially when he knew that time jurisdiction is written in stone. Why was the that he never filed an appeal even if David came in on the 27th day, which would have been too late for the motion to reconsider, he could've used the same arguments in the appeal process.

Everything was so convoluted and Moody continued to stir the waters, so that he could protect his own interest and get away with the lies he had created. The state court judge seemed to be moved by Moody's attempt to file an appeal, not on the wrongful conviction, but on the fact he had filed a motion to reconsider improperly, because he placed it on the Judge's desk on the 21st day and because the judge did not sign the order until the 27th day. David never cheated anyone his life deliberately and in the event he had ever done anybody wrong either directly or indirectly, by word or deed, he had always tried to be the first one to say he was sorry and correct what he had done.

To this day David still does not know what he has done, allowing him the opportunity to continue his life, when others are dying from the same condition he suffered from. The books that David has written have been a fulfillment of a promise David made to the Lord Almighty. The first book was written about Giving, the second book was written about Helping, and the third book is about, Faith. David hopes you enjoy the three books, written by Bradley Dallas North.

David would like to take this time and opportunity to thank everyone who has been a part of his life and especially the ones who helped him after he had been wrongfully convicted, and branded by the laws of man. Without the trust that these people showed David and especially Gil Downey, who gave David the opportunity to be on some of the projects they had worked on, when knowing his background, David could never find the words to thank him enough.

David has never tried to sell anybody on his idea of faith, and/or how the Lord has worked in mysterious ways throughout his life. There are probably a lot of stories that David left out, while Bradley was writing this book, only because he forgot them during the time everything was being written. David is getting ready to go out and start promoting the story of what the Lord has done for him with people all over the world on in hopes that through their faith, they would be able to find their light which will lead them to everlasting life. David is facing a great sadness at this juncture in his life and at the same time he is overwhelmed with joy and happiness to have been able to share this story with you. To everyone around him David is considered to be a walking miracle. The people who do not know him, and have heard his story say he is an inspiration of hope for them.