A Transformative Triumph

Traci Mask battled an aggressive brain tumor eight years ago, unaware that it was preparing her for another major battle ahead. Now cancer-free, the perseverant eternal optimist uses her experiences to help kids in need.

by KARI APTED

Traci Mask blamed the chairs at first.

Working as a kindergarten paraprofessional at South Salem Elementary School in Covington, she felt sure that perching atop tiny plastic chairs all day was the reason for the odd numbness that came and went in her right arm. Still, she mentioned it to her doctor, who ordered an MRI. When her insurance refused to pay for the test, she brushed it off and kept living life as a working mom to son Ryan and daughter Lauren. When the symptoms continued, Mask’s doctor again requested an MRI, but coverage was denied a second time. As she worked out one day, the weight she was holding simply fell out of her hand. The bothersome right arm had gone completely numb.

Soon after, Mask was talking to her husband, Shane, while driving to work.

“I was talking so fast [that] he couldn’t understand what I was saying,” she said. Afraid that his wife was having a stroke, Shane told her to pull over immediately and raced to her location. The incident was enough for her insurance company to finally cover her MRI. They put her into the machine— then pulled her right back out and informed her that she needed to go straight to the doctor’s office. There, she learned that she had a softball-sized brain tumor that needed to be removed immediately.

Her neurosurgeon diagnosed her with meningioma, a fast-growing but non-cancerous tumor that grows in the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. The surgeon told Mask it was the best kind of brain tumor from which to suffer, except for the fact that it would likely grow back. The surgery went well, and it was not long before she was back at work doing what she loved.

Unfortunately, the prediction of tumor regrowth came true. Within two years, Mask had to undergo 25 rounds of radiation and a painful gamma knife procedure to halt its growth. It left her exhausted and without any hair. Though she was understandably hesitant, Mask realized it was time to turn in her notice at South Salem.

“People tell me I’m strong, that I’m stronger than them, but that’s not true. I have bad days, too. I didn’t think I could’ve gone through all of this, but the more I went through it, the more I saw what I could endure and the more confident I felt.”

Traci Mask

“I was so sad, but everyone there was so supportive,” she said. “They all did so much for me.”

Mask knew that once she was well enough, she wanted to volunteer and find an avenue through which to continue her passion for helping children.

“I googled ‘kids volunteering.’ That’s when I learned about Alcovy CASA,” she said, “but I had no idea what it was initially.”

CASA—an acronym for Court Appointed Special Advocates—representatives are appointed by judges to advocate for the best interests of children in foster care or difficult family situations. Volunteers undergo an extensive training process before being assigned to a child or sibling group. They work with birth and foster parents, educators and social workers to ensure that judges have all the information they need to make the best choices for each child. Mask was eager to begin her training, but the coronavirus pandemic put those plans on pause.

While rubbing lotion onto a sunburn on yet another fateful day, life brought Mask a new challenge. At first, she felt sick, because she knew that the lump her fingers slid across on her left breast was cancer. A week later, a mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy and MRI confirmed her instincts were correct.

“It was Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, or IDC—Stage 3,” she said. “Thankfully, we caught it early enough that it hadn’t gone into any of my lymph nodes.”

Mask did not have time to mentally process everything, as she plunged into another extensive treatment program. Her care team reassured her that she would be good to go in a year. However, the breast cancer treatments were, in some ways, harder than her brain tumor recovery. Because breast cancer runs in her family, Mask opted for a double mastectomy. It was followed by four rounds of chemotherapy.

“I lost all my hair again,” she said. “The bone pain—it was like every bone in my body hurt. I only had to have four rounds, and I really don’t think I could’ve handled five. That was the only time through all of this that I felt like I couldn’t handle something.”

CASA was still on Mask’s mind as she endured chemo and breast reconstruction surgery.

“I told myself that if I got through that last round of chemo, ‘I don’t care how I feel, I’m going to do this CASA class,’” she said, “and the day after the last chemo, I did the virtual CASA class, even though I felt awful.”

Mask completed the required 30 hours of training and was assigned her first case in July 2021. She describes the experience as challenging but rewarding. Mask credits her family for keeping her motivated. “If it wasn’t for their confidence in me, I don’t know where I’d be. They have literally kept me alive. People tell me I’m strong, that I’m stronger than them, but that’s not true. I have bad days, too. I didn’t think I could’ve gone through all of this, but the more I went through it, the more I saw what I could endure and the more confident I felt.”

Mask’s prognosis remains good. She is now breast cancer-free and undergoes an MRI every six months to track the meningioma’s growth. She still struggles with motor-skill issues, and cancer treatment threw her into early menopause. At age 50, she has already reached the lifetime limit allowed for radiation. Even so, she tries to wake up with a positive attitude every morning, thankful just to be alive.

“Huge challenges are life-changing, but they change it for the better,” she said. “I always tell people they can get through this, and they’ll never be the same. If I’ve gotten through it, you can, too.”

For more information about Alcovy CASA, and how to volunteer, visit AlcovyCASA.org.

GRACE & TRUTH The Secret to Answered Prayer

The lack of a personal relationship often stands between God and people simply because they have taken neither the time nor the effort to establish a connection to Him.

by HAROLD MILLER JR.

In 1 John 5:14–15 (KJV), we read the following: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” This passage contains one of the great secrets to answered prayer. However, the sad reality today is that there are many so-called Christians who lack confidence in prayer, and one of the reasons they lack confidence in prayer is because they lack confidence in God.

Why is that the case? Why would people lack confidence in God? Well, you cannot have confidence in someone you do not trust, and you cannot trust or have faith in someone you do not know. You cannot know someone without having a relationship with them, and you cannot have a relationship with them if you have no communication or interaction with them. As mentioned, many people lack confidence in prayer because they lack confidence in God; and they lack confidence in God because, contrary to the doctrinal creeds they espouse, they have no real personal relationship with God.

God is knowable, and God desires to have a personal relationship with all of us. We can know God through His word because that is how God reveals Himself to us. Just as we can know any person through their word, we can know God through His word. The text I cited states that if we ask anything according to God’s will, God hears us. How can we know what we ask is according to His will? By reading His word, which reveals His will.

Now, the prime prerequisite to confidence in prayer is that we have a proper relationship with God. Contrary to popular belief, God does not hear every prayer a sinner prays. The only prayer God hears from a sinner is the prayer of repentance. Until we repent of our sins and turn to God for forgiveness and salvation, we have no basis for a relationship with God. In fact, even after we are in a right relationship with God, He still does not hear our prayers if we are out of sorts with Him because of unconfessed sins or out of sorts with one another because of strife or unforgiveness. Prayer is not just the matter of a magical chant. There are certain preconditions that must be met and maintained. Once the prerequisites are met and maintained, we can have confidence that God will hear and answer our prayers.

“God is knowable, and God desires to have a personal relationship with all of us. We can know God through His word because that is how God reveals Himself to us.”

New Hope Baptist Church Pastor Harold Miller Jr. Harold Miller Jr. is the pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Covington. For information, visit NewHopeCOV.com.