"I'm happy to be here and I'm going to continue to pray," says a former RCMP officer who has far surpassed his life expectancy after being diagnosed with glioblastoma.
Helmut Neufeld is originally from Shaol Lake, Manitoba, but he has lived and worked all over the province as an RCMP officer for over 34 years.
"I had five grand mal seizures at the end of May two years ago," says Neufeld. "We have a permanent site at the museum in Austin and I was cleaning up the site. I went inside the trailer and watched one of my favourite T.V. shows. I cleaned up, went to bed, and the next thing I knew I woke up in Winnipeg."
Austin is an hour and a half west of Winnipeg just off Highway 1. Neufeld's wife Rosanne noticed the seizures and immediately called for help. It didn't take long for the doctors to figure out that Neufeld had a cancerous brain tumour, known as glioblastoma.
"The doctor in Winnipeg told me it was the most serious brain cancer there was. He says, 'Well, you have nine to 12 months to live.' I said I'm going to stretch that to nine to 12 years. He told me I'll never make it, it's impossible."
Miraculous Encounter
"I haven't had any pain yet, it's surreal, so there's no difference that way. Nobody expected me to live this long."
Neufeld and his wife moved their house trailer from Austin to Winnipeg in 2021 so they wouldn't have to drive so long for the treatments he received.
"One day I was taking the garbage out to the dumpster and there was a van sitting on the side of the road with an East-Indian fellow. He called out to me and asked, 'What are you doing here?'"
The two men started talking and Neufeld shared how he had brain cancer and was in the middle of doing treatments.
"He said, 'Do you mind if I pray with you?' I had no issue with that, I'll accept prayer from anybody. I didn't know what to expect and he prayed with me in English. I can't remember exactly what he prayed but at the end of it, he said, 'You can go home now, you're cured.'"
Neufeld went back to the camper and shared what had happened with his wife and daughter, Shannon.
"Shannon said she'd like to see this guy. We walked straight back there, where he had been, and he was gone. My wife said he was an angel. He may well have been. I think there are such things. It was such a surreal adventure."
At the time of the diagnosis, Neufeld's tumour was the size of a thumb. He went through treatments, had lots of people pray for him, and now the tumour is the size of a pinhead.
"I had a doctor's visit recently in Winnipeg and he said, 'I consider you my miracle man.' Rosanne said, 'There's only so much we can do and the rest is up to God.' The doctor agreed and said, 'You're absolutely right.'"
Neufeld shares he's feeling great physically these days.
"I'm going to continue to live to the best of my ability. We're planning to go on with life and see what happens."