Vonnie McGowan-Arscott – still standing amid her trials
Published:Thursday | June 4, 2015 | 11:21 AM
WHEN IT comes to living by faith, Vonnie McGowan Arscott has this formula down perfectly.
Her life has not been an easy one, but just like Job, who faced his tests and confidently uttered, "Though He slay me, I will trust Him," McGowan Arscott is today singing that same song.
Troubles and trials are not new to her. In fact, she got her first preparation for it in 1990 when two days before her birthday, on her way from carnival in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, she was flung from the vehicle in which she was travelling.
She fractured her femur (thigh bone) and was unable to walk for 11 months.
During this period, where a lot of persons in her situation might have become restless and indulged in self-pity, McGowan - Arscott used it to plan, and eventually execute, a show in celebration of rocksteady music called The Beat Goes On, which celebrated 35 years of Studio One music.
Things went well for her for years as she put her energy into the music business, working for many years in New York City and Florida (where she now resides), both on radio and as a promoter.
She promoted several shows, the most successful being 'Nostalgia In Gold'.
McGowan-Arscott, who believes in championing the causes of those who can't help themselves, was also involved in feeding the homeless in South Florida, many of them being Jamaicans who fell on hard times.
charity work
In 2008, she started batting for the undocumented Caribbean farm workers in Florida, helping them to receive services such as health care, which they might not otherwise have been afforded.
In 2011, her faith was once again tested when after returning from a trip in Korea, she got the crushing news that she had endometrial cancer.
When many would crumble, McGowan-Arscott again looked to the one source she knew and had proven: God. She had surgery and was once again back to new.
Her troubles, however, were not over yet as the following year - two days before her 57th birthday - she suffered a brain aneurysm. After 14 hours of surgery, she was left in a coma for weeks. As if that was not enough, she suffered a stroke during the coma, crippling her left side.
"Prayers went up around the clock for me. In fact, it's a miracle that I am here now as I was told the doctors gave me a three per cent chance of surviving," she told Family & Religion.
Her church family, the Pentecostal Tabernacle in Miami Gardens, Florida, and her family kept a prayer vigil, which saw her beating the odds and coming out of the coma.
"It was a long, hard road for me as I had to learn everything anew," she said. She had to learn colours, how to tell the time, learn to walk. She was like a baby learning new stuff every day.
Through sheer determination and unshakeable faith in God, McGowan-Arscott again leapt over that hurdle so much so that she has started travelling on her own to Jamaica.
Just as she was thinking she was ready to enjoy life once more, McGowan-Arscott was dealt another crushing blow in 2013: Endometrial cancer had again shown its ugly head.
Another surgery, radiation, and cancer treatment ... she began to breathe a sigh of relief, once again putting this, too, behind her.
"I am now told that the cancer is in my bones," she said.
Holding on to stubborn faith, McGowan-Arscott is not buying that report.
"I am choosing to believe the report of the Lord," she said. According to her, the doctors suggested that her family put her in a hospice as they informed them of all the symptoms that she would be facing.
"All that they said, none of that has happened. I refused to be put in an institution, and my husband has been a solid rock for me.
"I've always relied on God's mercies. I've been through enough to know that He cares for me, and it was during my illness my faith was strengthened," she said.
For McGowan-Arscott, she has seen friends and others around her who had less severe illnesses pass on, but with all the cancer battles, she is still standing.
"After coming this far, I am not giving up. I don't believe He brought me this far to leave me now," were the confident words coming from her.
"I am enjoying my family and doing everything, fighting the good fight of faith," she said.
In spite of the odds, she said she knows God is real and no matter what, she is going to trust Him.
McGowan-Arscott has words of encouragement for others who are facing similar or worse situations, and it's simply: "Have faith and believe in God. God is God and ready to deliver on His promises."