Building a miracle: Community comes together as man overcomes terminal diagnosis
Published 1:29 pm Monday, December 12, 2016
A year ago, Yvonne Vanderslice wasn’t sure if her husband, Rick, would still be alive today. (Reporter Photo/Keith McCoy)
Rick Vanderslice overcame a terminal cancer diagnosis to enjoy a new home with his wife, Yvonne. (Reporter Photo/Keith McCoy)
From left, Yvonne Vanderslice, Rick Vanderslice and Werner Beiersdoerfer visit in the Vanderslices’ kitchen. (Reporter Photo/Keith McCoy)
The Vanderslices’ new home replaced a dilapidated house the couple had lived in for decades. (Reporter Photo/Keith McCoy)
It took only a few months for volunteers and professionals to design, plan and build a new home for the Vanderslice family. (Reporter Photo/Keith McCoy)
Scott Masters, center, helped spearhead the effort to build a new home for Rick Vanderslice, left, and Yvonne Vanderslice when Rick was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. (Reporter Photo/Keith McCoy)
Yvonne and Rick Vanderslice relax on the front porch of their newly built home in Alabaster. “We’re out here all the time,” Yvonne says. (Reporter Photo/Keith McCoy)
A community’s love
As word about the project began to spread, area churches and individuals began helping in myriad ways, whether through material donations, volunteered labor time or financial donations.
“The community response was kind of overwhelming,” Scott said. “We began building in January (2016), and they were in the house in April.
“Most of the vendors we went to helped in some way. Some donated materials, some gave us materials at cost,” he added. “We had five professionals and about 20 volunteers who volunteered their time to build the house.”
The Jesus Works ministry, with the help of the Sanctuary Trust for Shelby County, secured a $25,000 line of credit from Central State Bank to cover the costs above the donated materials and labor.
To Scott, building a new home for a family in need perfectly encapsulated what the ministry was intended to accomplish.
“I think so many large churches focus on helping in different parts of the world, which is great,” Scott said. “But we have a tremendous need right here at home.”
“It took a lot of prayer from a lot of people to make this happen,” Werner added. “This is the reason churches are here.”
For several weeks – and especially on weekends – the volunteers worked on what was originally intended to be a place for Yvonne to live after her husband passed away.
“It originally was less about Rick and more about (Yvonne). Basically, he was the largest bread provider for the family, and the doctors had given him a terminal cancer diagnosis,” Scott said. “We wanted to make sure she had a place to live after he was gone.”
Having worked in construction for years, Rick, who was undergoing several cancer treatments at the time, admitted it was difficult to sit on the sidelines while the new house went up.
“What hurt me more than the cancer was watching other people do what I wasn’t able to do. Used to, I could get by with two or three hours of sleep, but now I could sleep 20 hours a day,” Rick said. “But when the volunteers were working, there was no cussing, no raising voices.”
“When they all pulled up, I said ‘There comes God’s army,” Yvonne added.
Through the leadership of Scott and the other Jesus Works volunteers, the new house went up quicker than expected.
“They put this up in just a few days,” Rick said as he raised his hands. “Only God can do that.”
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