In October 2025, we received some challenging news. Tommy was diagnosed with rectal cancer. The tumor has grown through the colon wall. It appears to be aggressive and complex. Chemotherapy is our first line of defense and began on Oct 20^th. 

The tumor did not respond as they had hoped so they followed up with 28 rounds of radiation and chemotherapy together. That ended April 6, 2026.

We are currently awaiting scans but the tumor needs to come out, regardless of how much it has shrunk. PLEASE pray that it has shrunk enough to be safely removed.

We'll update once we know what the scans are showing and when they finalize a surgery date. Right now, we're aiming for Thursday, May 28.

Tommy and Tammy met at Johnson University in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1994. We recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary! Our two young adult children, Appolonya and Dylan, are so supportive through this challenging time.

Tommy has been the pastor of Glen Cove Christian Church on Long Island in New York since 2019. Before that, Tommy had ministered in his home state of Kentucky for more than 20 years. Moving 800 miles north was a big change and a tremendous adventure, which has proven to bless our lives so much! While we treasure and miss our friends and family in Kentucky, we love the new family and friends that we’ve come to know on Long Island.

Tommy also runs The Enthusiasm Zone, helping people break out of the monotony of the mundane and the mediocre so they can break through to their enthusiasm zone. Right now, Tommy is fighting against his own “mundanian.”

Y’all, we’ll be honest. We are uncomfortable with making this account. We don’t like something that seems like we’re saying, “Hey, give us money.” But we have had an overwhelming amount of people ask how they can help and specifically ask if we can set up something so they can give.

In Corbin, Kentucky, we once had a gentleman named Joe Nevius offer us lunch money when Tommy preached at his retirement home. We felt very uncomfortable accepting that money and argued with him that we didn’t want to accept it. He said, “Don’t you dare deny me the blessing I get from God when I give as He leads.”

If God is leading you in this way, we pray you receive God’s blessing through obedience.

More than anything, we ask you to pray for this tumor to respond drastically to treatment and quickly shrink and disappear. 

Thank you to the Long Island Herald for doing such a beautiful job on Tommy's story:  https://www.liherald.com/stories/faith-esilience-and-enthusiasm-glen-cove-pastor-tommy-lanham-faces-cancer-with-congregations,218558