Nabeel Qureshi Safely Evacuated After Hurricane Harvey Floodwaters Surround Home in Houston (Video)

Aug 28, 2017 09:26 AM EDT

Christian apologist and author Nabeel Qureshi, who is battling advanced stomach cancer, has revealed he is safe after he was forced to evacuate his home in Houston amid the destruction of Hurricane Harvey.

"Good news: I was evacuated and am now back at the hospital!" Qureshi posted on Facebook. "My family is still at home, though, please pray the water doesn't rise any further and that we get power back sooner than later. Thanks!"

A short time earlier, Qureshi, a Muslim convert to Christianity who previously served with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, issued a dire prayer request on his Facebook page along with a photo showing the massive flooding outside of his home.

Qureshi explained that his home had lost power and that he had no way of getting back to the hospital. He added that he only had a couple days-worth of formula left for his tube feedings.

"Our garage is taking water, but praise God our house itself is dry for now," he wrote in his Facebook post. "Please pray for us, for Houston, and for God's mercy on all those who are being devastated by Harvey."

Qureshi also shared a video of the flooding around his neighborhood: "We're here in Houston with these historic floods...I mean this is catastrophic," he says. "This is pretty bad...please pray for us, please pray for Houston, please pray that the water would stop."

Nabeel Qureshi
(Photo : YouTube)
Qureshi shared a video of the destruction Hurricane Harvey inflicted on his Houston neighborhood

The evangelist returned home from the hospital on Friday after having his stomach removed as a life-saving measure to prevent him from bleeding to death. Before his release, Qureshi had spent over a month in two different hospitals after a stent placed in his esophagus became lodged in his throat. With his stomach removed, doctors are "now very worried" about his liver, Qureshi said. 

"[T]he doctors report that my liver is shot through with cancer right now," the 34-year-old said in a video posted over the weekend. "If I'm looking a little bit yellow to you it's because for some reason, they can't figure it out, my liver won't calm down."

"It's the numbers of certain enzymes just won't get back to normal and so ... I had two separate doctors sit down and explain to me that, 'Nabeel, if these numbers get worse, you may enter into liver failure and there is nothing we can do for you at that point. That will be the end.'"

"One of them just said, 'You will die if we don't fix your liver,'" he added.

Qureshi said that next week, his tube feedings will be cut in half and he will begin consuming soft foods like shakes and smoothies. After that, he will hopefully be able to eat solid foods.

"A large part of the next few weeks is going to be regaining my strength, the ability to walk. I can walk but it's not easy. The surgery was quite invasive," he added. "That's another thing. I am not sure I elaborated [on] in the previous video. The stomach removal was not an attempt to fix the cancer. It was basically a life-saving procedure."

"We are praying that it was the right choice and that God will bless that decision and that ultimately, He can even work miracles," Qureshi said, adding that he's keeping his faith in God no matter what the outcome is.

"I am contending for healing. I am asking God to heal. I believe with all my heart that God has the power to heal in the blink of an eye," he explained. "But, my faith in God isn't shaken by whether or not He will heal me. I will believe in God no matter what. I trust him. He is sovereign and I love him."