His song is inspiring people all over the world, but the local Bonita Valley pastor never thought he would be able to sing it.
“That song became my anthem,” Pastor Jason David, who has been battling tongue cancer, told NBC 7. "They told me … we're not sure you'll ever sing again or even speak again. That was devastating. There was a point I wasn't sure if I would play piano again.”
At one point his treatments were so painful he didn’t know if he wanted to live. "The doctor told me it only gets worse for the next five days and I thought I can't even get through this for the next five minutes. If it hurts this much to live, I don't want to live anymore,” he said.
But in his darkest hour his wife and music kept him going. After surviving surgery, he finally finished the bridge of his song “These Walls.”
Pastor David performed the finished song for Bonita Valley Community Church, which posted it online – garnering more than 5 million views.
“These Walls” has now been translated into 12 languages and performed in 25 countries across the world, and his inbox has been flooded with messages about how his song is getting others through their dark times.
"People who had quit dancing or quit singing or they quit playing music, then they saw the song and it inspired them to not give up,” he said.
Local
Paster David incorporated their stories into the music video he released last week.
Now, the church is working to spread the song to local radio stations to inspire others to sing again.
Pastor David said the song's reach has now become larger than his own problems.
"Now we're telling stories of other survivors who aren't giving up, and I'm hoping they will encourage other survivors who gave up on a dream because life robbed them of something, and I just don't want them to give up.”
You can listen to the song here.
