Author: Testimony,
"Love One Another!" 14/2009 → Divine mercy
My mother is sixty-seven years old. Last year she and I were going to spend the first part of my biennial vacation (I work in Australia) on a pilgrimage together in the Holy Land.
Just before my departure from Melbourne, I received word from Poland that my mother would not be able to join me as planned, as she had suddenly (in a matter of several hours) developed a large tumor, which was not only making it difficult for her to eat normally, but was also preventing her from breathing properly. As we learned later, it was a typical case of lymphoma or cancer of the lymphatic system. Since it was now impossible to cancel the reservations, my nephew went in my mother’s stead. We decided to offer up the pilgrimage for mother’s and grandmother’s return to health, in accordance with the will of Jesus. Throughout the entire trip we offered up this one intention to the mercy of God. On arriving home in Poland, we continued, but now with mother present, to offer up this intention to the Lord. The chaplet of divine mercy was the mainstay of our prayer. The medical diagnosis was clear: lymphoma of high-degree malignancy. The treatment: eight rounds of the strongest chemotherapy drug possible — the so-called “red chemo.” But before this, she had, in reverse fashion, to undergo five radiation treatments to remove the tumor in her mouth, since as a result of her three weeks of waiting for the results of the earlier biopsy, during which time she had been fed only certain fluids through a tube, she had reached a state of complete physical and mental exhaustion. This had led to her to a complete breakdown and loss of belief in ever being cured. And so my mother’s order of treatment had to be reversed, for radiation treatment normally comes after chemotherapy.
After the third treatment, the growth in her mouth disappeared completely. This proved to be a turning point not only in the progress of her sickness but also in her mental state. From then on my mother remained strong in faith, constantly entrusting herself and everything happening to her to God’s will.During her many visits to the Oncology Institute of the Hospital on Garncarski Street in Kraków, she encouraged and strengthened her fellow patients. Her condition improved by the day. Supposedly this was the result of the treatment, but in the opinion of the doctors it was a miracle. In this respect they were all in extraordinary agreement. There had to be something else apart from the effects of the therapy, they observed, since treatment in itself never produced results to such a degree — and this to the very end. The same view was borne out over the course of the chemotherapy treatments. My mother has now undergone the last of these treatments and feels very well. No more therapy is envisaged, for the doctors have told her, “Thanks to the treatment and Someone’s clear intervention, you are healthy again.” The Lord is merciful!
Fr. Gregory Gawel SChr, Australia
The article was published with the permission from "Love One Another!" in May 2016.
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