Miracle Mum's Prayers Answered

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
22 Dec 2009

The Hunter Valley mother of five from Maitland who received the second miracle ascribed to the founder of the Sisters of St Joseph, which was approved by the Vatican this week, says she is "personally humbled and grateful to Mary MacKillop and the influence she has had on my life."

Diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer and tumours in her liver in the mid-1990s and given just weeks to live, the woman, her family and friends, together with the Sisters of St Joseph prayed to Mary MacKillop, and against all odds their prayers were answered.

Ten months later, the woman was not only still alive but the tumours that invaded her lungs and liver had completely disappeared.

More than a decade later, the Maitland mother continues to be cancer-free and was overjoyed at the news the way is now clear for Mary MacKillop to become Australia's first saint.

"Mary MacKillop has always provided me with hope and inspiration, particularly during the most difficult times of my life," she said in a statement released by the Sisters of St Joseph, adding that she hoped others, particularly children will be inspired and encouraged "to live as generously and as compassionately as Mary did."

However, for the moment the woman who is now a grandmother, says she wishes to remain anonymous. "On a day like today you might have a thousand questions to ask about my story and sometime in the future I do want to share this with you," she promised in her statement.

The second miracle approved by the Vatican is one of the final stages in the path to canonisation for Australia's beloved Mary MacKillop. The first miracle ascribed to her, and approved by the Vatican in 1995 when she was Beatified by Pope John Paul II, occurred in 1961.

This miracle concerned a 23 year old young Sydney woman who was admitted to a Sydney hospital in October that year, sweating profusely and suffering cramps, faintness and  haemorrhaging. Diagnosed with acute myeloblastic leukaemia, the recently married young woman was given less than a month to live.

"The outlook was extremely poor and death was the evident outcome," her doctor said.

Sent home in a wheelchair to die, she and her family prayed to Mary MacKillop to intercede with God on her behalf. A month and a half later the young bride was still alive, but suffering agonising abscesses on her limbs. Rushed back into hospital she was treated with cortisone but few expected her to live to see in the New Year which was less than a week away.

To everyone's amazement though, she began to recover and the aggressive leukaemia that should have killed, completely disappeared.

Amazingly the young woman went on to have six children and for half a century has maintained her anonymity. However as with Mary MacKillop's second miracle, may well come forward with details of her story to coincide with the canonisation ceremony by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome sometime during the next 12 to 18 months.