A Mother's Story...Part III

The next morning we were due back at Riley’s for a ten day check and a scheduled platelet transfusion. As we got in the car Greg asked us why we were going and said “I don’t have cancer anymore.” A blood test that day showed no more cancer cells in his blood and a heightened platelet count to the extent that he did not need the transfusion. They sent us home and turned us over to Lutheran Children’s Hospital in Fort Wayne for a coordinated effort of care for Greg. As we shared with the Fort Wayne oncologist (a beautiful Catholic man) our suspicion that our son was healed, he said he believes in miracles but that typically the cancer cells do come and go a lot during the first 28 days of treatment and therefore strongly recommended we continue treatment. So we did…..just as the protocol said….. for 3 ½ years. This 3 ½ years of our life I simply cannot put into words. The suffering was gruesome, the fears overwhelming, and the emotional taxation draining. So, those 3 ½ years I must skip…it is too painful and too long.

Throughout these first days after returning from Riley’s as we continued the hideous chemo treatments, numerous neighbors and friends told us of “feelings” or dreams they had that indicated to them that “we had been chosen for this.”

On September 30 we returned to Sylvan Springs (for what reason I cannot remember) and the owner told us he had a dream that we were to read John 15:16-17 and that our family had been chosen for some special purpose. Tom wanted to read it immediately, but Larry said he did not have a bible there but it was important that we read it in our own bible.

When we returned home, Tom immediately got out his Bible to look up the Bible verse. His bookmarker was already there and the verse was highlighted. Read it. What another beautiful sign from above that we are loved by our Lord who may be asking something of us…..yet we knew it would not be revealed to us entirely quite yet because then in our Bible was a note that referred us to another passage (I cannot remember it) that stated there is more to come but it will be revealed to us later. Needless to say as we proceeded on through the treatments, we were thankful for the faith that God had begun building in us in 1999, while desperation grew that faith even more. In our hearts we knew our son was healed but in our humanness we very much lived and existed fully entrenched in the pediatric oncology world thinking that if our oncologist was correct, we were doing the right thing proceeding with chemotherapy. There was absolutely no bargaining with this deadly disease. Those cancer cells NEVER showed up again.

Then came Greg’s 6th birthday…..the one we feared he would not make it to. My parents brought his cake to our home for a small birthday gathering for Greg. When they arrived, the back of one of the decorations on the cake said “You Have Been Chosen.” Incidents like these continued. Some examples that come to mind: one evening Greg and Tim were at the kitchen table having a bedtime snack. I was upstairs putting away laundry. Tom was out of town. Greg alone saw balls of fire dancing around our statue of the Blessed Mother in the backyard. Frequently he would tell me the Blessed Mother would call his name “Gregory, Gregory.” When Greg’s nightmares began, we started to suspect what was going on in our life, the purpose of it all. He (at the young age of 6) would have repeated nightmares about a physical fight with Satan. Each time in his nightmare he would state “Satan, I rebuke you.” And St. Michael the Archangel would appear and finish the fight for Greg. No two nightmares were the same but all involved the fight with Satan. We began to see that Greg’s cancer may be part of a spiritual battle. Then one time on the Feast of the Guardian Angels, Greg prayed and asked Jesus to reveal the name of his Guardian Angel to him. He really wanted to know.

We were on our way to Abba House Catholic Bookstore, a favorite hangout that was safe for Greg’s low immune system. Some days we would spend hours there as the boys would collect Holy Cards. On our way, Greg said that he continued to see the letter “M” in his mind and thinks the name of his Guardian Angel began with an “M.” Then just before we arrived at the store he said the name of his Guardian Angel is Michael. I said, “Well let’s pray for a confirmation!” Just then a car cut me off and as I was about to yell about it I noticed the sticker on the back: “St. Michael the Archangel.” Then when we arrived at the store Greg noticed a painting of St. Michael he really liked and wanted to hang by his bed for his bad dreams. As the owner got the picture down for Greg to look at more closely, a man walked in the store. Dennis, the owner, seemed shocked…..the man was the painter of the St. Michael picture. He autographed it for Greg and gave it to him. I guess we got our confirmations.

Then, a lady approached me and gave me a rosary out of her purse. She said, “I don’t know you but I have such a strong feeling that you need this. I got it many years ago in Medjugorje and have kept it in my purse since I was there. The Blessed Mother told me someday I would know when I meet the person who needs it next.” I was so touched, not just by her generosity but by the immense love of our Mother Mary. I remembered the image of Our Lady of Medjugorje in my car from 1999. Also, in the meantime we found out we were expecting our third child. I was so concerned about how I would care for Greg when not feeling well due to pregnancy, how I would get myself to prenatal appointments and get Greg to his oncology appointments at least weekly. On top of it all, how would I get a new baby to all the wellness appointments and get Greg to all of his oncology appointments? How would we manage a new baby in the middle of the night and Greg in the middle of the night awake from nausea or extreme hunger due to his steroid treatments? Not to mention that some baby vaccines are not allowed in the homes of oncology children because they are live vaccines and could actually make our baby contagious with the given disease to Greg. I knew this too must be a part of the Plan when we went to our first obstetric appointment. My physician gave us the due date of September 18, 2002. I am certain any reader of this story can figure out the significance of that date. Something to look forward to on the first anniversary of the worst day of our lives!

But baby Fean was not born on September 18, rather she was born on September 3, the Feast of St.Gregory the Great! Just months after the birth of Mary Therese, we received news from Greg’s oncologist at Riley’s that Mary’s cordblood (collected at birth) was a perfect match for Greg. In other words, if his cancer were to ever return, he would need a bone marrow transplant and Mary would save his life. Just another sign that THERE IS A PLAN.

To be continued....