Dear Brother Jeffrey,
My first trip to Our Lady of Consolation Shrine was on our Blessed Mother’s feast day, August 15, 1974. That was a crucial time in my life. I was a young mother of two small children and was faced with a doctor’s prognosis that looked very grim.
I had one adrenal gland with a cancerous tumor removed, and about six months later, it was discovered that it had spread to the other adrenal gland. That meant that I was facing cancer for the second time.
Rather than surgery, this time my doctor proposed a chemotherapy program, still there was little hope for a cure. Adrenal cancer was very rare, there were no known survivors then and I felt as if the doctors were telling me, “Let’s try this, we just don’t know what else to do.”
My father-in-law was the first to tell me about the Shrine in Carey. He said, “We will take you there and the Blessed Mother will make you well.”
At that time I was in a weakened condition and with effects of chemo-therapy I felt ill a great deal. It required my doctor’s approval to take this trip from my home in Michigan to Mary’s Shrine in Carey. Just being there, somehow, I was renewed in energy. I spent the entire day praying, and at the altar downstairs I left one of my empty bottles of chemotherapy with a letter pleading for my life. I walked in the beautiful procession that day, and my family was amazed at my energy. Normally I was tired with only slight exertion.
Through the grace of God and the help of our dear Lady, I survived a devastating illness when recovery was unheard of. I was not cured instantly—I took the chemotherapy a long time so my recovery was slow. The fact that I even recovered has been a source of amazement to my doctors in that my cure was much more than what modern medicine could accomplish.
Just last week during an appointment with one of the doctors, who had treated me during my illness, I learned that now he knows of only two other survivors of this disease.
In thanksgiving to Our Lady I have brought a bus of 47 pilgrims to the Shrine yearly since 1983. Each year as I come and bring more petitions, I can say all have been answered. Again they were not always instant. At times I had to wait in patience, but she always heard and answered me… and with each 47 pilgrims I brought by bus, I felt blessed 47 times.
To Jesus through Mary really works.
D.L., Michigan