Medford mail tribune., July 28, 1963, Image 38

Miracle Child
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THE CIGARETTE WITH THE NEW MICRONITE FILTER
Refines away harsh flavor... refines away
rough taste... for the mildest taste of all!
THE FINER THE FILTER, THE MILDER THE TASTE I
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(Continued from page 5)
had put Ann wholly in the hands of God and now must
obediently await His judgment A few days later when
we were visiting Ann, Sister Mary Alice stopped us out
side the room.
"I didn't want to say anything before," she told me,
"but improvement began just after you left Sunday.
Ann's breathing and fever eased. She spent a restful
night. The improvement has continued since."
As I entered Ann's room, I whispered my prayer.
"Mother!" Ann's voice was so strong! When I stooped
to kiss her, my eyes filled with tears. Ann's face was
pale but the puftuiess was gone. Her dark eyes focused
on me. "Take me home," she said sternly.
"Soon, real soon," I replied, hugging her.
Every day we watched Ann growjtronger. The chicken
pox vanished; the bluish veins subsided. Ann sat up.
One day, I helped her out of bed and guided her a few
steps across the room. Then I let go. Ann tottered a
bit, then walked to a table, chattering away as of old.
A doctor who had been caring for her said: "I don't
know what's going on inside, but what I see on the
outside is unbelievable."
We knew that many believed Ann's recovery was
really -a "remission," that we had cruelly duped our
selves into believing her cured, and that we would suf
fer all the more when we finally lost her. But Bob and
I had no doubts.
Two weeks after our novena began, Ann was discharged
from the hospital.
"Thank You for Our Child"
It was a raw and rainy Sunday, so I tucked Ann
warmly in our car, and we started on our pilgrimage to
Emmitsburg, 50 miles away, where Mother Seton is bur
ied. Her remains, at the time, were in a small chapel on
the grounds of St. Joseph's Provincial House and College.
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we carrieu Ann across uie west grounas ana eniereu
through an arched door. The tomb was covered by a slab
of marble. Bob lifted Ann and stood her atop it. She was
a child of Mother Seton's now, as well as ours. In the dim
ming light of early evening, Bob and I knelt and said a
prayer which we have never ceased saying:
"Dear God, thank You for manifesting Your mirac
ulous powers, through the intercession of Mother Seton
. . . thank You for our child.. .' ."
Epilogue: Two years after Ann's recovery, the
O'Neills were visited by a postulator general a Vat
ican representative, often called the "devil's advocate"
who seeks natural explanations for alleged miracles.
The official investigation continued for eight years; he
studied all records, questioned participants in the case,
and obtained outside medical opinion.
Dr. Sacks testified that Ann suffered from "acute
lymphatic leukemia"; that no trace of it now existed;
that he knew. of no medical means to cure it.
Two experts in the field of haematology, Dr. Wil
liam Dameshek of Tufts College and Dr. Sidney Farber
of Harvard, sustained the original diagnoses of several
doctors on the basis of records. In addition, bone mar
row was extracted from Ann's cheBt and examined. It
showed no signs of leukemia, and experts admitted
they knew of no case like Ann's.
The medical experts agreed that neither blood trans
fusions nor then current drugs could do more than
slow the fatal disease. Few children live more than
two years with leukemia, although there is one rare
medical case in which b boy lived seven and a half years
but was under constant medical attention. Ann has had
no leukemia treatments for 11 years.
Today Ann is a shy teen-ager who listens to Bobby
Rydell records and lives with four younger sisters in
a small home in Catonsville, Md. She is described as
"average" in school and hopes someday to be a nurse.
rmll Wtrkly, July U. mi