8. Surviving Cancer
“What saint do you pray to for cancer healing?”
Unable to answer my young friend, I assured her that I would find out whom that saint was. The next day I found a book of retreats in a local bookstore, which had in it the biography of St. Peregrine and a novena to him as the Patron Saint of cancer victims. After passing on the information to my friend, I felt urged to begin asking for the intercession of this saint for people I knew who were suffering from this disease, including a dear friend of mine with terminal cancer.
I prayed intensely for all of these people, to the saint who had been miraculously cured of cancer himself in the 14th century, after having a vision in which Jesus touched his leg and the cancer disappeared.
As I began praying to this saint, asking for his intercession, I also started promoting this saint. St. Peregrine was suddenly in my prayers, my thoughts, and my conversations.
It was early springtime, and I planned to clean the small balcony off the bedroom of my apartment. As I opened the sliding glass door, I was startled by a pigeon fleeing frantically out of one of the flowerpots and flying in front of me while squawking hysterically. I then noticed two large eggs in the flowerpot! The pigeon shrieked from a nearby rooftop as I gingerly retreated back inside and quietly slid the glass door shut. She eventually returned, cautiously, and resumed sitting on her eggs in the flowerpot. As she stared at me I realized pigeons have very red eyes.
“O.K.” I told her firmly. “You can stay until your babies can fly.” (Being pro-life I knew I had to allow her to give birth.) “That’s all though! Then you’re out of here!”
I learned a lot about the family life of pigeons during the next few weeks as the male and female took turns sitting on their eggs, cooing to each other and being affectionate as one left the flowerpot, and the other climbed in carefully. After the two tiny birds finally hatched, both parents continued climbing in and out of the flowerpot, taking turns to sit on the babies and keep them warm and protected. It was around midnight one rainy night, when I awoke to the loud cooing sounds of the pigeons.
At the same time, I went from feeling somewhat uncomfortable, to having severe pain in my lower abdomen. I thought I might have a bladder infection, so I drove to the nearest emergency room to ask for medicine. As I entered the hospital, I suddenly doubled over as the pain quickly worsened. Following two doses of morphine, which didn’t help the increasing pain at all, I underwent a CT scan to discover what was wrong. After a long time of writhing in excruciating pain, a physician entered the small room I was in. At about the same time the pain medicines began to work, to be effective.
“Your right kidney appears to be full of cancer.”
The doctor’s words stunned me so much that I was unable to respond other than to ask that someone call my youngest daughter. Soon afterward she arrived at the hospital with her husband. With them the doctor returned to my room.
“I’m not sure you understood me,” he said, “but the films indicate that, very possibly, you have a kidney full of cancer.”
“What happens now?” is all I could ask.
We were sent to the office of a urologist, who decided from looking at the films I had brought with me, to perform surgery as soon as possible, which would be 3 days later on May 3rd. We discussed my fear of complications from surgery, which stemmed from my medical history, and the surgery-related deaths of my husband and other family members. He was reassuring and optimistic as he calmed my fears about the surgery. It was a Friday morning when this planning took place, and I was sent home to rest until Monday, May 3rd, when my right kidney would be removed and the prognosis decided. There would be a surgical assessment as to whether or not the cancer had spread beyond the kidney.
I spent the weekend praying The Rosary, and making phone calls to ask others to pray for me. On Sunday morning, May 2nd, I asked my daughter to take me to mass with her family. The pain medication prescribed was helping me, but I had to move slowly and cautiously, and could not drive. Many at the morning mass let me know they were praying for me, and the pastor offered to perform the Anointing of The Sick afterward. As I was being anointed with holy oil and listening to the beautiful prayers Father Jim prayed over me, I was overwhelmed with the peace that surpasses all understanding. I felt engulfed in peace, even though I knew I was possibly facing death.
On May 3rd, I was surrounded by family as I was wheeled towards surgery. Knowing that many people were praying for me relieved me of anxiety. The feeling of being immersed in peace was still with me. I felt comforted and assured, and trusting of the healing love of God. The feeling of peace, which began with the anointing, stayed with me. I handed my Rosary Beads to my daughter to hold for me during surgery.
Following the surgery, the surgeon explained that, upon cutting me open, he had found that the main vein to the kidney had ripped and caused the pain which sent me originally hurrying to the emergency room. I had lost a lot of blood as I had been bleeding internally all weekend before the surgery. He said I probably had only days, possibly hours to live when going in to the surgery. Although I had no symptoms until that sudden pain, the cancer had most likely been growing in my kidney for a few years. As I began my recovery, in the hospital, I was keenly aware of the prayers being offered for me. It was a feeling I never experienced before. It was like lying on a bed of prayer, holding my Rosary Beads in my hand and being reminded of the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother.
There is no treatment available for this particular cancer, but only a 5% chance of reoccurrence. If it does return, it usually does so in the liver, the bones, or the lungs. Blood testing and chest x-rays periodically provide the necessary observation, as well as a CT scan every year. Three and a half years have passed with no indication of cancer in me, and I’m able to hardly think of it at all.
The prayer needs of someone else with cancer initially introduced me to St. Peregrine. Surviving my own cancer has brought me into daily prayer requests for myself and other cancer victims through the intercession of this saint. Increased is my awareness of the gift of each day, my appreciation of simplicity, enthusiasm for all I hope to accomplish, and my gratefulness for experiencing God’s healing love. The belief that my body is a dwelling place for God has been brought to my attention.
Upon returning home from surgery, I found the two baby pigeons learning to fly, as Mama and Papa Pigeon strutted proudly on my balcony, having nudged their children out of the flowerpot. Looking into another flowerpot, I was startled and shocked to see two more pigeon eggs!
Oh, well, life goes on….
A few months after my surgery, I discovered that the feast day of St. Peregrine is May 2nd, the day I got anointed before surgery.
Pat Montesano's 65th Birthday Gathering