THE Australian grandmother of 20 whose cure from cancer was attributed
to the miraculous intercession of Blessed Mary MacKillop has stepped
forward and spoken to Australian media for the first time about her
experience.
By Anthony Barich
KATHLEEN Evans, 66, from the small town of Windale in New South Wales and whose anonymity has been closely guarded until now, spoke at the Mary MacKillop Chapel in North Sydney on January 11 about her survival that led to the second miracle attributed to the intercession of the Australian Blessed who will now be canonised in Rome this year on a date yet to be confirmed.
Surrounded by her husband Barry, two of her five children Annette and Luke and Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart – the order founded by Blessed MacKillop – the great-grandmother of two told how she had smoked since the age of 16 but had given up in 1990.
Three years later, aged 49, she was diagnosed with cancer – a particularly aggressive tumour in her right lung that quickly spread to her glands.
Within a few months a secondary cancer was found on her brain. She was told it was inoperable and that chemotherapy and X-ray treatment were considered pointless.
“Besides, the odds were just not worth it,” she said. “I was only given a couple of months at the most to live so I said thanks but no thanks. All I had left was prayer. I was a great believer in prayer.
“The next few weeks were hard times. I was unable to stay out of bed for any length of time. I would get the shakes so bad that my husband would have to lay on me to ease them down.”
She couldn’t bathe or shower herself or use the toilet on her own, she suffered from night sweats and struggled to breath at times. “I was in a bad way,” she said.
A friend in the Hunter Valley, NSW gave her a picture of Mary MacKillop with a piece of the Blessed’s clothing attached with some prayer cards from the Josephites, so Mrs Evans, her family and her parish all began praying.
“I’m not one to be on my knees all the time or think I’ll go to hell if I miss Mass,” said Mrs Evans, but confirmed she is a regular churchgoer. Within two weeks she was able to attend a retreat.
After four months her doctor called for more tests “because, as he said, I just shouldn’t be here”.
Ten months after her original diagnosis, she was told there was no sign of the cancer, just some scarring where the tumours had been; and though doctors heavily scrutinized her medical records, she has no doubt about what saved her.
“I do believe in miracles,” she said, adding that she talks to Blessed Mackillop all the time in prayer and hopes to go to Rome for the ceremony. Her cure enabled her to celebrate her 50th birthday in November 1993 and her daughter’s wedding in October 1993.
“So after all this time I can say I’m still here and very well and enjoying life to the fullest.”
On December 19, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI formally signed a decree recognizing the second miracle needed for Mother MacKillop’s canonisation. The campaign for her canonisation began in 1926, 17 years after her death.
The first miracle attributed to her intercession – the 1961 cure of a woman with terminal leukaemia – was accepted by the Vatican and she was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995.
Several other high-profile victims of illness or accident have attributed their recovery at least in part to Blessed MacKillop’s help, including the Catholic family of burns victim Sophie Delezio, the World Youth Day Sydney 2008 ambassador who met Pope Benedict XVI at the event and credits her remarkable medical progress to the Australian Blessed, otherwise known as Blessed Mary of the Cross.
When Irishman David Keohane woke from an eight-month coma in August 2009 following an assault when he was bashed beyond recognition in Sydney, his family attributed his recovery to months of prayers to Blessed MacKillop.