Keeping the faith: A family journey

The Fean Family believes a strong faith and divine
intervention helped keep them together


Tom and Kathy Fean of Fort Wayne believe divine intervention following prayer
at Sylvan Springs resulted in their son's healing from cancer.

In June
2001, their son, Greg, then age 5, began having pains in his legs and
chest.

“It would come and go,” Kathy Fean recalled.

A blood test
showed no problem. A visit to a chiropractor didn't help. A September visit to a
local hospital for arm pain resulted in a diagnosis of overextended
elbow.

Right after they returned from a family vacation, however, Greg
laid on the couch and couldn't move, his parents said. They took him back to the
hospital Sept. 18, 2001.

“We got the call at 4:30 in the afternoon,” Tom
said. “There were ‘blast' cells in his blood.”

The diagnosis: acute
lymphocytic leukemia — cancer of the blood.

The local hospital referred
Greg immediately to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. There, doctors
started chemotherapy Sept. 19, and 90 percent of the “blast” cancer cells in his
blood had been destroyed when Greg was discharged from Riley Sept.
23.

Greg was due back at Riley on Sept. 28 for a follow-up check, the
Feans said. Typically, blast cells continue to show up in a patient's blood off
and on for the first 28 days after the initial chemotherapy treatment, Kathy
said. The trip to Sylvan Springs


Right after Greg's diagnosis with leukemia, Kathy had called friends to ask
them to pray for Greg. One of them recommended she call Irv Kloska of Elkhart.
Kloska is a layman who often prays with and over people in need of spiritual or
physical healing. Tom Fean had met Kloska briefly once previously at a
presentation.

Kloska believes Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, continues
to have a presence at the Sylvan Springs property in Rome City, and that she
intercedes with God to bring about people's healing or spiritual
conversion.

After talking with Kathy Fean and learning more about Greg's
situation, Kloska asked the Feans to meet him Sept. 27 at Sylvan Springs, which
is about halfway between Fort Wayne and Elkhart.

The night before, Kathy
said she felt she received a message from Mary.

“I was awakened at night
by the Blessed Mother,” Kathy recalled. “She said nothing. I smelled roses. She
appeared as Queen, covered in regal jewels.”

Though she didn't hear
anything, Kathy sensed a message from Mary: “This is my thing. You are going to
be OK.”


A divine meeting


The next day at Sylvan Springs, they met Kloska and went to the main
building's small chapel. There, they prayed the Rosary, a devotional series of
prayers and meditations. Kloska then consecrated Greg to Mary.

During
other prayers, he asked the late Sister Mary Ephrem — the religious sister who
said Mary appeared to her at Sylvan Springs in the 1950s — to intercede with God
for Greg's healing. Kloska also had Tom Fean lift up his son so Greg could touch
the crucifix that once hung in the chapel room in Ephrem house in Fostoria,
Ohio.

The next day, as they drove down to Riley Hospital, Greg asked his
parents why they were going, Kathy recalled. He said he no longer had
leukemia.

After they arrived at Riley and the staff ran some tests on
Greg's blood, they didn't find any sign of blast cancer cells, Kathy Fean said.
In addition, the platelet count in his blood had soared to 137,500. That number
surprised doctors, Kathy said, because they thought Greg would need a blood
transfusion to boost his platelet count, which had totaled 96,000 when he left
Riley on Sept. 23.

Riley transferred coordination of Greg's care back to
an oncologist in Fort Wayne. At that doctor's advice, the Feans continued
chemotherapy treatment over the next three and half years — just as a
precaution.

“We believe he's healed,” Kathy said.

The doctor who
coordinated Greg's treatment, Dr. James Hill, attributes Greg's recovery to the
medical care he received and to the Feans' strong faith. Hill formerly was part
of the Pediatric Associates group in Fort Wayne and now practices at
Riley.

The Feans believe other odd coincidences were intended as signs of
divine intervention. They included: A book on consecrating families to Mary
showed up at their house a couple of weeks before Greg's diagnosis, without any
indication of who sent it or a return address. A star decoration on Greg's
birthday cake bore the words, “You Have Been Chosen.” The day they prayed with
Kloska at Sylvan Springs happened to be the 45th anniversary of one of Mary's
reported appearances to Sister Mary Ephrem at Sylvan Springs.

The January
after Greg was diagnosed with leukemia, the Feans also learned Kathy was
pregnant. Their daughter, Mary, was born Sept. 3, 2002, the Catholic feast day
commemorating St. Gregory the Great, Kathy said.

They stored Mary's cord
blood in case it could be used if Greg ever needed a bone-marrow transplant, Tom
said. A doctor called later to say it was a perfect match with
Greg.

“This is just another indication they are taking care of us up
there,” Kathy said.

Word of Greg's suffering, apparent healing and the
family's faith also resulted in Greg receiving letters from about 100 people and
many said his story strengthened or rekindled their faith.

“It wasn't
until the end of chemo that we fully realized the Blessed Mother simply used us
to help build an army for her son, Jesus,” Kathy Fean said.

“Yes, our son
suffered through 80 chemotherapy treatments for three and a half years in order
to do her work, but in some strange way that's OK with us,” she added. “We still
have days that are emotionally painful from memories, or even fear of being
summoned to such a quest again, but somehow Jesus and his mother calm us
again.”

♦♦♦

Now age 12, Greg has been treatment-free for more than
three years.

He played in a local flag football league this past fall. He
also started snow skiing.

A book Greg wrote three years ago about his
experiences also has been published. Designed to help other children fighting
cancer, “God Healed the Little Boy” (www.GodHealedTheLittleBoy.com, $12.99), tells Greg's story in
simple terms, accompanied by colorful illustrations created by Kathy's
mother.

Greg's cancer and recovery also have changed his
family.

“We learned a lot about faith,” Tom said.

The Feans
volunteer with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Cancer Services of Northeast
Indiana and American Cancer Society, Kathy said. They also speak frequently to
faith groups.

“We are much more content with family time,” Tom added,
saying he used to be more focused on his job and career growth.

“I don't
have to control everything,” he said. “You have to give up your life to God and
let him lead you.”


http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080604/NEWS01/806040348

mmmmmmmmm I dont know about stories like these, now I would never suggest that this family believes that their faith had a major part in their sons recovery.

I would be more likely to believe that the aggressive and extended chemotherapy course given to Greg was the reason that he recovered fully, along with the early diagnosis and the childs age at the time.

I am however quite sure that miricales can and do happen on a daily basis, but by whos hand - that I couldnt say.

Blessed be

Helenxx

i believe faith has a lot to do with things, whatever they may be.
for the most part it is generally a case of mind over matter, but the mind is a very powerful thing and can influence a situation , for e.g ...

a positive attitude may influence a positive out come, where as if you enter a situation with a negative attitude, it may well influence a negative outcome.

naturally we cant change our fates, but i do believe that we can help influence changes just by having strength, faith and a positive outlook on things xxx

I have to agree with you there Wendy, in my wicca course that I am doing, there is a section on the power of positive thinking and it explained just how powerful it can be.