By Tami S. Scott, associate editor
Her doctors didn’t give her much hope. They told her she couldn’t be cured. One even gave her less than a 5% chance of survival.
Father John Kurgan, pastor of Holy Cross Church in DeWitt, visited her in the hospital on Christmas day to give her the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
Margaret Driscoll-Cheah and her husband Ben hold a figurine of Blessed Carlo Acutis during the Oct. 12 Eucharistic procession outside Holy Cross Church in DeWitt. The figurine was a gift brought back to them from Assisi.
Meet Margaret Driscoll-Cheah, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer in 2022. “I had cancer all over. It had spread to multiple bones. I had multiple tumors all over the place,” she said.
Cheah went home with oxygen tanks, a shower chair, a bathroom chair, multiple medication gadgets, and a hospital bed. “I couldn’t even sit up. My husband would help me sit up, that’s how sick I was.”
Yet her faith was never stronger.
“I need prayers,” she posted to her friends on Facebook. “We’re praying for a miracle through the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis.”
She felt a strong call to go back to Mass for Communion. Her husband, Ben, would accompany her, and, with multiple pillows for support, they’d sit in the chapel so she could receive the Eucharist.
Her healing journey had begun; she started to feel better.
Later, she felt a call to find a first-class relic of Blessed Carlo that she could touch. A church in Bayside, Queens had one. Monsignor Thomas Machalski, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Diocese of Brooklyn, couldn’t travel to Syracuse but mailed her some prayer cards they made into third-class relics. Cheah placed them on her body wherever she felt pain.
“I put these relics on and just kept praying,” she said, and eventually her back knew enough relief that she could sleep for a little while. Cheah and about a dozen others made the pilgrimage to Queens in March, and “soon after we went down there, I just kept getting stronger and better.”
Though doctors were still referring to her as “stable,” she kept telling them, “But I don’t feel stable, I feel better.” She didn’t need a cane anymore. She was swimming, and she returned to work part-time. “So I kept pushing them,” for new tests.
Her bones were healing, or remodeling, and after another PET scan, all her tumors but one were dead, “and my doctor was shocked.” In fact, he now has a prayer card with Blessed Carlo’s picture on it and keeps it in his office, where he sees it every morning.
Cheah is still on medications and being treated with immunotherapy and chemotherapy pills. In November, she’ll have another PET scan to check on that last tumor.
“I always say Blessed Carlo came through for me,” she said.
Another testimony
Cheah was one of many faithful who attended the Oct. 12 Mass at Holy Cross Church in Dewitt on the feast day of Blessed Carlo, celebrated on the same day as the feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar. The Mass included a Eucharistic procession around the church campus followed by social fellowship in the downstairs gathering room.
Eighteen-year-old Oliver Gleasman, a recent F-M grad, told the Sun he came to the Saturday morning Mass to celebrate the late teen’s feast day, sharing how Blessed Carlo has also come to his aid.
“I had been through depression, anxiety and OCD and all the apathy that comes along with that,” due to his symptoms from PANDAS, a disorder associated with streptococcal infections, that can sometimes take years to diagnose. They had presented more severe around 2020.
“I was really, really struggling every single day,” he explained. “I even went through so much desolation where for four years of my life, I couldn’t feel the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ or Mary. It kind of freaked me out.”
Gleasman was being treated with vitamins, antibiotics and other medications, but still struggled. He lacked peace and fulfillment, developed multiple addictions and “kind of gave up.”
He first heard about Blessed Carlo in 2021 and eventually began praying for healing through his intercession.
“He really took the wheel,” Gleasman said of the soon-to-be saint. “Despite all my struggles — God withheld the victory — I actually started to experience peace throughout the storm. And one day I went to confession and then after I said some prayers and knelt down for Adoration, [the peace] came back like a dove, and it was just so amazing.”
Gleasman credits Blessed Carlo’s intercession for his healing and breakthroughs. He began weaning off his addictions, quitting nicotine, his last one, three months ago.
“I’m striving toward the best version of myself,” he said. “I do the Liturgy of the Hours, morning/evening/night prayer and healthy diet, workout routine. I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
Gleasman is also contemplating his future, thinking of becoming a pathologist and discerning marriage or priesthood. Currently, he volunteers at the Manlius Senior Center serving meals.
Panel exhibit available for loan
pictures is one of the 169 panels that Holy Cross purchased. These panels may be borrowed by the churches and schools within the diocese.
In 2021, Holy Cross Parish purchased 169 panels of The International Exhibition of the Eucharistic Miracles of the World, designed and created by Blessed Carlo. The exhibition presents a selection of the main Eucharistic Miracles recognized by the Catholic Church that have occurred over centuries around the world.
Holy Cross continues to display a few of the panels for parishioners and visitors to view. Each includes explanations of the Eucharistic Miracle featured and photos that Blessed Carlo took when he was collecting data for his website, www.carloacutis.com. The descriptions are those that he wrote but translated into English.
“I love Blessed Carlo’s story and the fact that we have a 15-year-old that recognized Jesus is physically present in the Eucharist and did all the research he did for four years to go out throughout the whole world, to get all the miracles together, amazed me,” said Margaret Ingraham, who was instrumental in Holy Cross purchasing the panels. “I really wanted those miracles to be present in this church, to help our parish and the whole diocese.”
The panel exhibit is available on loan to any church or school interested in displaying them. The loan can be customized to your liking (number of panels, tablecloths, runners, presentation, etc), just call Holy Cross or email Kathy Kotz at [email protected] to learn about your options.
“There isn’t enough I can say about this young man,” said 92-year-old Jo Oliva, who also feels a connection with the Millennial. “Can you imagine, at three years old, his nanny is walking down the street with him and he pulls her by the hand and he wants to go in the church because he has to say hello to Jesus? I mean, three years old, you know?
A pilgrimage in the works
We know the Vatican plans to canonize Blessed Carlo during the Jubilee Year 2025, but we still don’t know when. Once the announcement is made, Father Charles Vavonese, weekend associate at Holy Cross, will proceed with planning a five-day pilgrimage to Italy, including time spent in Assisi, where Blessed Carlo can be seen for veneration in his tomb. Check back with the church if you’re interested and want to know the details.
