Still Working in the Valley of the Sun

Part One in a two-part story of the intercession of the Servant of God Paul Murphy.

One day at the beginning of May 2007, the doorbell of our community in Mesa, Arizona, rang. The lady standing outside introduced herself – Cristina and her husband Armando. Holding a picture of Paul Murphy up for me to see she said, “A young lady friend of my son gave me this and told me to come here because you can help us.” We invited them in and Cristina proceeded to tell us about her son’s serious health condition. Nestor had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Doctors had said that the tumor was located on the left lower level of the brain and that if it moved even a little, he could die. The only solution was to operate on him immediately; otherwise it would be just a matter of time. The cost of the operation and follow-up treatment would be tremendous, though, and Nestor didn’t have any health insurance. There was little hope for Cristina and Armando’s son to even get the operation.

Doctors had suggested that they apply to AHHCCS, a service which provides health insurance for low-income families. The usual waiting time period to just get an interview at AHHCCS and ask for help is thirty to forty-five days, and another thirty days to receive an answer as to whether or not the application made was approved. It was time this family didn’t have. Cristina told us that we were their last hope. We just didn’t know what to say to her. How can you reassure a mother who is watching the life of her son suddenly slipping away? We had no idea what to do but we invited them into our chapel to make a visit to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and pray. While we were in the chapel i told them about the Servant of God Paul Murphy and suggested that they ask him for the favor of their son’s health. Afterwards we went with them to the AHHCCS office to see if there was a way to get an interview sooner. We helped them fill out the application because they do not speak English. Cristina and i approached the window and Cristina asked me to do the talking as she was too nervous to speak. I explained Nestor’s situation to the secretary and asked her if we could get an interview soon. She told me that it would be hard because they had so many applications to process. After looking at the appointment calendar she said that everything was full. But then she said that she would ask. We prayed. She came back and said: “Can you be here Monday morning at 7:00 a.m.?

You have to make sure that you are here before the doors are open.” That Monday we were at the door at 6:54 a.m. We got the interview that same day at 2:00p.m. and Nestor was approved right away. Now the family had a little bit of hope, Paul Murphy was already answering their prayers.

Part Two in a two-part story of the intercession of the Servant of God Paul Murphy.

Cristina 19-year-old son was diagnosed with a large and dangerous brain tumor. Here she shares in her own words the amazing things that happened when her family put Nestor’s health in the hands of God.

“In April 2007, we took our son Nestor to the doctor to run some tests as he was having severe headaches. The doctor detected a brain tumor. The news crushed me. The doctor who first detected the tumor told us that few kids survive a tumor like the one my son had, and that if they removed the tumor there would be a 50/50 chance of survival. The tumor was 6.5 cm [about 2.5”] in size. It had pinched his nerves in a way that prevented him the use of his arm. Nestor needed an operation immediately. But because we had no health insurance the possibilities were nil. It would cost around $300,000. I was desperate–where in the world would we get that amount of money?

“Not long after that, a young lady, Nydia, a school friend of Nestor’s told us about her neighbors, the Miles Jesu ladies and their apostolate. She also told me about Paul Murphy and gave me a prayer card. Nydia told us that there we would get help. And that is where everything started. We went to the chapel located in the Miles Jesu ladies’ community. There i prayed to Paul with all my heart. During those moments i sincerely asked him to intercede before God for my son. Since Paul had suffered and known that his parents also suffered desperately like us, he could help us in this situation. I asked him fervently for his [Nestor’s] life, for all that Paul had been through. I don’t know how to thank Paul. I thank God for the wonderful miracle He has granted us in having our son Nestor with us. Everything has gone well so far. I pray that it continues this way. Recently, we received a letter from the doctor who operated on our son, expressing his astonishment at our son’s prompt recovery.

“My son was admitted to the hospital on May 14th and on the 17th doctors performed the operation. Doctors had informed us that the operation would last from four to five hours. While Nestor was in the operating room, we were in the Chapel of the hospital pleading and crying to God. The whole family was there. Thanks be to God, the operation lasted only an hour and a half. The doctor came in to the Chapel to give us the news. He had been looking all over for us. The doctor himself was surprised at how fast and well Nestor was reacting and recovering. While patting his hand, he said: ‘Oh, Nestor, oh, Nestor.’

We could see in the doctor’s face that it was like ‘wow.’

“A few days later the doctors thought they detected another tumor, this time in the spinal column. So they decided to perform another operation. By the grace of God it was only a blood clot. Nestor recuperated quickly. He remained a month and a half in the hospital. He responded so well to the radiation and chemotherapy.

“The biggest favor Paul granted us was an increase in our faith. We came closer to God. Before Nestor’s sickness we went to Church periodically. After the ‘miracle’ we have been attending Mass every Sunday and on Tuesdays go to a prayer group. Now we believe much more that God exists. We are going to continue to go to Church and to grow in our faith because we have much to thank God for. God is so great and merciful. Now we understand many things.”

Note: Later Nestor came to visit our community for the first time. He asked his mother to bring him because he wanted to thank Paul Murphy personally in the house where Paul had passed away. He remained in Paul’s room a little while. A few weeks later he returned to pray again and to ask if he could borrow one of Paul’s handkerchiefs because he had to go in for another MRI and was very scared. He said that he became very anxious whenever he had to go inside the cylinder. Two days later he returned the handkerchief and said that even though the machine had malfunctioned several times and that he had to be inside it for more than an hour, he had been calm and peaceful because he knew that Paul was accompanying him. He had held on to the handkerchief.

Public aid did not cover all the expenses. Cristina received more than $100,000 in bills. She came to our community to pray because she wanted to ask Paul for more help. She and her husband even thought about selling their home in order to pay the bills. We went with Cristina to explain the situation to the doctor and he pardoned the entire bill! Coming out of the doctor’s office, we headed straight to Paul Murphy’s tomb to thank him.

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