I would like to share the story of my miracle with you.
It was 30 November 2022 and thanks be to God, I deferred going to Oberon, a two-hour drive, till the next day, because that night, I had a cardiac arrest around 11.45pm, where I became unconscious, not breathing and my heart had stopped. (I was in very good health before this).
My wife called for an ambulance while my son attempted to give me CPR. It took about two to three minutes for me to start breathing again and in the meantime, two ambulances arrived. God’s hand was with me, since when my heart stopped again, the paramedics were there and administered the Defibrillator. I was taken to the ambulance but my heart stopped again. In total, my heart had stopped five times whilst at home, in the Ambulance and in the hospital in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
As I was unconscious all the time, my wife was informed to expect the worst and the next 24-48 hours would determine the outcome of my survival. While in ICU at Nepean Hospital, I was placed on life support. Over the next three days, the doctors and medical staff had very little hope of me surviving as my heart had once again stopped on the second day and my organs began shutting down. The medical staff were resigned to the fact that success in the medical intervention to keep me alive was fading significantly. In a few more days, the life support was going to be turned off. I was placed on a dialysis machine with no response from intravenous medicine administered to me.
The very next day after my cardiac arrest, my wife informed the Parish Priest at St Padre Pio Parish, Glenmore Park, about the sequence of events. He informed my wife to ensure the life support system in place should not be turned off. The six days in ICU was a period of waiting and it was excruciatingly hard for my wife and kids, not knowing if I would ever wake up again.
After my recovery, I was told of the challenges faced and all that was done to save my life: the Parish Priest had come over to the hospital to visit me in the afternoon that it happened and blessed me with the first-class relic of St Padre Pio. The priest informed me that whilst I was on life support, during the blessings in ICU, he had asked me to get up in my unconscious state and he states that I had opened my eyes and shut them back again. The parish was praying for me. My recovery looked dim as my organs began shutting down and I was not responding to the medicine given to me for any recovery. There were numerous discussions amongst the medical staff about shutting down the life support system and this was discussed with my wife as my condition was not improving.
On the sixth day, the cardiologist was greatly troubled that he had to make a decision to turn off the life support system that had kept me alive. Whilst he was contemplating my position, he informed the hospital medical staff he would be making a final decision on the following day. On the seventh day, whilst I was still in an unconscious state, I had a vivid dream of St Padre Pio’s presence in a mountainous area and looking up at him, he gestured with both his hands for me to go back.
With the excitement of St Padre Pio’s presence in my dreams, I suddenly got up and not knowing where I was, I attempted to signal to the nurses I wanted help and to their surprise, they were shocked and stunned that I had woken up. Suddenly the doctors and the nurses all gathered around me in absolute shock. Since I was now conscious, I requested the tubes to be taken out and asked for my wife, son and daughter as I did not know what was happening.
To everyone’s surprise, whilst hope was fading, St Padre Pio’s intercession and devotion came to my rescue and survival.
Waking up after six days in an unconscious state and all hopes fading, the intercession of St Padre Pio, the blessings of St Padre Pio’s relic by the parish priest, the prayers of the church community and neighbouring church communities, all my family members and friends’ prayers contributed towards my miraculous recovery and coming back to life once again.
The specialists and hospital doctors were perplexed as they had no explanation as to how I woke up. I was informed it must be divine intervention and that I had to spend the next four weeks in hospital. As I recovered quickly, the doctors and nurses stated that this was a miracle. I still had to get checked out by the cardiologist, but I knew in my heart that this miracle truly came from God through St Padre Pio.
I want to let everyone know that through St Padre Pio’s intercession, there have been other numerous miracles that have taken place in the parish at Glenmore Park. Other miracles that I recall are a lady who has bone cancer and she was given months to live; it’s been over four years now and she is alive and well. This lady is a parishioner and a devotee of St Padre Pio.
There is a non-Christian who visits our St Padre Pio feast day yearly and has tremendous faith in St Padre Pio. Through prayers and blessing by the relic, he recently had a very successful kidney transplant and is most thankful for St Padre Pio’s intercession.
There were three families who visited our church and they were childless for a number of years. After attending the Padre Pio feast day a few years ago, they all fell pregnant and in fact named some of their children Pio and Pia.
There were other families who were faced with stomach cancers and other illnesses with limited time for survival and they had extended periods of life.
St Padre Pio has and is touching many more lives than anyone can imagine.
Thank you for interceding St Padre Pio.
May all the honour and glory be to God. Thank you, Jesus.
All are invited to join in the Feast Day celebrations St Padre Pio on Sunday 22 September at 10am at St Padre Pio Parish, Glenmore Park. This will be preceded by a Triduum of novenas and Masses. For more information, please visit the parish’s new Facebook page.
Farley Bartholomeusz is a parishioner of St Padre Pio Parish, Glenmore Park.
