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Issue No. 6   December 2003

The doctor said:
"You can write it down as a miracle"

Miracle Babies

Sandra with her husband, Estefano, and Maria Veronica, 5 (l., named after the Blessed Mother and Veronica of the Cross), and Ana Estefane, 4

M: Michael
S: Sandra

M: What year were you introduced to Bayside?

S: That was 1997. I was desperate because I couldn’t have children. Every time I got pregnant, I would lose my pregnancy, and I wanted to have children.
      In six years, I lost four pregnancies before my first child through Our Lady of the Roses. I did have my baby safely and I had it here in New York, and the first thing I did was bring it here to Our Lady.

M: So that was your first miracle. Now you had even a greater miracle than that?

S: Yes. I got pregnant the second time when the other baby was only a year old. And when I was six months, the doctors diagnosed the baby as abnormal and recommended an abortion to avoid further consequences. I refused, of course, being against abortion.

BAYSIDE POWER
So what I did, I invoked Our Lady again. I told the doctors that I would put my trust and my faith in the Virgin. Every time there was a Vigil I would be praying the Rosary and when there wasn’t one, I would just come to the sacred grounds.
      The doctors had advised that I come to New York and see a specialist or better doctors. I went to the Flushing Medical Center and they had the fetal medicine. They did everything they could but they said there was definitely no cure for my problem. So they recommended I go to Cornell University Hospital. They sent me there as a guinea pig, actually, more so to do research than to look for a cure. They were absolutely sure that there was no cure. There was no hope.

HYDROPIC BABY
The diagnosis was what they call a hydropic baby which is like a little fish where the organs are floating in the water. And they said that unfortunately they hadn’t been able to get any baby to survive that kind of situation.
      Fortunately, all the testing lasted only two weeks. And they gave me three days to rest before they could do any other research because they had run out of possibilities. They even talked about doing an autopsy after the baby was quote unquote “born dead,” in hopes of finding something that might help me to avoid another pregnancy with this type of problem.

A PSYCH CASE
I was sure the baby wasn’t going to be born dead so they sent me to a psychiatric unit to get some help. They said that I was in denial and needed to be treated by a psychiatrist to help me through the whole process so when I lost the baby, I wouldn’t lose my mind. They were so sure I was going to go crazy, because they expected the baby to be “born dead.”
      And so, it was during those three days off, I went into labor and finally the baby was born. She was in perfect condition, small because it was only six months, but with no medical problems and no treatment was necessary!

M: So it was born premature but healthy.

S: Absolutely healthy.

M: No abnormalities or defects?

S: Nothing, nothing at all. My baby doesn’t go to a doctor except for the routine visits that every baby has to make.

M: And you said it was a normal delivery?

S: A normal delivery. But this wasn’t supposed to happen either. I want to mention that with my first baby I had a caesarean section, so I wasn’t able to have natural births.

M: But Ana is healthy and strong and vibrant today?

S: Perfect! She’s perfect. Every time I come to New York, I take her to the hospital, because the doctors use her as a model for the other mothers. Of course I tell them the other side, how I made it with my faith.

DOCTORS SPEECHLESS
M: We have to get back to the doctors. What did they say?

S: The first thing they said to me is we have no explanation for this. They said there’s nothing that we can say to explain what’s happening here. And they didn’t want to comment any further.

NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE
M: Did any of the doctors utter that word “miracle?”

S: Yes, the pediatrician. She said, “From my point of view, you can go anywhere and write it down as a miracle, because I have never seen this before.”

M: Wow!

S: She used the word miracle and she told me, “You can go ahead and say it, because I have never seen it before.”

M: Now you have the documentation and the medical papers, do you not?

S: Yes. I do have all the diagnoses from the sonograms that they did, and everything from the follow-up of my problem–written reports with the exact medical terms.

TELL THE WHOLE WORLD
M: Science was really humbled with this one–an incredible miracle. But this is the story of Bayside, Sandra.

S: I am very grateful to Our Lady, and I will be coming back here as long as I live. And I’m so grateful, that I want to tell the whole world about it so people believe, because it is so true. It happened and I have the papers to prove it. I mean it. The first doctor that diagnosed it, I went back to him, and he just said there’s no way, and if he didn’t know who I was he wouldn’t believe it.

M: Now again, both girls, Maria and Ana, are totally healthy?

S: Absolutely, absolutely healthy, 100%. They are in school, both of them, and in perfect health.

M: You found out for sure that the Blessed Mother delivers big-time here.

S: Yes, and as long as we come to Her, She’ll be there for us. ٱ

A big return
Jan. 6, 2003
Dear Friends,
          Over fifty-five years ago, my oldest brother, Tom, who was raised in a devout Catholic family, married a Lutheran woman and became Lutheran himself. Two years ago his wife passed away. My family has prayed for his return to the true faith for the past fifty-five years with no results–until I gave him the rose petal from Our Lady’s Shrine. The rest of the story is nothing short of miraculous. Within a week of giving him the rose petal, he asked me for the name of a good priest that he could talk to. He went to confession and returned to the Church. He passed away only several months after returning to the Catholic Church.
          Dr. and Mrs. Robert Lohr
          Port Huron, MI

Virtual pilgrimage
Sept. 30, 2003
          I really enjoy your website with your updates, miraculous photos and all the happenings, since I can not be there in person. Keep up your wonderful work and dedication. I’m still so amazed with those young boys who are also workers there. They are really a great inspiration.
          Rosemary Boswell
          Kingman, Kansas

Priest amazed
June 18, 2001
          At the Shrine an amazing thing happened. Bill Dykes Sr. escorted me to the inner circle and his son, Bill Dykes Jr. (lay Order of St. Michael), also came with us. As I approached the inner circle of the sacred grounds and saw the Blessed Mother, I looked towards the statue and said, “Hi, Mary, here I am.” The Blessed Mother gave me the biggest, brightest smile I have ever seen, but I told no one about it. Spontaneously, Bill Sr. said, “Look at Her smile!” And on the other side, young Bill said, “Wow, look at Her smile!” In this way, I knew that She really smiled and I had two wonderful witnesses.
          To me it means that the Blessed Mother is pleased with all those involved with St Michael’s World Apostolate.
          Fr. Robert Skurla
          Jersey City, NJ

Veronica’s friends
Aug. 28, 2003
To all the workers,
          My mother at the age of 87 passed away quite suddenly on August 3rd with the scapular around her neck, blessed rose petal on her chest and Rosary in her hand.
          It meant so much to me for her death to come on Veronica’s Anniversary. Being a devotee–and the Message being so rejected by family and relatives–it was like a big “thank you” to me from Veronica of the Cross. At the moment of her death, I was the only one present and she died so peacefully. I called the nurses and even they said, “This is the most peaceful death I have ever seen.”
          Rita Ann Richter
          Rice Lake, WI

A permanent job
Oct. 31, 2002
Dear Michael,
          Thank you so much for sending me the Mystical Rose Petal. I have been blessed with a permanent job which was very difficult to get at this time. I am ever grateful to Our Lady for this job.
          Valarie Gonsalvez
          Melbourne, Australia

Best gift of my life
Dec. 17, 2002
          I want to thank Our Lord this Christmas for calling me to His Mother’s Shrine. It is absolutely the best gift of my life. It brought me out of the darkness and into the light. I think I would be very frightened now at the world situation if I wasn’t forewarned and reassured and taught to deal with it by confidence and prayer.
          God bless SMWA for bringing Our Lady’s Message to the world and to me.
          Monica Dyche
          Flagler Beach, FL

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