RECEIVED THANKS TO PRAYERS!
My name is Paola, from Ascoli Piceno, Italy. My story begins in 2004, when, after a pelvic ultrasound, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. Endometriosis is a disease that affects women in their reproductive period and it is characterized by the growth and proliferation of the endometrium (the tissue that covers the uterus), in other locations where instead it should not be. Then this tissue undergoes hormonal changes of menstrual cycle, it swells, bleeds, falls apart, but it cannot be expelled from the body and it causes chronic inflammation, pain and general malaise for most days of the month, naturally increasing during the menstrual week. So, cycles are very painful, bleeding, with pain even during sexual loves, during defecation, with frequent cystitis, bowel irregularities, disturbances similar to those of irritable bowel syndrome.
The most common sites where these outbreaks develop are the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, the rectovaginal septum and in the most infiltrating forms, bladder, kidneys, intestines, and in most cases, it leads to infertility. In my case they had diagnosed an endometriosic cyst in the left ovary. At that time I was not married yet, I asked the doctor if this cyst could affect my fertility and he told me that I should not worry because the rest of the reproductive system was all right.
Once married, I wanted to have a child, but months began to spend without happening nothing; at first I thought I did not have caught the right days of ovulation, but then also paying attention to that, the result did not change. After about 8/9 months, I decided to schedule a doctor’s appointment with a very famous doctor from Bologna who had solved many cases of infertility. When he saw my exams and those of my husband, he told us that everything was perfect, and the only cause of this failure to pregnancy was just my endometriosis, that meanwhile had compromised my fertility: it had also blocked one of my tubes. He told me that the only solution was surgery that would clean my organs and mechanically restored my fertility, otherwise there was no hope because the inflammation of the tissues did not make possible the growth of any ovums. At the same time I met Don Marco and I started to participate to his prayer-meetings for the sick. He was very confident in the love of God and he assured me that there would not need any surgeries and that God would give us a son only praying, praising and trusting in Him. I have to admit that only through participation to these meetings and praying with faith, I could have serenity, because otherwise I felt very frustrated and guilty towards my husband, because I was the sterile part, and because of me he could not experience the joy of becoming a father, and every month, when my cycle returned very punctual, I used to cry desperately. On the contrary, however, thinking of the serious illnesses, I felt even ungrateful to cry for such a thing, after all I was well and thanks to God I was not affected by any life-threatening diseases. But the desire for a child was very strong and my whole family was praying for me that God would grant our prayers. Meanwhile I was on the waiting list for surgery and later, also for assisted fertilization. But in the words of Don Marco, the surgery was not necessary; on the Holy Friday I began the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, asking, in faith, for the grace of a child, and before the Sunday after Easter, I discovered that I was pregnant . Jesus in the days of Easter and His Resurrection had resurrected also my sterile uterus! At the first ultrasound, the doctor told me that the egg released by the left tuba had been conceived, the closed tuba, confirming the miracle that my heart and my faith know and they were grateful to God. After a long period of trials, lasted two and a half years, on December 30th, 2011, our Samuel was born. His name was chosen for its meaning: "received thanks to prayers", "God has heard our prayers," and every day that passes, I can just thank and praise God for His infinite love and mercy. And I thank Him for introducing Don Marco to me: with his precious prayers he interceded for us to materialize this miracle and he helped increase my faith.
Praise and Glory to God!
