KATH'S MIRACLE

This is a 'woman against the odds' story with a novel twist. For a while before her cancer diagnosis Kath was a single mum looking after four kids, her small business failed, she nearly lost the house, and then came the cancer diagnosis. Within ten months, she went from being bed-ridden to dancing at her daughter's wedding. This is the first time she's told the full story.

Kathleen Evans was an ordinary woman from an ordinary suburb on the NSW central coast. Although a committed Catholic, she wasn't excessively pious and had even had a decade-long disagreement with her Church after her philandering husband divorced her. Then in 1993, after finding love for the second time, Kath was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer; the diagnosis: terminal. She tried to make peace with her past and her God but was desperate to survive long enough to see her youngest son finish school. She and a group of supporters sent their prayers to Sister Mary MacKillop, a fine educator and founder of the Josephite nuns. And Kath's prayers were answered. Ten months after her diagnosis, X-rays revealed that Kath's cancer had vanished. She was completely cured, all without any medical intervention. Kath and her family, brimming with gratitude, went on the long crusade to see Mary canonised, making her Australia's first saint. This story wears its Catholicism lightly; it tells of hope and redemption, and shows what can happen if you have a little faith.