Mary's miracle saved my life

THE woman who believes she was cured of cancer through prayers to Mary MacKillop doesn't have wings or a halo. She says she's "just an ordinary person". So, is she? Video

Miracle or not? ... Kathleen Evans, pictured at Mary Mackillop Memorial Chapel, North Sydney, with husband Barry and children Annette and Luke / Pic: James Elsby

THE woman cured of cancer through prayers to Mary MacKillop doesn't have wings or a halo. She is by her own admission "just an ordinary person".

Kathleen Evans, 66, is a mother, a grandmother, wife and friend who doesn't know why Mary MacKillop saved her life almost 16 years ago when doctors gave her just months to live.

Supported by her husband of 31 years Barry, and two of her five adult children, a fit and healthy Mrs Evans did not want fanfare yesterday.

Diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in early 1993, the Lake Macquarie mother turned to prayer as the aggressive cancer spread to the base of her brain.

Sixteen years later, the grandmother of 20, and great-grandmother of two is "fit and fighting" and the cancer has never returned to her body.

"I'm not on my knees all the time, I'm just an ordinary person. If I miss mass, I don't think I'm going to go to hell or anything like that," she said.

But in her greatest hour of need, when she was so sick with cancer that her husband would have to lie on her to stop her shaking, a close friend gave Mrs Evans a relic of Mary MacKillop.

She pinned it to her nightie, and began praying to God, with Mary MacKillop's help. "All I had left was prayer. I was a great believer in prayer," she said.

"I was unable to get out of bed for any length of time . . . I couldn't bath or shower or even use the toilet on my own."

As she continued praying, Mrs Evans's aches and pains began to ease.

"Instead of my health deteriorating, I started getting stronger," she said.

As her health improved, Mrs Evans defied doctors who told her "you shouldn't be here".

Exactly 10-months after being diagnosed with cancer, Mrs Evans went back for more tests which revealed the tumours had gone. "There was no sign of cancer anywhere, just scarring where the cancer had been," she said.

Her doctor even requested the tests be repeated because there was no explanation for the cure.

"I didn't have any treatment, so there was no explanation there," she said.

Dozens of medical experts were consulted and shown Mrs Evans's scans and test results, yet no one could explain how the cancer disappeared without any medical intervention.

But Mrs Evans knows the answer to her miraculous recovery was through her prayers. What she doesn't know is why she was picked by Mary MacKillop.

For the past five years, Mr and Mrs Evans have lived on the road, travelling around Australia while Mary MacKillop's second miracle was being scrutinised.