It felt like a small miracle when Father
Stefan P. Starzynski came to Kelly Heaton’s bedside and anointed her two hours
before her brain surgery. And it seemed unbelievable when her family learned
one of her brain abscesses had disappeared. Kelly was blessed by speedy
recovery and diligent doctors. But she feels the greatest gift is that she
found the Catholic faith before her illness. “Had I not had the Catholic family,
I don’t think I’d be here,” she said. “That was a true miracle.”
Kelly, a parishioner of Holy Trinity
Church in Gainesville, was raised Presbyterian. Her husband, Jim, was raised
Catholic. When the couple wanted to get married in the six weeks before Jim
joined the U.S. Army, his church said no, as the Catholic Church requires at
least six months for marriage preparation. So they were married at Kelly’s
church in Nebraska in 1984. The experience, coupled with clergy sex abuse scandal
years later, made Jim distance himself from his Catholic faith. “I didn’t want
any part of it,” he said.
For many years, they moved around the
world with their three girls while Jim was in the Army Judge Advocate General’s
Corps. In 2007, they moved to Virginia where Jim now works as a civilian lawyer
at Ft. Belvoir. Though they attended
Holy Trinity occasionally, it was their youngest daughter, Jennifer, who truly brought
them to the Catholic faith.
Two years ago, Jennifer became very
sick. She began to read the Bible and started researching Catholicism. “Out on
the deck one day, she came and said, ‘Mom. I think I know what we’re going to
be. I think we need to be Catholic.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, we do.’ I think God
convicted both of us on the deck that day,” said Kelly, tearfully.
So they began to attend Rite of
Christian Initiation of Adult classes at Holy Trinity. Kelly and Jim started
the process of having their marriage validated. “I knew this is where I needed
to be,” said Kelly.
In early February, Kelly began to
experience flu-like symptoms. But when they went to the hospital, the doctors
said she had brain swelling and transferred her to Inova Fairfax Hospital’s
Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit.
“Kelly had two abscesses, or infection
spots, on her brain, one large and one small, and the small one was very close
to the ventricle, which they call the motor of the brain,” explained Jim.
“The brain surgeon said if the small
abscess got into the ventricle, Kelly would die or be permanently disabled. Initially,
they planned to target the abscesses with antibiotic shots rather than
surgery,” Jim said. But then her condition worsened and they opted for surgery.
During this time, Kelly was in and out
of consciousness, though she never fell into a coma. “I bleeped in and out,
sleeping all the time and when I wasn’t sleeping, I just prayed my rosary,”
said Kelly. “I was so happy that I was a Catholic.”
The couple’s pastor, Father Thomas P. Vander
Woude, told Father Starzynski, the hospital’s chaplain, about Kelly. “I never had
met Father Stefan before, but he did what I call a ‘drive-by’ confirmation,
completing the process to confirm Kelly, plus he absolved her sins, and gave
her the anointing of the sick,” said Jim. “Kelly was comatose and remembers
none of it. I was in tears — all of us were in tears.”
The last MRI before she went into
surgery showed the smaller abscess had disappeared, and the doctor feared it had
ruptured, or traveled into the ventricle. The surgeon successfully removed the
larger abscess, and never found the smaller one. “We credit the Lord and Father
Stefan for saving Kelly's life,” said Jim.
In recovery, Kelly had to learn to walk
and talk again. But she healed faster than expected, and today is at almost
full strength. “We call her the Miracle Mama,” said Jim.

At the end of March, Kelly was
overwhelmed with joy when she was able to see her daughter baptized and
confirmed at the Easter Vigil. “I was so happy,” said Kelly. The Heatons look
forward to receiving the sacraments after their marriage is blessed. “I told
Father Starzynski I want one of those blanket absolutions like you gave Kelly
because it’s been about 30 years,” said Jim. “Both he and Father Vander Woude
said not a chance.”
Kelly’s health crisis was a difficult
time for their whole family, but it was full of blessings, she said. “The whole
ordeal strengthened our faith,” said Jim.