A Catholic Mom's Story
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A 45-year-old US Catholic woman is using her battle with cancer to heal her soul and get closer to God.
Ann Widrig Konieczny, a wife and mother of children ages 6, 8 and 10, was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer that has now spread to her sternum.
Because standard of care options in the United States offered her limited hope, Ann is pursuing treatment at a Catholic hospital in Mexico that specializes in healing methods that destroy cancer cells while restoring the immune system.
"US doctors had practically written her off as dead," Ann's best friend, Amy Mushinski, told Souls and Liberty. "But the alternative methods at CMN Hospital in San Luis Rio Colorado in Mexico boasts a 60-80% success rate depending on the type and severity of cancer."
"Given Ann's age and otherwise good health, there is hope that this could work and save her life," Mushinski added.
Ann's battle with cancer, including a mastectomy on June 6, has given her deep knowledge into how body and soul are connected, and how "disorder in our souls leads to disease in our bodies."
Emailing Souls and Liberty from her hospital bed, she shared her insights on the body-soul connection.
"I think it’s interesting that Our Lord and Our Lady underwent so much suffering and trials in their lives, yet presumably did not suffer major illness due to the fact that they were perfect and had no disorder in their souls." — Ann Widrig Konieczny
"As Catholics we believe that sickness, suffering and death are results of the Fall and all the disorder in our souls and physical creation that has followed it," she added.
Ann also explained how taking care of our physical bodies isn't enough for the overall health of a person.
"Throughout my entire life, I've been very careful about eating clean foods, exercising appropriately, drinking pure water and avoiding the use of toxic chemicals on my body and in my home," she said.
But she said the cancer diagnosis reinforced for her that unresolved stress and spiritual traumas of her past life were playing out in her current physical malady.
She said her own research into the matter indicates that oftentimes long-standing, deep-seated anger and resentment precede cancer diagnoses.
Ann said she's looked into the work of researcher Bessel van der Kolk who, broadly speaking, theorizes that cancer development can be trauma-based.
According to his book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, whether or not someone develops cancer after undergoing trauma was controlled by how well he or she was able to diffuse any negative psychological emotional and spiritual reactions to the trauma.
As a faithful Catholic, Ann knows "diffusing negative psychological, emotional and spiritual reactions to trauma" cannot be done without prayer and alignment of our life with God's will — as seen in the perfect example of Our Lord and Our Lady.
SAINTS TO THE RESCUE
Beyond her research into stressors that can spark cancer, Ann attributes her staying the spiritual course thus far to the intercession of the communion of saints.
Two, in particular, stand out — and, she believes, "stand up" — for her.
Shortly after Ann was diagnosed, Mushinski gave her a relic of St. Charbel, the 19th century Lebanese monk and priest, that she keeps with her.
Referred to as "the heavenly doctor who never stops working," the saint has garnered a remarkable reputation for healing. More than 30,000 documented medical miracles are associated with his intercession.
Ann is greatly heartened by this legacy. She believes that the introduction of the Maronite saint's relic into her life means something — that St. Charbel, who has healed so many others, would intercede for her.
Ann intuitively feels that St. Charbel's earthly life, lived so closely to God, has significance for her.
Ann said her diagnosis and new devotion to St. Charbel, has led her to appreciate Eastern Catholic spirituality more. She has been particularly drawn to its perspective of "the Church being a hospital for the sick, that Christianity is an encounter with the risen Christ who desires to heal our wounds and draw us into union with Himself."
Another Catholic luminary — not yet officially recognized as a saint — who has inspired Ann to carry on is Mother Therese of Jesus, the foundress of the first Ancient Order Carmelite monastery in North America.
The early 20th century nun, in her quiet, yet tenacious, way struggled for years to help successfully found the first Calced Carmel for cloistered nuns in America — all this while grappling with debilitating physical illness, as well.
The fact that Mother Therese lost her own mother at a young age to cancer — something Ann does not want her own children to have to endure — resonates deeply with her.
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God." — Isaiah 41:10
Ann is hoping to go back to her family and their farm in New York state soon, healed body and soul. She carries her favorite saints close to her heart — as well as the words of Isaiah, which the nurses at CMN hospital inscribed on her IV drip bag: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God."
In short, Ann sees her battle with cancer as an opportunity for self-awareness and for
healing on a spiritual and emotional level — just as Jesus physically and spiritually healed those who asked Him when He walked the earth.
If God allows her more time on this earth, she says, she wants to help other women going through a cancer diagnosis to understand how "disorder in our souls leads to disease in our bodies."
Ann is asking Souls and Liberty followers to pray for her healing, even as she is offering up her suffering in union with Our Savior's for the intentions of the whole world.
She is also asking those with means to consider a donation to her GiveSendGo page for treatment she is receiving at CMN, a hospital that does not accept insurance.
Dr. Barbara Toth has a doctorate in rhetoric and composition from Bowling Green State University. She has taught at universities in the US, China and Saudi Arabia. Her work in setting up a writing center at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahmen University, an all-women's university in Riyadh, has been cited in American journals. Toth has published academic and non-academic articles and poems internationally.
Gene jab and turbo cancer again? I hope not but just thinking…🤔😬
I will join my prayers for all cancer patients and their doctors to Ann's battle.