Tony Rossi,
Director of Communications
This is a follow-up article from the May 28th posting.
Marie Coronel had experienced a lot of blessings in her life. She had supportive Filipino American parents who instilled in from her with the Catholic faith; she earned a job as a broadcast journalist for ABC 10 News in her San Diego hometown; and she had a loving husband and two sons, plus a third on the way. But like everyone, Marie faced challenges as well, the biggest being her father suffering with a progressive neurological disease that was slowly killing him. Then, in 2016, came the greatest battle of her life.
While she was out reporting on a major storm, a tree fell on Marie and broke her neck. In addition, she miscarried her unborn child. During an interview with me on The Christophers’ radio show, Marie said, “I’ve always been the strong person in our family. I helped my mom take care of my dad. I had my husband and two sons at the time. And now I was the one who could not do anything. I was literally just laying in a bed. Doctors were trying to figure out how to piece me back together, or even whether I would be able to move my arm because there was such extensive damage.”
For some time, Marie couldn’t get out of bed, was stuck in a neck brace, and had trouble swallowing anything, even water. Despite feeling devastated at everything that had happened, Marie didn’t do any fist-shaking at God. Instead, she asked for God’s help to find healing. She explained, “I think it was seeing my mom [that gave me strength]. She had to take care of me who was bedbound, and she had to take care of my dad who was bedbound. Yes, she did get frustrated, but she never gave up. She had so much emphasis on her faith that she used that to get her through.”
One source of comfort for Marie during her recovery was her two sons. Instead of viewing her neck brace as a negative thing, they thought it made her a superhero, which gave her a more positive view of her own situation. Marie said, “With my dad, he couldn’t physically play ball with [my sons], but just sitting next to them, holding their hands, you could see the smile on his face. He was truly happy. For me, it was more like, this is why I have to keep going. These are two young kids, and they deserve to have their mom.”
Marie underwent intense rehabilitation and has recovered well, though she has some mobility limitations in her neck. But overall, she has resumed living her rich and full life, and she has had a third son as well. Like her parents did with her, she is modeling the Catholic faith for her kids, through going to Mass and praying a family rosary.
The one person physically absent from Marie’s life now is her dad, who passed away in 2020 after defying the odds for so many years. Yet he remains a presence in her life. She said, ”We make it a point to visit his grave once a week after we go to Mass. That’s what we do as a family…But I find myself talking to him when I’m about to do something that I am not used to doing…Before, [I] would be praying to God, ‘Help me get through this.’ But now there’s another step [where] I’m talking to my dad. So even though he’s not physically here, he’s still here inside.”
For free copies of the Christopher News Note CREATING A LOVING FAMILY AND HOME, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org
Comments