A 60-year-old woman from Spain was caring for a relative who had developed cancer when suddenly she became highly religious.
She began to spend hours reciting scripture and, over two months, made a complete turn-around in behavior.
Friends and family claimed she had always been a happy woman but wasn’t particularly religious. They feared the sudden change came from depression as she cared for her family member.
It wasn’t until she reported the Virgin Mary was coming to speak to her that her family realized just how much she’d changed.
Millions would be honored to be visited by the Holy Virgin, but when the woman’s family saw her “seeing, feeling and talking with the Virgin Mary” when nothing was in the room with them, they became concerned.
They took her to see a doctor, who ordered an MRI, which revealed several lesions in her brain. They took a biopsy and discovered she was suffering the effects of glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
The tumors were too large to treat with surgery, so doctors recommended she be treated with chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors also prescribed antipsychotic medications, claiming they tend to have anti-cancer effects against glioblastoma.
The woman was treated for five weeks, during which time the visions gradually disappeared.
Two months after treatment began, the woman had a stroke. Eight months following that, she passed away at the hands of the tumors.
The medical journal Neurocase revealed researchers’ belief that in this woman’s particular case, “it is clear that the religious experience represented a factor” from her previous behavior that was “not preceded by a gradual change in her thinking and acting. Nor was there any trigger or reason [for the behavior change] except for the disease, and hence, it can be considered a pathological experience.”
Prior to the Marian visitations, she did believe in God, so she wasn’t randomly converted through the tumor, yet researchers still question how and why she suddenly began to see the Holy Virgin.
Refusing to believe the apparitions were real, doctors claimed she probably experienced non-conclusive seizures most likely related to the brain tumors.
They said some cases of hyper-religious behavior had been reported in people with epilepsy. Since they cannot fathom a genuine religious encounter, they perform ongoing research to confirm their epilepsy theory.
Please pray for those touched by God and who are treated as mental deviants. Please pray for faith in the scientific community and grace from our Heavenly Father.
