“My name is Dalal Chamoun. I am a mother of three. My health is good; I have never complained about anything.”

Dalal lives in Canada and her husband works in Lebanon. She is both mother and father to her children. The home and family work never ends and many times work distracts us from ourselves.”

“(After) I arrived in Canada, sometimes I felt good and sometimes tired but my stomach felt bloated.”

Dalal’s work and responsibilities prevented her from visiting the doctor.

“One night, as I slept, I dreamed that I was reclining in my bed, covered as if I was sick. I saw Saint Charbel. He came and sat next to my bed. His face was luminous, his beard white and majestic, his face radiant and smiling. He said to me: ‘Dalal, ask! What do you want?’ I told him, ‘I want a good future for my children.’ He replied: ‘Yes, of course.’ He took out a bright white candle with crack on its edges. I wondered why he would give me a cracked candle but everything that comes from Saint Charbel is a blessing.”

Dalal did not hide this dream from anyone; she talked about the visit to everyone. Two weeks later, a new saint visited Dalal. Mar Charbel also visited for the first time.

“I saw a person examining me with a stethoscope. I could feel the stethoscope moving. His hair was very white and he examined me with great focus. He was very upset so he quickly removed the earphones from his ears and his face turned black. He looked at me as if he was going to suffocate and could not speak. I asked him: ‘What’s wrong with me?’

This terrible dream prompted Dalal to think seriously about visiting the doctor as soon as possible.

“When I went to the doctor, he asked me about the reason for the visit because he saw me in good health. In Canada, you wait a long time for the (ultrasound). You have to wait for your turn. My appointment was a month later.”

But Dalal did not have to wait a month; her admission to the hospital was as soon as possible.

“The ultrasound took a long time. The next day, the doctor called me; asked for a picture of the lungs, a blood test, and told me to go home. I came home and felt something.”

Dalal wore her patroness dress, which was originally for her youngest daughter.

“I wore Saint Rafqa’s dress for a 10-year-old daughter, and I weighed 76kg but I felt overwhelming joy, indescribable happiness, and a strength that assured me that I was in good health, no matter what happened. 

“I told the children and it was difficult for me. I called my husband in Lebanon. He wept on the phone. I said to him ‘weeping does not work. What helps is Mass in Saint Charbel’s care. Perform a Mass for me and bring a girdle of incense and oil while we are here praying. Let the will of the Lord be done’.”

Dalal’s husband took the medicine from Annaya and flew to Canada.

“As soon as I drank the water, I was yellow and turned red. It lit up my face.”

Hour after hour, minute after minute, Dalal’s condition worsened.

“I told the doctor I am not afraid. I am a believer. He told me ‘I will tell you what is happening to you: your body is full of water. You have cancer of the ovary; it is the cause of the water. The disease has spread throughout your body and is classified as grade four. You can cry if you want, but I will not hide (this) from you’.”

With an advanced stage of cancer and Dalal’s only weapon was her great confidence and faith.

“Two days before I entered the operation, they took water out of the lungs. They took a litre and a half of water and told me that my body will fill with water again and that it should be emptied twice a week. My husband and I prayed; when he went to talk to the doctor, I started praying for Saint Charbel and asked: ‘O Saint Charbel and Saint Rafqa. I beg you to operate on me. Don’t hand scissors to anyone’.

“Six hours I spent in the operation. During these six hours I sat outside and I fell asleep. I dreamt of Saint Charbel with Saint Rafqa at his side. Saint Charbel was performing the operation and Saint Rafqa was helping him.”

With her operation over, the issue of withdrawing water from the lungs was the biggest crisis for her.

“In my room there was a picture of Saint Rafqa. I looked at her and said to her: ‘Saint Rafqa, where are you? Not once did you leave me; where are you?’ I looked aside and saw a nun coming towards me smiling. She arrived and rolled up her sleeves. I said to her: ‘I thought you looked like the one in the picture.’ She said to me: ‘And the one in the picture also hears.’

“She put her hand on mine from below and twisted me to check the pipe. I don’t know if she did anything, but she started working with the pipe from behind. In the morning, it was the nurse’s turn to draw water. She arrived in the room and found I had put a lit candle out for St. Rifqa so I looked at her. I said to her: ‘You see, this one you’re looking at … she came in the night and did your job’. She said to me, “Oh, you are so cute’.”

More than once, the nurse tried to draw water from Dalal’s lungs but her lungs were dry and only full of air.

“Then she said to me: ‘I have to submit a report to the doctor so that he can take a picture of you’.”

Dalal’s doctor summarised the outcome in the last photo in a few words.

“He came to me and said: ‘Dalal, I wish you luck in everything. You never have water anymore and I will remove the tube and suture’.”

Examinations indicated that she had completely recovered from the cancer spreading throughout her body.

“A cancer patient, for the disease to begin, must have an average of 36 or less than 35. I had an average of 8090 and now it is 44. They told me that this is the result of the wounds. I went and repeated the tests, and the result was 6.

“I thank Saint Charbel for the number of my heartbeats and for the number of seconds. I thank Saint Rafqa, Brother Estephan Nehme, Jean Paul II and Jesus. I cannot reward them for the number of minutes of my life. God is kind; they are a gift from God to us to intercede for us in heaven.”