A one-year-old girl with a rare tumor is continuing to improve after being kissed by Pope Francis during his recent U.S. visit.
FoxNews.com is reporting that Joe Masciantonio, the father of little Gianna, said his daughter’s tumor was “basically gone” after many rounds of surgery and chemotherapy. At one point, Gianna’s brain tumor was thought to be inoperable and doctors gave her only months to live.
The tumor was discovered when Gianna was barely a month old and she was having a difficult time moving one side of her face. An MRI revealed a large tumor intertwined in and around her brain stem. Because it was considered inoperable, and she was considered too young for radiation and chemotherapy, doctors felt there was little that could be done for her beyond comfort measures.
The family turned to prayer, asking everryone to pray an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Goria three times followed by the words, “Most Holy Trinity, through the intercession of Mother Therese of Jesus grant the health of Gianna Grace Masciantonio.”
“Our hope is in Christ Jesus, and we are not giving up on a miracle,” Gianna’s mother, Kristen, wrote on the family’s Facebook page on November 4 of 2014.
But everything changed when the family learned that Pope Francis was coming to Philadelphia. A friend of the family, FBI agent Donny Asper, told the them about a stopping point on Pope Francis’ route that would take place on September 26.
Masciantonio said his wife, Kristen, was “dead-set” on making sure that they were standing at that particular place on Market Street when the Pope passed by.
And even though Masciantonio didn’t want to go to the event because of his daughter’s weakened immune system, they were standing at the designated spot on that fateful day.
When the popemobile came within sight, the Pope saw them and stopped just long enough to kiss Gianna.
That was nearly two months ago and the latest MRI scans are showing almost no evidence of the tumor that was once threatening Gianna’s life.
Naturally, the family is ecstatic.
“I don’t even know how to describe that feeling,” Masciantonio said. “The miracle is all the people who prayed. The pope is just the messenger that God heard.”
A family friend seems to have made the right call when referring to the encounter on September 26 as “the miracle on Market Street.”
Let’s continue to pray for Gianna and her family!
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