The beautiful young cancer patient who moved the Pope to tears this week when she sang the Ave Maria says that his visit brought her a peace and tranquility she never felt before and is now convinced that she will survive.
The Daily Mail is reporting on 15 year-old Alexia Garduno who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma – a form of bone cancer – last November. When her father heard that the Pope was planning to visit a children’s hospital in Mexico City, he was determined to get permission for his daughter to be present.
“I knew I had to get Alexia there,” Gabriel Garduno told the Mail. “I called everyone I could think of to ask for my daughter to be present. It was only the day before that I got the call telling us we could be present.”
Meanwhile, Alexia, who taught herself how to sing while watching Disney movies, began to practice the Ave Maria just in case she might have the chance to not only see the pope, but to sing to him. Her exquisite singing voice was already well known to her family even though she was too shy to sing in front of anyone.
On the day of the pope’s visit, she arrived at the hospital early and admits that she was very apprehensive.
“I was so nervous while I was waiting, and I didn’t know if I would even get the chance to see him, let alone meet him,” she said.
But then the pope arrived, and as he came toward her, she knew she had to overcome her shyness and sing for him.
“When Pope Francis stood in front of me and looked at me with such care, the music just came out naturally,” she said. “I sat back in my wheelchair and began to sing. I saw him start to cry, and so I began to cry as well. The whole room went silent and I felt as if it were just the two of us alone together. I felt a sense of peace and tranquility that I have never experienced before.”
Along with that blissful peace, Alexia says she “felt a new hope that I haven’t felt since before my diagnosis before Christmas last year. After meeting Pope Francis I’m now 100 per cent positive I’m going to survive.”
This new hope is exactly what she needed after living a nightmare since that dark day in November when she was diagnosed with bone cancer after passing out at school. She spent her fifteenth birthday in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy and said there were times when she didn’t feel as if she had the strength to endure it.
“I’m just a normal teenage girl. I like Taylor Swift, Instagram and Snapchat,” she told the Mail. “I couldn’t understand why any of this was happening to me.”
Alexia has been steadily improving and doctors say her prognosis is good. According to Dr. Alberto Olaya at the American British Cowdray Hospital where Alexia is being treated, they believe she can be healed.
“Alexia has responded well to the chemotherapy and following the tumor’s removal next week, we expect to see a complete recovery,” he told the Mail.
As for Alexia, she is now looking forward to life after cancer. “I’d love to become a singer in the future and perhaps once I’ve gotten over this disease I will be able to.”
