Servant of God Alexia Gonzalez-Barros

We break this rosary making news to keep a promise to a friend in Heaven, my newest child-saint friend, Alexia Gonzalez-Barros.

As many of you know, Dominic is home!! I think joy is spreading across the country tonight, for all those who have prayed so long and hard for my nephew.

By the way, thank you. How many thank you's until it's enough?

Dominic was supposed to go home on Monday, but at the last minute, he spiked a fever and went anemic on everyone. Doctors decided he needed to get rid of his fever first and get a blood transfusion, so Dominic's discharge was off indefinitely. Mary (my sister) was crushed.

And so we all prayed again. Some had never stopped, I guess.

I had called Mary on Monday to get some sort of report. She didn't have much to say, she was just feeling very tired and low. She was tired of asking people to pray. I went on Facebook and asked people to pray anyway, and they responded.

On Tuesday I went to the book store to get a book on Padre Pio, but instead, found a book called Saintly Youth of Modern Times.  I read a small portion of a story and was immediately drawn in, so I bought it.

This book is all about saintly children/teenagers who are in the process of becoming saints. Reading their stories has lit a fire in me---it's got me thinking, if the children can do it, then I can do it!

One story in particular reminded me so much of Dominic's situation. This young girl, Alexia Gonzalez-Barros had been through a hospital nightmare. I finished reading her story in adoration and was inspired. I got on my knees and told her that if she could somehow get Dominic home that day, (I included that I wasn't sure how she was going to do that, but I was sure she would pray about it), that I would do a post on my blog about her story and ask others to pray to her so that she might be canonized.

Now I don't know how it all came about--but Dominic was released and came home that day at 8:45 at night. Mary and Mark and Dominic all walked in that evening, surprising everyone, and they were greeted by screams of delight. (I got that much out of my Mom at least.)

Now I'm not trying to imply in any way that it's by my prayer alone that Dominic came home. Oh no, I know better. It was the prayers of everybody--like I said, some people never stopped praying. There was a lady on Facebook who told me that her son had been going to adoration every night to pray for Dominic. People have been fasting, praying, and offering Masses for Dominic. Not to mention I know that if we were not supported by your prayers--we may have given up hope. Your prayers kept everyone going.

But I gotta keep my promise. And I owe Alexia.

So this is her story. I hope you enjoy.

(Told in my own words)

Alexia Gonzalez-Berros 14 years old, 1971-1985

She was a typical girl, liked school, liked to shop, went to the movies, collected record albums. One of her favorite things to do was to sail. She was deeply religious and well liked among her classmates; her teachers loved her.

Alexia was the "darling" of the family, she was baby of the family and the only girl; her brothers doted on her and taught her many skills. She was known for her kindness and sensitivity, and generosity. One example being that a girl that sat next to her in class would constantly scratch Alexia's hands until they bled--just for fun. When Alexia's mother found out she wanted to call the teacher, but Alexia begged her not to--for fear that the girl would get into trouble.

When Alexia was 12 years old, her family went to Rome where Alexia had the honor of meeting the Pope, Blessed John Paul. Even more, a woman lifted Alexia over the railing and Alexia, along with other children ran to meet the Pope. Seeing that she wanted to give him a kiss, the Pope instead bent down to kiss her on the cheek saying, "What an affectionate child you are!"

When Alexia was 13, she began to have bad back pains. Her mother brought her to the doctor where x-rays were preformed but nothing showed up. A little later, they came back with the same back pains. Again nothing would have been done except that Alexia told the doctor and her mother, "I can't move my hand." They did an x-ray again, this time, the doctor saw that there was damage to the spinal column. The doctor warned her mother not to move her, or she might become paralyzed.

Immediate surgery was needed of which was 4 hours to repair the break in the spinal column and a traction was fitted for Alexia, where she would spend motionless on her back for days and nights. A biopsy of her spine was done, and it turned out to be negative of which the family was thankful.

After spending a month in the hospital, Alexia continued to get worse. She was now 14 and had celebrated her birthday in the hospital. She began to get cramps everywhere in her body, especially in her arms and legs, of which they were slowly becoming paralyzed. Tests were continued, many injections with needles and painful tests, and Alexia had a phobia of needles. However, through this, she never complained or showed impatience.

She had a devotion to St.Josemaria Escriva. A priest who visited her learned of her devotion and gave her St.Josemaria's rosary to her as a relic (of which the family returned after she died.) Alexia prayed often to this saint.

After all the scans and tests, it showed that there was a tumor pressing on Alexia's spinal column--a tumor that was missed by the first scan. Another surgery was done to remove the tumor, and another biopsy was taken, which this time showed it was positive. Alexia is said to have shed some tears at the news, but she prayed, "Jesus, I want You to cure me. I want to be well again. But if this isn't what You want, then I want what You want."

On top of this second surgery, Alexia finally began to tell her family of another pain--the incision from her first surgery that wasn't healing right. After doctors opened the old wound, they found gauze left inside the incision from the first surgery.

This is the second hospital that Alexia was now at, and the doctors were very kind and good to her. However, the nurses were not. They treated her roughly and answered her harshly. Through it all, Alexia responded in charity and smiles, and eventually, the nurses softened.  Her mother would remind her to treat people in kind fashion and they would respond like-wise and Alexia said, "Yes, treat them kindly...and give them presents.'

Soon a diagnosis was confirmed; Alexia had Ewing's sarcoma; a severe but treatable cancer. Alexia had to switch hospitals a third time in order to receive radiation therapy. At this hospital, while having another scan, Alexia was dropped during a transfer from the gurney to the table. Her brother who was assisting in the transfer caught her, but she received a harsh blow from hitting the corner of the table.

All this time, Alexia continued to get worse, however, she remained so serene that her family wondered if she understood the seriousness of her situation. She understood it, but she hid all her feelings so as not to worry her family.

She had puncture wounds all over her body from needle pokes, catheters that became clogged had to be reinserted over and over, she lost her hair, continued to have bad leg and arm cramps, was so nauseous from the medication that she vomited almost continually, developed sore in her mouth, and lost her hair and lost so much weight that she appeared gaunt. But she never complained.

She was able to go home for a short time with her family and then journeyed to the 4th hospital, where it was determined how much radiation would be put into her neck. In this hospital, it was warm and sunny with a statue of the Blessed Mother nearby as well as a chapel, where Alexia often prayed. She received Holy Communion whenever she could and Confession--she did this before every surgery too.

For her next surgery, doctors decided to install a halo on Alexia's head--this was still pretty new back then, and the entire family was startled by how Alexia looked. They also put Alexia into a partial body cast, which was extremely uncomfortable for her. The radiation treatments burned her skin so badly that she looked sunburned. However, her appetite improved, and she began to eat almost hourly. Unfortunately, because of this, she began to gain some weight back, which caused her body cast to become so tight that she developed sores from the perspiration of the cast and the tightness of it. On top of this, she was having trouble breathing.

Another operation was preformed, of which accomplished pretty much nothing. Just more wounds that were not healing.

Finally doctors decided to let Alexia go home for a bit as long as she came for her therapy treatments. This was very painful for Alexia, as her family struggled to get her in and out of the car and in and out of her wheel chair every day. It was so painful, that Alexia began to talk about heaven.

Soon, Alexia began to have painful headaches. Tests showed that she had meningitis. She was back in the hospital where her condition became gravely serious--her family was summoned and she lingered for a few more days. During this time, Alexia prayed for all the people who asked her to pray for her intentions--this included doctors and nurses and those who learned of her sanctity. In her hand, she held a list of all these people's intentions that she said she would pray for at the feet of Jesus, when she reached Heaven. One of these intentions was even for a nurse's boyfriend, who she asked Alexia to pray for.

Many people were amazed by  Alexia's serenity and holiness--one nurse who was a non-practicing Catholic said, "I can't go into that room! How can someone die with so much joy?" Another priest who visited her declared that the only word that came to mind to describe Alexia was "sanctity."

Alexia had now become blind, but she was able to see in a supernatural way. She often talked about her guardian angel who she said was standing beside her bed. She would also tell people when he left and would say, "I don't mind. I know we'll go to heaven together, and when we're finally in heaven, I don't mind if he wants to be with the other angels."

There was also a time when Alexia said she saw evil spirits surrounding her bed, at which her family promptly doused her bed with holy water.

Alexia's last words were: "Yes!" Her mother had asked her if she loved Jesus very much and she said, "Yes!" She then asked if she was also very happy, and she again said clearly, "Yes!" At this, she breathed her last.

Upon her death, whereas she had been gaunt and pale, Alexia's face became beautiful with a rosy hue. But upon preparing her body for burial, bruises, wounds, and horrible sores were discovered--some described her body as one that looked like the Crucifixion.

All medical staff that knew Alexia had been moved by her life. Many of the doctors and nurses referred to her as "the child-saint". One doctor even told an aunt, "We shall one day see your niece honored on the altars of the church."

Only six months after her death, a nun published a story about Alexia in pamphlets that were distributed all over the world. Her story in Madrid was told in a 15 part series on a radio show, and 15,000 holy cards were depleted in a matter of 5 days.

"Jesus, I want what You want." --Servant of God, Alexia Gonzalez-Barros

This is how we become saints.