Summer 2013…….We had heard Dominic Corcoran, who lives next door, was rushed to the hospital. Over the period of the previous two years Dominic had lost function of his kidneys and was on home dialysis. To hear he was rushed to the hospital with some complications was of great concern. So myself and 4 family members went to the hospital, taking our post in the emergency waiting room.

Dominic's father came out and explained that during home dialysis something had gone wrong. Dominic had developed a severe headache and a fever. His temperature was still rising. A little while later Dominic’s father came rushing out very distressed and said, “Dominic is dying right now, his temp is off the scale (108+) and he is going unconscious.”He left us, and hurried back to be with Dominic, his mother, and Dominic's finance (now wife).

Out in the waiting room the five of us; Dominic’s Grandfather, Grandmother, Aunt, and two cousins, knelt down on the floor and prayed the Rosary out loud. A while later, his father returned to say Dominic stabilized and they were taking him to a more equipped hospital.

At Loudoun Hospital he was diagnosed as having survived Sepsis and a temp of 108+ degrees (not detectible on the scale). The usual outcome was death or severe brain damage. The Doctors said they had never seen anyone come through that unscathed.

Back in the winter of 1994, I was 6 months pregnant with my third child. I worked full time in the Tyson’s Corner area and commuted from Leesburg at the time. On this particular night an ice storm blew in and it was getting worse by the minute. My husband, from Colorado and more accustomed to winter driving, was stuck in Springfield, so I had to drive my minivan in the worst ice storm I’ve ever encountered on the road. Traffic was awful and driving was treacherous.

As soon as I started the car, I grabbed my rosary off my rear view mirror and began praying. I did that often, anyway, but that particular night I prayed it over and over. The rosary was in my right hand and both hands were on the steering wheel. I got all the way to the underpass at Rt 7 and Rt 28 when, in what seemed like slow motion, all the cars around me started spinning out of control. We were already just creeping along so it was more like watching bumper cars. Every car was bumping into another car, bumping off, speeding up by the momentum and then hitting another. I prayed harder and asked the Blessed Mother and the Archangel Michael to protect me and my baby. Then my car, too, spun out of control, like the others, but away from and around all the others. I was in disbelief. I was the only car in all of those cars to not get into the accident. My car went all the way around the multi car accident, never hitting another car or being hit and came to rest on the side of the road where I got traction again.

I knew then as I know now that my prayer was answered that night. I will never forget it and I will always have a rosary in my car – not just for show, but for prayer.