A new book by Curraghboy-born author John Scally tells the extraordinary story of Athlone woman Marion Carroll.
In September 2019, the Catholic Church officially recognised that Marion, then a seriously ill woman, was ‘healed’ during her pilgrimage to Knock. This book tells the story of that miraculous day for the first time – in the words of the woman who was cured.
In 1989, after seventeen years of debilitating illness, Marion Carroll, a mother of two, was at death’s door. A wheelchair user, she was incontinent, blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other. She suffered from low self-esteem, with severely affected speech caused by a long-standing, debilitating illness diagnosed as MS.
That September, against medical advice, Marion went to the Anointing of the Sick in the Basilica in the shrine at Knock. She was on a stretcher. Marion describes how during the Mass a “whispery breeze” passed over her. Once Mass was over, she stepped free of pain from her stretcher. To the astonishment of everyone present, she got up and walked.
To this day, conventional medical wisdom is unable to account for this life-changing moment. For three decades the Church investigated her recovery, and finally, 30 years to the day of her cure, Marion was back in Knock as the Catholic Church recognised that hers was indeed a miracle cure – the first ever miracle recorded at the religious site.
Now Marion has five grandchildren. She is able to walk, talk and see perfectly.
With humour and grace, Marion tells the incredible, moving story of her life for the first time. This is a story of hope and triumph of the human spirit – an ordinary woman with an extraordinary story.
