Story by Reagan Scott
(SNR) - When Kylie and Jeff Pippitt’s daughter Shay was diagnosed with leukodystrophy, a progressive terminal disease characterized by abnormal development or destruction of the white matter in the brain, they were devastated.
Shay had a couple of seizures right before her first birthday and her parents began taking her to medical appointments to find a cause. It was after an MRI that a team of doctors sat down with Kylie and Jeff to inform them that the scans showed changes in her white matter that indicated she had a type of leukodystrophy.
They were told that this was a rapidly progressive disease, and that Shay could lose the ability to walk, talk and eat, among other things.
“Shay was 17 months at the time,” Kylie said, “We were in disbelief as we continued having doctors run tests that would confirm which type of leukodystrophy Shay had. We couldn’t believe that our daughter, who was just like any other 17-month-old had this terminal disease. Regardless of all this, the doctors were convinced and more tests were being done to find a way to treat the symptoms but there was no cure.”
When Pippitt, a teacher at North American Martyrs School in Lincoln, returned to school to tell her co-teacher and principal Sister Janelle Buettner, M.S., Sister Janelle had one suggestion.
“I said, ‘You have to go to Lourdes,’” Sister Janelle said.
Lourdes is a city of almost 14,000 located in the southwestern part of France. It is there that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous for the first time Thursday, Feb. 11, 1858 in the grotto of Massabielle.
Mary would appear to Bernadette 18 times between Feb. 11 and July 16. It was during the ninth apparition Feb. 25 that she asked Bernadette to drink water from the back of the grotto.
After drinking some muddy water that had collected there, and eating some herbs that had grown nearby, clear water began to flow, and a spring formed.
It was during the 16th apparition that Bernadette asked for the apparition’s name at the request of her parish priest.
Our Lady replied, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” This introduction confirmed the dogma that Mary had been conceived without original sin, which Pope Pius IX had proclaimed in 1854.
Bernadette would later be canonized a saint, and the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrated each year on Feb. 11, the day that Our Lady first appeared to Saint Bernadette.
Today, a reported six million pilgrims visit Lourdes where they have the opportunity to see the grotto and bathe in the spring. Thousands of physical healings, and even more spiritual healings have been reported over the years.
It was this phenomenon that Sister Janelle had in mind when she suggested the pilgrimage. Pippitt was skeptical, but her husband jumped at the opportunity.
With funds from a GoFundMe account that had been set up, and clearance from Shay’s doctors, the Pippitts and Sister Janelle would visit France for five days in July 2018.
“I didn’t think it was truly a possibility that we would get there… the amount of prayer and love that we received from everyone here was amazing,” Pippitt said. 
Sister Janelle said that she went there with the faith that something was going to happen, even as she tried to help the Pippitts understand that Shay might not be cured of the physical illness. The entire community was with the Pippitts in spirit, as a spiritual bouquet was put together by hundreds of people who cared for them.
The group landed in Paris and took the train to Lourdes. Pippitt said that she was “definitely anxious and nervous.” She was worried Shay might have a seizure, but a peace came over her as she walked through the gates.
“It was like someone was telling me I could just relax,” she explained. “Everyone there was so kind and so supportive and so loving. My heart was so full. It was beautiful.”
The next day they would return to visit the baths.
“I was so nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a spiritual time and it’s so special. The attendants try to give time for prayerful reflection before going into the baths, but it was hard because Shay was so nervous about the strangers present. Shay started screaming as soon as the attendants tried to put her in the cold spring water,” Pippitt said.
Although the water was freezing, it was the last thing Pippitt was thinking about when she made her way back to the hotel with Shay.
“Immediately when my husband and I saw each other, we both said, ‘I want to go again,’” she said. “Everything about that place is complete peace and complete calm.”
Pippitt had been asking for a miracle and went again with that intention. In her time at Lourdes, she said, she was overcome with the feeling that someone else had a hand in what was going on, and Shay was going to be okay.
Sister Janelle said it was incredible to see the Pippitts’ transformation while they were there.
“I can’t tell you how awesome the experience was for me,” she said.
When they were in Lourdes, the Pippitts had received confirmation that their insurance would cover more extensive blood testing to determine the type of leukodystrophy that Shay had.
Pippitt said, “When we came back from Lourdes we did that next set of tests and we had those bigger hospitals telling us, ‘This doesn’t look like leukodystrophy.’”
As more and more tests came back negative for leukodystrophy, Pippitt couldn’t—and still can’t—believe how blessed they were to hear this good news.
“Why do we deserve such good news? So many people go to Lourdes to seek this type of healing, who are we to receive this?” she asked. “I just can’t believe that [Shay] is doing so well.”
Following their experience Pippitt said her faith is so much stronger and continues to grow. Their family is so relieved and so thankful to have been granted the miracle they were asking for and continue to be amazed at the wonderful work God is doing in their life.
Paula Spears, a member of St. Mary Parish in Ashland, found spiritual healing when she went to Lourdes in May 2017 with the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, most often referred to as the Order of Malta.
One of the oldest institutions of Western and Christian civilization according to their website, the Order of Malta is active in 120 countries and is dedicated to caring for people in need through its medical, social and humanitarian works.
It was in August 2016 that Spears was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and found out that one of her children had type 1 diabetes in the same day. She began going through chemotherapy but wasn’t thinking about going to Lourdes.
It was when her aunt was talking to a woman at a charity function that the woman suggested Spears go to Lourdes with the Knights of Malta. Her aunt gave the woman Spears’ contact information and she reached out with the application.
Each May, the members of the Order of Malta take the sick (referred to as malades) and a designated caregiver to Lourdes, at no cost to them. Spears was accepted and chose to bring her husband Tom with her.
A group of 300 to 400 pilgrims—malades, caregivers and volunteers associated with the Order of Malta—left from the U.S. May 3, 2017 for the six-day trip. The entire group was spilt into teams, which were further divided into pods.
Spears’ pod had five people, and her team was comprised of seven pods. As a malade, Spears was pushed around in a special cart by the charioteer in her pod, Michael.
Each day the pilgrims processed from the hotels that they were staying at to the site, celebrated Mass and had the opportunity to attend candle-lit Eucharistic processions in the evenings. There was also time to visit the grotto and the baths, take part in other tours and reflect with other malades and pilgrims on the trip.
“I had a very profound experience while I was praying at the grotto,” Spears said. There, the pilgrims had time to pray, touch the walls of the grotto and feel the water from the spring.
Spears said that for pilgrims, the baths were the star attraction. She said the cold water was very bracing, but when she came out she felt, “so light and clean” and had a great sense of peace.
“It was like a rock that I had been carrying on my shoulders since August 2016 had been lifted off my shoulders,” she said. “I was thinking ‘I’m okay, I’m okay’ for the first time since my diagnosis.”
Spears said that if she remembered her baptism, that might have been how she would have felt at that time.
She said, “It was a life changing experience and getting to do that with the Knights of Malta and having that special experience… was pretty amazing.”
While she didn’t receive any physical healing at Lourdes, Spears said that, without a doubt, she received spiritual healing.
“I got what I wanted and that was peace, and that’s a cure too,” she said. “I feel like it was worth it, and I give [Lourdes water] to everyone because I believe in it so much.”
Spears said that she has a different outlook than she did before the trip and that she’s spoken to others at great length about how spiritual and wonderful her trip was.
She said, “To be around all those Catholic people who really, really believe their faith… I would just encourage people to go on a pilgrimage somewhere, it doesn’t have to be Lourdes. I just don’t see how you couldn’t have an amazing experience.”
