Axel’s story: Sacraments, healing, and miracles
By Fr. Scott Nemec,
Assistant pastor, St. Cecilia Parish, Hastings
It was the morning of Jan. 29. A call came in from the emergency room, “There is a 12-year-old boy in the ER, he is coding. Please come right away.”
Father Dominic Phan was there to anoint him. When I heard who the boy was, my heart sank – Axel, a member of St. Cecilia’s parish, a boy from our confirmation class.
I rushed to the hospital. Axel’s parents Mynor and Astrid and I cried and prayed over Axel for hours. The nurses and doctors worked to stabilize him. In their pain, Axel’s parents poured out their hearts to God to save their son. As the paramedics prepared Axel for life flight to Omaha, the doctor gave me a grave look and said, “If you haven’t anointed him, you should do that now.”
Axel had been anointed, but in emergency situations, the Church allows for priests to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation. His parents and confirmation sponsors were there at his bedside. His parents holding his hand, his godfather holding the ritual book for confirmation, I confirmed him: “Nicholas, be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
In that moment of terror, pain, and fear, God came with power. Axel and his family would lean heavily on these sacramental graces in the long road ahead. I handed Axel’s mom a rosary as she boarded the helicopter to fly with her son to Children’s Hospital in Omaha. I later learned that Axel coded again en route, barely making it to Omaha. The Blessed Virgin Mary was guiding that helicopter, guiding the paramedics, as Axel’s mother held the rosary in her hand and pleaded with God to save her son.
How did this all happen? A week earlier, Axel went in to have his tonsils removed, a simple procedure. The recovery went terribly wrong as infection filled his body and took root in his leg. One day he was having some leg pain, the next he was being life-flighted to Omaha. While in Omaha, Axel’s family leaned on God in every setback, and praised him for every improvement. There was no way to know how long they would be in Omaha. The initial days were critical.
The St. Cecilia Parish community supported Axel and lifted him up in prayer daily. From the beginning, I entrusted Axel to Blessed Stanley Rother, my favorite saint and greatest model for priestly ministry. I felt that Blessed Stanley had a special closeness to Axel and his family, as they are from Guatemala, the country where Blessed Stanley gave his life as a martyr.
Early on, I went to visit Axel. I gave him anointing of the sick again and prayed over him with a relic of Blessed Stanley Rother, kept at his bedside through the months ahead. Weeks later, Axel woke up from his coma. The doctors feared he would have severe brain damage, due to low oxygen levels in his brain. But when he woke up, he slowly began speaking and moving. This was not expected, another miracle!
By April, Axel had improved enough to move to rehab at Madonna. One day I received a call from Axel. He asked, “Can I receive my first Communion?” I didn’t realize that he had missed his first Communion when moving parishes a few years back. I went to Omaha, and we had a family Mass at Madonna where Axel and his 8-year-old sister, Susie, received their first holy Communion together! A joyful time, it seemed all would be smooth from here.
The following week, Axel’s family received terrible news. The infection was back in his leg, it was severe enough that amputation seemed to be the only option. For three days we prayed to Blessed Stanley Rother for a miraculous healing of Axel’s leg. Father Craig Clinch went to Omaha before the surgery to anoint Axel and pray over him with a relic of Blessed Stanley. Monday arrived with no news; he went into surgery to have his leg removed. Then that afternoon, I received a message from the hospital chaplain: they saved his leg! God answered our prayers through Blessed Stanley Rother!
After six months of tests, surgeries, therapy, and countless prayers, Axel finally returned home to Hastings July 2! His family went straight to St. Cecilia Church, to pray and give thanks to God.
Mynor and Astrid Barahona have four children – Heylin, Susie, Axel, and Enzo. They are originally from Guatemala and moved to Nebraska a few years ago from New Jersey, to open a pizza restaurant in Grand Island (New York Pizza, best Italian food in the area!). The family is hardworking, loving, and deeply faithful. Every time I would call Axel’s dad, to ask how things are going he would say, “Dios es Grande,” “God is great.”
Whether it was an awful or hopeful week, the focus was always on God. The simple, childlike faith of Axel’s family is one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. When I think of Axel’s family, I think of the centurion in the gospel, coming to Christ with deep faith, “Only say the word and my servant will be healed.” Jesus healed the servant and said, “In no one in Israel have I found such faith.” This same faith I have witnessed in Axel and his family.
