Parents of a toddler who miraculously survived near drowning at their home in the United States last month are convinced the late Cardinal George Pell was among the many who interceded for them. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
Caitlin and Wesley Robinson, from Phoenix, Arizona, were preparing their family to visit relatives for lunch after Sunday Mass when they realised their youngest child, 14-month-old Vincent, was missing.
What happened next challenged their faith and unlocked an outpouring of support from the community and, the couple firmly believe, from heaven in the form of a miracle.
Vincent’s parents spoke of being overwhelmed by an outpouring of prayer, love and concern from their families, parish and wider community after Vincent’s father found him at the bottom of the family’s spa attached to their backyard swimming pool.
The toddler arrived at hospital without a pulse and after 52 minutes of resuscitation the little boy was placed on full life support. Given no encouragement from doctors, they tried to prepare themselves for the worst.
The first glimmer of hope came late at night on Ash Wednesday.
“We knew they must have seen some progress when they told us going forward we could only have two guests in the room at a time, because during end-of-life situations they won’t limit guests,” Wesley said.
“On Thursday he had an MRI and that was shocking to us. We had expected brain, heart, lung issues but it came back completely fine.”
The family had met Cardinal Pell in November 2021 when he visited Phoenix on a speaking tour and was invited to Vincent’s grandparents’ home for dinner.
“That was an awesome opportunity and so from the beginning after the accident we were praying for the intercession of Cardinal Pell, the Ulma family from Poland who are all beatified, and the saints we named our children after, including the children we’ve miscarried,” said Caitlin, who is now expecting her ninth child.
“We prayed to the saints who had a feast day each day, then we added Blessed Conchita, a Mexican mother of nine whose youngest son died of drowning. People began shipping across relics of saints, we had like a whole museum of faith.”
On Ash Wednesday, a novena was begun asking for the intercession of Blessed Fr Michael McGiveny, the 18th-century founder of the Knights of Columbus. Vincent was discharged on the ninth day, March 13, with a clean bill of health.
FULL STORY
“Vincent’s miracle happened for a reason,” say parents after toddler’s near-drowning (By Marilyn Rodrigues, The Catholic Weekly)
