Michael August - September 2013

Susan Brinkmann

Paul Walsh was 17 years old when the car he was

driving on an icy December night in 1983 hit a tree

on Chester Pike in suburban Philadelphia. One doctor

described his head injuries as the equivalent of drop-

ping an egg on a cement sidewalk. Not only was his

skull shattered, every bone in his face was broken and

there was a tear in his brain. Doctors at Crozier Ches-

ter Medical Center said he was irreversibly brain dam-

aged and would never regain consciousness. But as

the old saying goes, “never say never.”

On Saturday, May 14,

2005, Paul Walsh received a

bachelors degree in liberal

arts from Neumann Col-

lege In Aston, PA. “I’d like to

teach special ed,” said the

38-year-old graduate, who

is employed as a full-time

health care associate with

Elwyn, Inc., a residential

day program for the men-

tally disadvantaged. “I’d like

to continue working with

mentally

disadvantaged

persons.”

Paul’s recovery from

massive head injuries in

1984 was “unexplained, on

a purely medical and sci-

entific basis” said one of

the physicians who treated

him, Michael Ryan, M.D.

In a written statement, Dr.

Ryan said: “It is my feeling

that without the help of the

supernatural influence, Paul

would today be dead or

continue to be in a coma-

tose state.”

Although he recalls little

of his four-month ordeal

following the accident, his

mother, Betty Walsh, remembers every detail, from

the moment she got the phone call on the night of the

accident. “The nurse told me to come to the hospital

right away,” said the mother of ten from Ridley Park,

PA. “It was hard to even recognize Paul. His face was

so swollen, like a pumpkin, and totally wrapped in

bandages. It didn’t look very good but he did recog-

nize my voice because he moved when he heard me.”

After ten hours of surgery the following day, dur-

ing which Paul lost four and half times the amount

of blood in his body, he was transferred to Crozier-

Chester Medical Center where his condition remained

critical.

At first, he seemed to be improving and was even

talking a little, but there was a suspicious fluid dripping

out of his nose. Everyone thought he had a cold and

a month went by before doctors discovered the fluid

wasn’t from nasal congestion - it was spinal fluid. A cat

scan revealed a tear in Paul’s brain.

“That’s when they realized he was worse off than

they thought,” Betty said.

Doctors tried to repair the tear but the inside of

Paul’s head was too shat-

tered. They resorted to

draining the fluid with spinal

taps and then a catheter, but

Paul’s condition continued

to deteriorate. He began

slipping in and out of con-

sciousness.

Another cat scan re-

vealed that he had hydro-

cephalus and the ventricles

of his brain were filling with

fluid. Doctors prepared him

for emergency surgery to

put a shunt in his head to

drain the fluid when they

discovered yet another ser-

ious complication – he had

also developed spinal men-

ingitis. “At this point, there

was no hope,” Betty said.

“The ventricles just kept fill-

ing with fluid and it flattened

the frontal lobe of his brain

which one doctor told me

was his whole personality.”

Even though Paul was

alive, in essence, he was

gone. “They kept saying

‘you have to stop hoping...

the way he is now is the

way he’s going to be. He is

permanently and irrevers-

ibly brain-damaged.’” But Betty was not about to give

up on her son. Even though she had nine other chil-

dren at home, she felt like the woman in the Bible who

had ten coins but lost one and could not stop search-

ing until she found it.

“We just decided Paul needed a miracle,” Betty said.

“In the end, if Paul didn’t get better, I would accept it, but

in the meantime, I was really going to believe I could

have a miracle and I would at least pray with faith.”

A woman from St. Madeline’s in Ridley Park, gave

her five prayer cards for people who were in the pro-

cess of beatification and needed a miracle. Every day

after Mass, she and her mother would go to the hospital

and pray the rosary over Paul, then say the five prayers.

“Whenever I came to the Padre Pio prayer, Paul bless-

ed himself, even though he was totally unconscious,”

Betty said.

Several people witnessed the phenomena, includ-

ing a few nurses. Betty decided to call a local group

of Padre Pio devotees and report what was happening.

They decided to send someone to the hospital with one

of the gloves worn by Padre Pio over the bloody stig-

mata wounds in his hands. On Monday, March 12, Paul

was blessed with the relic and within days, one of his

many serious ailments had miraculously vanished.

Betty called the group again and on April 6, 1984,

the glove was once again brought to Paul and laid on

his head. “I knew immediately something happened

because it was like an electric shock went through him,”

Betty said. “He opened his eyes and looked around the

room, very clear-eyed. Then he fell back into the coma

again but I just knew something had happened.”

She was right. The next day, when she returned to

the hospital she was shocked to find her son sitting in

a chair and watching television. He turned and said “Hi

Mom.”

The nurse rushed in and told Betty: “He’s been talk-

ing all day ! ” When she called the neurosurgeon to tell

him Paul Walsh was talking, the doctor said, “It’s not

possible” and hung up on her.

But it was true. “They gave Paul another cat scan

and all the doctor kept saying was, ‘I don’t believe this.

I don’t’ believe this.’ The frontal lobe of his brain wasn’t

smashed anymore.”

Even more inexplicable was what happened days

later, on Easter Sunday morning, when Paul and his

roommate woke up to find a man standing at the foot

of Paul’s bed. Described as “an old priest in a brown

robe,” Paul thought it was Betty’s brother, Charley, who

bears a remarkable resemblance to Padre Pio.

“I remember being very certain that my Uncle Char-

ley had been in to visit me,” Paul said. “I did see him.

He was very happy and smiled at me. And then he left

the room.”

Betty knew it couldn’t have been Charley because

he lives in Boston. She folded up a picture of Padre Pio,

hiding the name, and showed it to Paul. “That’s who

visited me,” he said. “Isn’t that Uncle Charley? ”

Weeks later, Paul Walsh walked out of Crozier Ches-

ter Medical Center, completely healed.

If there was any doubt in their minds that Padre Pio

interceded in Paul’s healing, those doubts were put to

rest a year after the accident when the family received

an unexpected phone call from Bill Rose, who lived on

the property where Paul hit the tree. Rose claimed he

heard the crash the night of the accident and ran out-

side to find Paul laying on the ground with his face in a

gutter. He knew the person was dying and while some-

one called for an ambulance, he held Paul’s head up out

of the gutter and prayed for his soul.

“Within three to five minutes of your son’s acci-

dent,” he told Betty, “I dedicated him to Padre Pio.”

To this day, Paul admits he still wonders “why me?”

But that doesn’t stop him from telling his story when-

ever he can. “I’m not doing this for myself,” Paul said. “I

want to give other people hope.”

This story written by best-selling author Susan

Brinkmann was one of the collection of survivor stories

in Amazing Grace for Survivors

Never Say Never, A Padre Pio Miracle

Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (May 25, 1887

– September 23, 1968) was a Capuchin Catholic

priest from Italy who became famous for bearing

the stigmatas. He was born Francesco Forgione,

and given the name Pius (Italian: Pio) when he

joined the Capuchins. On 16 June 2002, he was

canonized by Pope John Paul II.

Toronto bi-monthly meetings

October 13, December 8, 2013

Lithuanian Hall, 1573 Bloor St. W., Floor 3

(One block west of Dundas Subway Station)

Rosary at 2:00 p.m. — Meeting at 2:30 p.m.

For information call: (416) 452-6639

Rougemont monthly meetings

Sept. 29, Oct. 27, Nov. 24, 2013

House of the Immaculate, 1101 Principale St.

10:00 a.m.: opening; 5:00 p.m.: Holy Mass

“My past, O Lord,

to your mercy;

my present,

to your love;

my future, to

your providence ! ”

Saint Padre Pio

MICHAEL August/September 2013