Cancer survivor attests to the Eucharist’s power

CEBU, Philippines - To 65-year-old Maria Zenaida Belciña, her being a cancer survivor was largely due to the healing power of the Eucharist, which was what the just-concluded 51st International Eucharistic Congress all about.

It was on the first week of June 2005 when she started feeling unwell. She lost her appetite and often felt nauseated, but she refused to be brought to the hospital because of her fear of injections. She, however, never failed to attend Sunday masses.

June 26, 2005, while waiting for the start of the 6 p.m. Mass at the Holy Cross Parish in Basak Pardo, Cebu City she approached the parish priest for the Sacrament of Anointing. Seeing her condition, the priest advised her to see a doctor.

She complied and underwent a series of laboratory tests at the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital.

“The results showed I had leukemia… acute lymphocytic leukemia,” she said.

Belciña said she then suffered renal failure because her creatinine and uric acid levels kept going up for several days despite medications.

“Being a doctor, my husband knew that the prognosis was bad, really bad. A number of times I heard him cry late at night,” she said.

Despite her dire medical condition, she never lost faith in God, that she would survive the disease.

“In the hospital, I didn’t want a day to pass by without receiving the Holy Communion. So I requested the nurse on duty to ask one of the nuns to bring the Eucharist to my room every day after the morning mass in the chapel, so that I could receive the Holy Communion daily,” said Belciña.

She said she talked to Jesus every time she received Holy Communion.

“And this was my daily petition, ‘Lord, wash my blood with Your Precious Blood and wash out from my body all cancer cells; Wash them out completely that not a single cancer cell could hide or would be left’,” said Belciña.

Her creatinine and uric acid levels began to drop a few days later, so she immediately underwent her first chemo-therapy session to cure her leukemia.

Her oncologist recommended a bone marrow transplant, which she did not like. She said she then prayed to God to enlighten the doctor’s mind that she would need chemo-therapy only.

On July 27, 2005, Belciña was discharged from the hospital. When the specialist reviewed her medical records, she said, it was learned she had recovered even after the first chemo-therapy.

“He then told us that the bone marrow transplant would not be safe for me and it would be safer with chemo,” she said.

She underwent her second chemo-therapy to avoid a relapse and after two weeks was told by the specialist that traces of leukemia could no longer be found.

“The Eucharist indeed cured me. I am grateful to Jesus for his Eucharist and I am also grateful to the Woman of the Eucharist, the Blessed Mother for always interceding for me,” she said.

Belciña encourages everyone to talk with Jesus every time they receive the Holy Communion and while the Eucharist remains in their tongue for the real presence of Jesus.

“It is just like talking with him face-to-face. Then you will experience the healing power of the Eucharist. Also, visit the Blessed Sacrament daily because Jesus is truly present there, whole and entire,” she said.

Belciña is now president of the National Confraternity of the Lady of All Nations in the Philippines, and one of those who gave testimonies about the Holy Eucharist during the 51st IEC parish encounter Wednesday last week.

She said she wants her story to be shared to others so that they, too, would learn to love the Eucharist instead of taking it for gran-ted. —(FREEMAN)