By Sharon Jebens
A baby girl is born prematurely with serious problems. Unable to breathe on her own, a special team of dedicated professionals rotate around-the-clock with a new device for respiring newborns. Despite their efforts, the baby suffers oxygen deprivation to her brain, and the mother is given the dreaded news that her baby, if she lives, will be mentally handicapped. The year is 1970. The mother is Michele O’Donnell, the registered nurse who founded the pediatric intensive care unit wherein the tiny baby struggles for life.
Michele took her baby home and devoted herself to caring for newborn Lara and her sister, Linda, who was two years old. “I was alone with two babies, no money and no way to work. Lara was too sick and was in need of constant attention. No one would babysit her so that I could work. She looked so horrible that everyone was afraid of her,” says Michelle. In her first book, Of Monkeys and Dragons: Freedom from the Tyranny of Disease, Michele describes those first years of living day-to-day in the basement of a nursing home, praying there would be food on the table for her daughters. She was alone, without resources and without hope. Later Michele would say, “I didn’t pray for Lara to be healed, for I knew that was not possible. I prayed for strength to get through each day.”
There were no doctors involved, no therapists, no special diets. There was only a mother’s unconditional love and a sister who knew nothing but her perfect baby sister. For almost two years, “Lara would lie in whatever position I put her in, comfortable and relaxed, with her eyes crossed and her tongue hanging loosely out of her mouth. She never cried, she never laughed, she never responded at all…When she slept, she would forget to breathe and turn blue. So I slept with her on my chest all night. That way I could feel when she stopped breathing and I would stimulate her breathing again…for a while.”
Then one day, when Lara was almost two years old, she was propped on Michele’s hip, and it was lunchtime. As Michele started to put a piece of cracker into her mouth, Lara reached up and took it from her. Michele held her breath as her little girl put the cracker into her own mouth. “I had not recovered from the moment, when she looked right into my eyes, and she smiled at me. That was the first spark of recognition that she had ever shown—the first social moment of her life. There were no bells, no cymbals, and no dramatic fanfare. Just quietly, softly and gently, awareness slipped into her little mind. And Lara was healed.”
No one, including Michele, ever spoke of Lara’s affliction—though it remained quite obvious (except to Linda, who saw nothing but love in her baby sister). “I never referred to Lara as being retarded. I never said the word. Nor did anyone since the hospital days. No one told me not to say it. It was a strong feeling I had not to own it for Lara. I wasn’t denying it. I just wasn’t concerning myself with it.” This was the fulfilling of her Principles of Healing, though Michele did not know it at the time. (See inset box.)
From that day, miracle-like healings began to happen around Michele. She was constantly praying and reading her Bible, asking for clarity about these Principles that were unfolding in front of her. She knew her daughter’s healing was from God. As her experiences and knowledge of spiritual healing increased, she left nursing and opened the first metabolic holistic clinic for the treatment of degenerative diseases. For 40 years, her clinic in San Antonio, TX, has combined spiritual healing with physical and metabolic treatment. Michele teaches that there are Principles of Life that, when understood and practiced, result in healing, regardless of the disease or symptoms. These Principles, woven throughout her books, her radio broadcasts and TV shows, are the heart of her teachings and healings.
From the day of her healing, Lara made rapid progress, both with motor and social development. Soon she “caught up” with other children her age, and today she is an attorney and happily married with her own children. And her gift to her mother is not limited to the experience and evidence of her spontaneous healing, which led Michele to a new life path. Lara is actively using her law career to change legislation in the state of Texas for the rights of holistic doctors and clinics statewide.
Principles of Healing
Principle #1: Never own your affliction
Principle #2: Do not allow your situation to mesmerize you
Principle #3: Look beyond what your eyes see
Principle #4: Keep the river flowing
Principle #5: Realize divine life as the source of all life
Principle #6: Look in the direction you wish to go
Principle #7: Allow only those thoughts you wish to experience
Sharon Jebens is the manager of Wings Bookstore in St. Petersburg, FL, where she is surrounded by books, music, aromas, healers, meditations, speakers and, in general—evidence of a humanity awakening. She is grateful to serve as a liaison between seekers and their answers, in whatever form that may come. A student of A Course in Miracles and other metaphysical teachings, she discovered Michele O’Donnell while listening to an interview on a local talk show, made contact, and organized the first Living Beyond Disease retreat at Eckert College in 2002. In addition to Of Monkeys and Dragons, Michele’s other books include The God that We’ve Created: The Basic Cause for All Disease, When the Wolf Is at the Door and Only Receive. Listen to her syndicated radio program, “Living beyond Disease,” on WHNZ-1250 AM every Sunday at 9am.