Digital Marian Helper Spring_2018

In January of 2017, Nohemi suffered a miscarriage. She and Daniel had four living children at the time. When she asked for the remains of her youngest child, the medical staff was shocked. No one, they explained, had ever asked for the remains of a child that small before. But Nohemi was determined to have a funeral for her child, whom they named Faith Faustina. And their pastor, Fr. Andy Davy, MIC, celebrated the funeral. “Father Andy was our biggest strength through it all,” said Nohemi. But that was only the beginning. Also in January 2017, their youngest living child, 2-year-old Olivia, came down with a fever of 103.8 degrees. They took her to urgent care where they were told that Olivia was simply fighting a virus. But her symptoms continued to worsen. Olivia complained of pain in her legs. The Hinkles took her to their family doctor, who noted that Olivia’s white blood cell count was high. A bone marrow biopsy revealed nothing unusual. By this time, Olivia was complaining of pain throughout her body below her neck. The family was referred to another doctor, who tested for arthri- tis. The results were negative. Meanwhile, Olivia had become anemic. A month later, another bone marrow biopsy, a colo- noscopy, and endoscopy all revealed nothing abnormal. To this day, Olivia’s blood cell levels have not improved. By the end of March, Nohemi and Daniel were both frustrated and frightened. They’d lost one child, and now here was their toddler on pain medication with no diag- nosis in sight. Then everything got more complicated. The diagnosis In April, Nohemi found out she was pregnant again. The following month, she noticed a lump on her right breast — a mass of tissue. Tests revealed she has Stage 4 breast cancer. Nohemi’s gynecologist got to make the phone call to let her know what they’d found. The Hinkles remember the exact day and time they got the call: May 20 at 12:37 p.m. “As soon as we saw the phone number, we knew it was bad news,” said Nohemi. Bad news though a cancer diagnosis always is, in Nohemi’s case, it brought back memories of the long Calvary her family had already endured as a result of her mother’s illness and incapacitation. Like mother, like daughter? When Nohemi was 10 and her brother was 3, their mother, Olivia, was diagnosed with a tumor right by her brain, too close for other forms of treatment. Surgery was imperative. The night after the surgery, Nohemi’s mother felt nau- seous and couldn’t call anyone for help. She tried to get up and go to the bathroom, but she burst a blood vessel in the process. “She came out [of the emer- gency room] with machines for everything,” recalled Nohemi. “She had the tubes to breathe, to eat. It took about six months for us to even be able to see her after her initial surgery. My grandmother was worried we’d see her and be afraid of how she looked because she was really swollen. By the time we saw her, she was still swollen, and we were afraid of her, so we did run out of the room.” Nohemi’s mother was never able to talk again, and she remained paralyzed on her right side. She also never came home. She was in hos- pitals for 21 years until her tumor began to return, and she ultimately died in 2012. “That is what I questioned the most: Why did you make her sick, and now you take me away from my children?” said Nohemi. “Thank God, He gave us the strength.” A parish community On the Saturday in May that she received her diag- nosis, Nohemi was scheduled to volunteer at th e St. Mary Parish School p ig roast fundraiser. Daniel won- dered if maybe she shouldn’t go, but Nohemi wanted to get out of the house. So she was working in the kitchen at the school when Fr. Andy showed up. “I felt pulled out to the parking lot,” remembers Nohemi. M arian H elper  • S pring 2018  • marian.org 19 A month before Christmas, unto the Hinkles, a child was born. Clockwise from the top: Daniel; Melody; Olivia; Nohemi holding baby Gianna; Daniel; and Aubrey.