Digital Marian Helper Spring_2018

Father Andy was there saying goodbye to another parishioner. When he saw her, he knew something was wrong. She told him what she’d just learned. “Why didn’t you call me?” he asked. “I wanted to leave it at home,” she said. Of Fr. Andy, Nohemi said, “He’s just amazing. I don’t know what I would have done without him there.” And the parish rallied behind the Hinkles, as well. “Through it all, we’ve had so much support from the church family and school,” said Nohemi. “They did a fund- raiser for our family in October. We are beyond blessed to have each and every one of them in our lives.” Surgery and a woman’s choice As part of her cancer treatment, a pregnant Nohemi met with a surgeon and set up a double mastectomy. During that initial meeting, he asked if she wanted to “terminate her pregnancy” in order to allow her the greatest possible range of treatments for her cancer. That was not the right question to ask. “I told him no. I asked him, ‘How dare you even ask someone that? What if it was my first child, and you still asked?’ He hadn’t even asked if I had other children. He apologized.” That decision affected her treatment options, causing her doctors to go with a lower-dose course of chemo starting in July than she might otherwise have had. At the same time, she started regularly seeing a doctor specializing in high-risk pregnancies, who would accom- pany her to every meeting with her oncologist and surgeon, acting as an advocate for the unborn child. Before her surgery, Nohemi went to the shrine to St. Gianna Molla o n the grounds of St. Patrick’s Parish i n nearby Yorkville. There, Fr. Andy and his fellow Marian, 20 M arian H elper  • S pring 2018   • marian.org Whe n Fr. Matthew Lamoureux, MIC, p astor of St. Patrick Parish in Yorkville, Illinois, resolved to build a pro-life shrine at his parish in 2014 in honor of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, he had two main intentions. Firstly, to provide a place of solace and healing for anyone who suffers from the loss of a child. And secondly, to celebrate life, specifically by emphasizing a model for contemporary families. The shrine has certainly served as a place of celebration and solace for Nohemi Hinkle (above).