Digital Marian Helper Winter_2016-2017

C 7H?7D > ;BF;H ǙšǙ W INTER 2016-17 ǙšǙcWh_Wd$eh] 25 school. When she was stressed, her mother would direct her to go sit in the church. Kerri usually knelt before the Image of Divine Mercy, which brought her solace. How freeing those words were that are inscribed at the bottom of the image: “Jesus, I Trust in You.” Weeks before Peter’s birth, Kerri held on to those words. Knowing Peter would need immediate surgery, doc- tors delivered him on Sept. 29, one week before his due date. Peter looked healthy. But he wasn’t. He was trans- ferred to Boston Children’s Hospital and attached to heart monitors and IVs to keep him alive until he could under- go his first surgery. Kerri and Mark had a few days to hold him. It had been love at first sight. Those days were filled with many tears, as they knew they might lose him. At five days old, Peter underwent the first and most chal- lenging of his open- heart surgeries. The following morning was Oct. 5, the Feast of St. Faustina. Kerri awoke and said a prayer. “Good morn- ing, Faustina!” she prayed. “Happy feast day! While you are celebrating up there today, could you please say a prayer for my boy Peter? You know that I would have named him after you had he been a girl, so I believe that still makes him spe- cial to you.” That day, Kerri and Mark visited Peter in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. Swollen and sedated, he was con- nected to monitors and a breathing machine. Chest tubes were draining blood and fluid from around his heart. Kerri and Mark placed a Divine Mercy Image over his bed. One of the doctors was so surprised to see how well Peter was doing, and that brought great hope to Kerri and Mark. But no sooner had the doctors left his bedside than the machines connected to Peter started sounding alarms. He flatlined. Peter was dying. Kerri and Mark were escorted out of the room. In the waiting room, crying, they prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Kerri pictured herself handing Peter over to the Father. She did not ask for Peter’s life; rather, she asked for God’s will, aware that the closing prayer of the chap- let says let us “not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy Will, which is Love and Mercy itself.” Kerri felt at total peace. A doctor came out looking grim. He told Kerri and Mark that they could not revive Peter, but they were going to put him on a heart and lung machine with the hope it would allow time for his heart to build up strength to beat on its own again. There were no guarantees. After the doctor left, Kerri and Mark continued the chaplet. Soon another doc- tor came in and said that they did not need to put Peter on the machine after all. His heart had begun to beat on its own again! Even though his brain had been deprived of oxygen during the cardiac arrest, brain scans showed no brain damage. Against all medical odds, he would have no physical and cog- nitive delays. The Dunns believe they witnessed a miracle wrought through St. Faustina’s intercession. Not that life has been without its challenges. Peter underwent two more surgeries in his first two years of life to complete the procedure of rerouting the blood in his heart so it could function as if it was a whole heart. He has a slow heartbeat due to the scar tissue from all his surger- ies. He’ll soon have a pacemaker placed in his chest. As he runs around with his dragon wings on, fight- ing bad guys, Peter has a heart for Jesus and Mary. His favorite color is blue — because it’s Mary’s color, he’ll say. Kerri taught Peter to say, “Jesus, I Trust in You” when he takes his heart medication every day. That way Jesus gets His Heart consoled. One of his siblings even recently referred to Peter as their medicine, because “he always makes us feel better.” “Peter’s life has taught me the great lesson of trust in God,” Kerri says. “I have learned that all I can do is trust his little heart to Jesus. I know with all that I am that I can have complete reliance upon the Father’s care.” F[j[h WdZ ^_i ÆX[ij XkZZo"Ç ^_i Xhej^[h ?iW_W^" ^[bf @[iki YWhho >_i 9heii Wj j^[ IjWj_edi e\ j^[ 9heii ^[h[ ed ;Z[d >_bb$ MH