Boy is evidence of a real-life, walking miracle
Published: December 30, 2004
Merry Christmas. Or if you prefer, happy Holy Day, which is the original version of the secularized holiday. This is the day most people living in the United States celebrate the Lord’s birth. I am among the believers.
Jesus Christ was born 2004 or so years ago in a miraculous birth of the Virgin Mary. Most people also believe this, despite the doubting Thomases of the centuries. According to a Newsweek poll, 84 percent of adults in the United States are Christian and “82 percent see Jesus as God or the son of God,” according to the magazine.
“Seventy-nine percent say they believe in the virgin birth, and 67 percent think the Christmas story ‘from the angels’ appearance to the Star of Bethlehem is historically accurate,” according to Newsweek.
That we believe in Jesus, angels and the true meaning of Christmas is important, because it also means that Americans believe in miracles. We have faith, which is where I want to begin the story of a modern-day miracle that touched Christian Hiris.
Christian is a fifth-grader at Holy Spirit school who, by all appearances, is a normal child of his age. He likes a good joke, enjoys playing with other children, and has been known to quarrel with his sister, Amber, a seventh-grader.
There are a couple things that are different in Christian. One is that he always wears a helmet that looks kind of like a run-of-the-mill bike helmet. The other is that he lives today because of a miracle.
Christian’s life changed several months back when he awoke for school one day. “My arm feels paralyzed,” he told his mother, Bonnie. As Christian got out of bed, he began screaming. Bonnie called 911, and much after that is a blur for her.
Doctors determined that Christian had a brain hemorrhage. They told Christian’s family that the prognosis was not good. The Rev. Michael Downey happened to be at NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield, so he gave Christian a blessing of the sick.
Christian was transported to Oakland, where two neurosurgeons went to work on saving Christian’s life. He suffered from a congenital arterial defect. The surgeons had to remove part of his skull, which they will replace with an artificial plate in January as they repair an aneurysm in the brain.
Christian remained in a drug-induced coma for about three weeks. Holy Spirit held a Mass to help heal Christian as he fought for his life. Bishop Richard Garcia blessed Christian twice.
After he awoke from his coma, Christian was thankful for the prayers. A 10-year-old girl next to him suffered the same type of bleeding, but she is severely disabled.
“It is so heartbreaking,” Bonnie said. “I look at Christian who is running and jumping and being a boy … ”
Christian has some weakness in his right hand, but it was not enough to keep him from life. He returned to school wearing his helmet.
“He is my walking miracle,” Bonnie said.
It is no wonder that most of us believe.
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