A Pilgrim’s Heart
by Bill King
In November 1982 I had open-heart surgery to replace a collapsed mitral valve. In spite of the new valve my heart went into fibrillation seven times over the next seven years. The fix for this was to give my heart an electric shock. In 1989 the doctor said my heart could not stand much more of this treatment. It if happened again I would have to live with all the restrictions of a fibrillating heart.
Later that year I visited Medjugorje with my wife Pat. While climbing a steep trail to visit the site of the Marian apparitions my heart began fibrillating. I rested and prayed for it to stop but it continued pounding at 120 beats a minute.
We went back down the hill discussing how it would be possible to find a taxi that could take me to the next town where I could find a doctor. At the bottom of the hill we came upon the home of Visca, one of the visionaries, who was praying with a group of pilgrims. As we stood off to the side of the crowd, she abruptly left the people she was with and came across the courtyard towards me. There she laid her hands on my head and prayed for about a minute in her native language (she does not speak English.) When she had returned to the other pilgrims I put my hand on my heart and found it was beating normally.
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