Epiphany -July 30, 2022
‘Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever!’
God worked His miracle in Jessica Hanna’s life and she’ll share her layered story. Courtney Nixon is the new principal at St. Fabian. She’ll talk about how they form little saints and their theatre program. Patrick Kakos and Elayna Garmo talk about the Steubenville Conference and VBS.
Jessica Hanna
Jessica is a 39 year old entrepreneur, pharmacist and Catholic mother of 4. She was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer in December of 2020 when she was only 14 weeks pregnant. She denied termination and also denied the notion that her fate would be determined by anyone other than God. Instead of fear she turned to faith and used the sacraments and prayer (especially the rosary daily) to sustain her through. She also used her God-given medical skills to research safe options for herself and her baby. Not knowing how the story would end and abandoning everything at the foot of the cross, she created an instagram channel just 4 days after diagnosis to allow for others to pray with her and to take them along for the uncertain journey that was being led only by Christ. Many miracles she calls “winks from God” happened along the way. Unable to be scanned while pregnant, she had to wait 6 long months to find out if she would live or die. Finally, after 2 surgeries and 4 rounds of chemotherapy, her son, Thomas Solanus, was born healthy. She was now finally able to be scanned and despite the grim picture painted by doctors, her scans were miraculously clear for no distant metastasis. Cancer could not be found anywhere in her body. She had been upgraded from “terminal” to “curable”. Her surgeon has called her “a walking miracle” and her oncologist had said she is “extremely lucky” which she corrected to “extremely blessed”. Today, they still cannot find cancer and her Instagram page is now used to spread the good news of Christ & the Catholic Church, to pray for others and to show how suffering can be redemptive and joyful if we unite it with Christ’s Passion. God has indeed used this trial to reform her in ways she could never imagine and also use it for His own glory…Cancer has stripped her of the frivolous things of this world and has allowed her to begin “racing for the crown” that awaits all of us in God’s kingdom. This is why she calls herself “Blessed by cancer”.
Courtney Nixon
Principal for St. Fabian. Courtney Nixon has been an educator for sixteen years. Courtney graduated from Madonna University with both a Bachelors in Education and a Masters in Educational Leadership. She has been a strong advocate for Catholic Education since her time learning in Catholic Schools and loves sharing the love of Christ with all her students.
Patrick Kakos
Patrick Kakos is a sophomore at St. Mary’s prep of Orchard Lake and is the oldest child of four siblings. Patrick enjoys playing sports and spending time with his family. He especially loves to learn about his faith and the Chaldean culture and language.
Elayna Garmo
Elayna Garmo is a sophomore at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. She is a long-time ice skater and plays hockey on her high school team. She is also on the Girls varsity golf team. She loves her Chaldean and Polish Heritage and can’t wait to be a bridesmaid in her cousin Rachael’s wedding this fall. She loves dancing to traditional Middle Eastern Music.
