Asthma Healed in Garabandal
Jeannette Sandoval Gutiérrez
Published Tuesday, October 1, 2019, www.garabandal.it
Blessed be the Holy Mother of God for having given me this gift in Garabandal!!!
My name is Jeannette Sandoval Gutierrez. I was born in Bogota, Colombia, and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I have been living in Spain for the past fifteen years. I first heard about the apparitions of Our Mother in Garabandal when I was still in Venezuela. It was only a rough outline, as I did not know at that time the importance of these apparitions and their messages. Only when, due to socio-political circumstances, I decided to move to Spain, did I begin to get to know Garabandal better.By the grace of God, a priest friend of mine, Father Salvador, invited a few of us who went to his parish every Thursday for adoration, to go on a pilgrimage to Garabandal.
So we went to Cantabria from Cataluna in June and stayed in a small hotel run by one of the visionary’s sisters. The first day there went by in prayer, adoration and Mass. The plan for day two was to visit Our Blessed Mother, a statue in one of the pine trees, and pray the Stations of the Cross.
In Garabandal there is a pathway where you can do the way of the cross. I don’t remember which station we were on by then, by our dear Fr. Salvador decided to leave the path and take a shortcut by going up part of the mountain. Everyone followed Father, and I wasn’t going to be left behind. But I didn’t take something important into account: the asthma that I’ve had for years and how it had gotten worse since I was in Spain. It would get really bad for three to four days at a time. Every time I took a breath I sounded like a squeaky violin, and I had a constant cough. I would lose my breath just by walking quickly. But the atmosphere was so nice and I was so excited to pray at the image of Our Blessed Mother and continue the Stations of the Cross that I started the cross-country trek completely forgetting that asthmatic people should not do certain physical activity.
Sure enough, my lungs proved me right just as we arrived at a level area where the Way of the Cross continued. By then I couldn’t breathe, was coughing non-stop and felt like I was being strangled. I had to stay bent over in order to catch my breath. When they saw that I couldn’t go further, the small group led by Father stopped walking. That’s when I began to get anxious. They were there waiting for me to catch my breath, but I didn’t have anything with me to help calm the asthma. So I prayed fervently to Our Lady of Garabandal, “Mother, please, help me to keep going. It’s embarrassing to keep my friends and the priest back because of me. Help me to calm down and breathe so we can continue the Stations of the Cross.”
Little by little I began to recover, and although I kept coughing, I was able to stand back up and follow the group on the path. At one point that day I thought, “My poor roommate! I’m not going to let her sleep tonight with all my coughing and sharp breathing.” I thought that if I couldn’t sleep, neither would she.
We went to rest for the night. The next day we got up early and began to get breakfast ready. I woke up happy to be in Garabandal and planning to visit Our Blessed Mother. I went down to the dining room with my roommate and we joined our group for breakfast.
I remember perfectly that the conversation around the table was light-hearted, joyful and full of laughter. We talked about everything that happened the day before. Then something happened: while I was looking at the group, I was extracted from them. It’s the best way I can explain it. I heard their voices, but in the background. Suddenly a voice came to my mind, asking about my asthma. At that moment I remembered that I had slept peacefully the whole night through. I began to try to breathe deeply to see if my chest made the usual noises, but there was nothing. At that moment, I understood that I had been healed of my asthma. Our Blessed Mother had gone beyond my request!!!
Blessed be the Holy Mother of God for having given me this gift in Garabandal!!!
Jeannette Sandoval Gutierrez
