DANIELLE O'Connor, 11, from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, who survived a rare genetic disease that has killed every known sufferer, was in Rome yesterday to witness the canonisation of Padre Pio.
Her parents, Frank and Maureen, who accompanied her, credit the Italian monk with interceding with God to help keep their daughter alive.
Sir Tom Farmer, the founder of Kwik-Fit, who has attended prayer meetings devoted to Padre Pio organised by Danielle's parents, paid for the family's trip after their public house in Motherwell burned down.
Last week, the O'Connors expressed their gratitude and said they were ''thrilled'' to be going to the Vatican for the celebrations.
Mrs O'Connor said the ceremony would give more people the chance to hear of the good Padre Pio can do.
The Herald revealed in 1997 that Memories Lounge Bar in Motherwell, run by the O'Connors, had become a shrine visited by thousands after their daughter recovered from one of two rare genetic disorders.
The first left her profoundly physically and mentally handicapped, while the second affected her muscle growth.
To the bafflement of medics, Danielle made a full recovery from the first disorder, which affects only about six children and whose sufferers are not known to live more than a few years.
Her family claims she was saved by a stranger, known only as Jack, who came into the bar and used a bandage from Padre Pio.
Several years later, she is able to walk and is mentally unimpaired. The second genetic disorder, however, has left her physically frail.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article