MY STORY:
Before my husband and I got married in 2021, I was diagnosed with PCOS. My doctor told me
that this diagnosis meant that having children would be challenging and to consider other
options. When I told my then-fiance, Jason, about the news as I was clutching my St. Therese
of Lisieux medal, he was unphased. He knew God had a plan and that it wasn’t for us or even
for doctors to tell us what would happen in our fertility journey. We were married on October 16,
2021; the feast day of St. Gerard Majella, the patron saint of expectant mothers. We even
offered a dedication to Our Lady during our wedding mass as she held a special place in our
hearts.

We knew that it would take time to conceive, so we were waiting for our miracle in the early
years of our marriage. We followed the Family Rosary Across America (I even called in a few
times), we prayed novenas asking for the saints’ intercession, we trusted that God knew best.
However, we never got a positive on any pregnancy test.

At the end of 2023, my husband and I decided that we needed extra help from Our Lady. Father
Rocky had been talking about the Walk to Mary over the years, and if we wanted a baby, we
were done with saying “maybe,” and so began our training for the pilgrimage.

In May 2024, we attended the Walk to Mary for the first time and we walked the full 22 miles. We
prayed the rosary multiple times on the way. We prayed for our future baby, we prayed for our
friends and loved ones, we even carried written prayer requests from our bible study and offered
our miles for their intentions( I might have borrowed that idea from Fr. Rocky!). It’s a walk I will
never forget and I have encouraged others to partake in this pilgrimage at least once in their
lifetime.

When we arrived at the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, we were overcome with joyful peace.
We did it. We went to the Shrine’s basement and caught sight of our beautiful Mother. We had
the opportunity to kneel before her and beg for her prayers, to let her know that we did the best
we could for her and that we desperately needed her intercession to have a baby. We knew she
was praying and she was pleased that we had journeyed to Champion to pay her a visit.

When we returned home, I believed it was going to happen right away. Unfortunately, the year
came and went without a pregnancy. My husband, the embodiment of St. Joseph, told me to
keep the faith. However, I, the impatient and fiery Irish-Peruvian Catholic, decided to add on the
Impossible Novena at the end of our nightly Family Rosary. We started in March 2025 and
committed to nine straight months of prayer.

We were not able to attend the Walk in 2025 due to work obligations, but my parents did. They
told us they had prayed for us during their whole journey. Our Lady was still interceding.
During this time, we found a fertility doctor that was willing to help us and stay within the
boundaries of Catholic Teaching; we only would work with her if she agreed not to pursue IUI,
IVF or any treatment that would artificially replace the martial act. After a few months of
discussion and testing, we began trying in July 2025.

However, we found that it was one failed cycle after another. I’d get the call from the nurse only
for her to tell me, “I’m so sorry to tell you this, but you aren’t pregnant.” I remember trying to stay
strong and pushing myself into prayer to thank God for giving us this opportunity and that His
Will be done despite any desire I had in my heart.

In November 2025, I wanted to give up trying. I told my husband that we could continue to pray
the Impossible Novena to finish out our commitment, but if this next cycle failed I wanted to take
a break. Our plan was to attend the next Walk to Mary and restart. My husband reassured me,
“We went to the Walk in 2024. Our Lady has not forgotten us. We’re going to have a baby this
year.” My husband then remembered the wise words of Father Rocky, “It’s always best to give
our Lord a deadline.” And so we did. We then asked Our Lady to beg her son for a baby by the
end of 2025.

It’s always when you’re at the end of your rope that the Lord comes through to carry your cross
the rest of the way to Golgotha. While I was getting discouraged, Our Lord’s words kept
replaying in my head, “Pray without ceasing.”

After our last cycle for the year, we waited. We enjoyed life. We took time to thank God for the
journey we had despite the suffering. We celebrated my sister’s marriage to her husband during
Thanksgiving weekend. We focused on our joy rather than our sorrows. Little did we know, Our
Lady was still interceding and the Lord began working.

God’s timing is truly better than anything we could ever envision for ourselves because on
December 15, 2025, the sixth anniversary of when my husband dropped down on one knee and
proposed, we got the call.

“Congratulations! You’re pregnant!”

And since then, we felt Our Lady’s prayers and protection. When we went in for ultrasounds to
check on our growing miracle, nurses were amazed at what they heard and saw. And, we
recently received good test results for our baby – no detected abnormalities.

On top of that, we got a call from our local Legion of Mary to host the Our Lady of Fatima pilgrim
statue to stay with us for the first two weeks of Lent. I even felt our baby move for the first time
during her stay. We prayed the Family Rosary Across America with her presence in our home
and she made it known to us that she has not, nor will not, forget to pray for us.

We’re attending the Walk to Mary this year to give thanks to Our Lady for her prayers and to
give witness for the true gift she is from Our Saviour! A reading that has popped up for us again
and again during different bible studies is the Wedding at Cana. We were reminded through this
scripture that Our Lady’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, will not deny His Mother and she will place
our intentions immediately before Him. We just need to ask.

And for anyone who may be struggling with their own cross of infertility, I encourage you to
meditate on this excerpt from Luke 1:36-37:

“And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth…has also conceived.. Her who was called barren. For
with God, nothing will be impossible.