Terry Goitom, accompanied by her daughter, Nighisti Tecle, traveled to Lourdes, France, as a “malade” – a person with an aggressive disease seeking healing. CHARLOTTE — Terry Goitom, St. Gabriel Church parishioner, fell in love with Our Lady of Lourdes, long before she developed stage 3 ovarian cancer in 2023 and was finally able to visit her in person thanks to the Order of Malta’s annual pilgrimage.
“Even before the cancer, there was Lourdes. I had always wanted to go,” Goitom said. “This, to me, is a big miracle.”
This May, more than a dozen Order of Malta members from the Diocese of Charlotte traveled to Lourdes, France, to convene with global members of the oldest lay religious order for their annual pilgrimage.
Together, knights and dames carried “Malades” – people suffering from aggressive ailments – in pull-carts across the 130-acre sanctuary nestled next to the Gave de Pau River, which offers spiritual and healing pathways.
“Bringing the malades to the waters is just so fulfilling,” the region hospitaller for Charlotte, Dame Ellen Linares, said. “People are really able to see love in action, what Christ wanted us to be on Earth.”
Goitom was the chosen malade from the Diocese of Charlotte, and her daughter, Nighisti Tecle, was her designated companion.
The two were escorted by Order of Malta members and led through candlelight processions, brought to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes Basilica for Masses, taken to the Our Lady of Lourdes grotto apparition site for prayer, and assisted to the famed healing baths.
Dignitaries such as Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal Arthur Roche and Jesuit Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda took turns preaching homilies full of hope and love.
Lourdes has been recognized as a healing site since 1858, when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous and instructed her to dig.
Dutifully, she burrowed through the dried mud Mary pointed to and drank the first dirty water that sprang from the hole. The next day, the puddle was transformed into a giant clear spring that still thrives.
More than 4 million pilgrims visit the site each year to bathe in the healing springs that are home to more than 7,000 recorded healings and 72 medical miracles confirmed by the Vatican.
Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey was there to greet her when she arrived in Lourdes.
The road to Lourdes
Goitom has felt a personal connection to Lourdes, through Belmont Abbey’s campus replica grotto, since 2021. Fittingly, she rolled off the plane in Lourdes and right into the arms of Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey, who blessed and prayed over her and her daughter.
For many years, she visited the Abbey every morning for Mass and then prayed the rosary at the grotto, where she discussed plans with Mary for how it would be when she was able to go to Lourdes.
On Valentine’s Day in 2023, Goitom went to Mass, but her side hurt too much to do much else. After months of physical therapy, a trip to the emergency room showed a misdiagnosis; it was an aggressive cancer causing her pain.
Turning to our lady for help
Goitom prayed in the St. Joseph Adoration Chapel all that night. When her daughter Tecle, whose father was also in ill health, learned of her mother’s diagnosis, she fell into despair.
“I wanted my mom to be healed. It broke my heart,” she said. “I thought I was not praying enough, and I was getting punished because of me fleeing from the Church.”
For her birthday on Feb. 11, which is also the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, Tecle visited the abbey grotto in the pouring rain and prayed.
“I said I know I am not your strongest Christian, but my mom is sick and she really wants to go to Lourdes,” Tecle begged.
Two weeks later, Don Meanor of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte called Goitom. They were going to Lourdes – Frank Grass, Order of Malta Knight and fellow member of St. Gabriel Parish, sponsored her and Tecle.
His wife, like Goitom, fell victim to ovarian cancer. He still wears the teal bracelet the couple received when she was diagnosed and has the bottle of holy water from Lourdes that he placed on her forehead every night. He now carries the hope of physical healing Goitom may experience in her place.
“Don saw this opportunity and batted for us. If it wasn’t for him, Frank and the Order of Malta. I don’t think it ever would have happened,” Tecle said.
In Lourdes, Goitom was given a sticker with her name and placed it on the largest candle she ever saw, which was put on the grotto rocks where passersby could pray for the malades. The candle burned all week, and she said she can still recall feeling its flame.
When they first saw the spring and grotto, the mother and daughter were overwhelmed.
“It was so beautiful, I couldn’t even take a picture. I just wanted to soak in every moment of it,” Tecle said. “It brought us to tears because we realized where we were and all the prayers and support it took us to get there.”
Meeting the other malades made Goitom’s own diagnosis fade.
“Some of the malade stories were so sad,” said Goitom. “All of us were there for the same reason, and it was amazing to see people still fighting, still smiling, still having so much faith.”
When Goitom was led to the bath waters, she prayed while the people surrounding her sang “Ave Maria.”
“People say there is a thin veil between heaven and earth, and I felt it. I felt warmth all through my body,” Goitom said. “When I was in the bath, I wanted to fully submerge, and it touched my heart. I was saying remove this cancer from my body. I felt very close to God. I was not fearful, just peaceful. Mary brought me there. I planned in all types of ways, but it never happened, but she got me there her own way.”
And, as the baths soothed Goitom, Tecle felt her own strength in Mary while she walked the life-sized Stations of the Cross.
“Mary was watching someone she loved suffer, and she was helpless,” Tecle said. “It was at the Ninth Dtation of the Cross when I cried. I understood why I was there. I know when I leave this place, I know that I will never truly be alone in my burdens.”
Goitom does not know if she may be cured, but this trip taught her to surrender her burden to God.
“I don’t have any fear,” Goitom said. “I am praying and waiting. I have learned in my experience to surrender it to God. The doctors say something, but God has the final say, and I am not scared.”
— Lisa M. Geraci
BELMONT — A tragic accident that claimed the life of a community leader has led to Belmont Abbey College receiving a $73,526 grant from the CaroMont Health Foundation to strengthen community cardiac emergency preparedness.
The grant comes in response to a Jan. 7 incident in downtown Belmont, where the absence of nearby Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) contributed to the emergency in which Nancy Litwak, 39, lost her life. Her death highlighted a critical gap in the community’s emergency response resources, inspired changes to the downtown policy, and motivated Belmont Abbey College to pursue this grant to help prevent future tragedies.
In collaboration with the City of Belmont, the grant will fund a public AED initiative. The project will:
> Install nine AEDs: Six in downtown Belmont locations and three on the college campus, ensuring any point in the downtown corridor is within a two-minute walk to an AED, well within the critical four-minute window for defibrillation.
> Train faculty and the community: Four nursing faculty will become certified American Heart Association CPR instructors. Recurring CPR and AED training will be offered to local employees, organizational staff and community members.
> Establish sustainable preparedness: The initiative will create a faculty-led model for ongoing community cardiac emergency preparedness and education.
“The safety and well-being of our community is always a top priority,” said Belmont Mayor Joe Jordan.
“This collaboration with Belmont Abbey College and the support of the CaroMont Health Foundation will ensure that lifesaving resources, like AEDs and CPR training, are accessible to everyone in our town. ”
As Dr. Lee-Ann Kenny, chair and nursing program director at Belmont Abbey College, said, “This grant from the CaroMont Health Foundation equips both our students and our community to respond effectively in life-saving situations.”
— Belmont Abbey College