“Seeing Is Believing” Goes The Saying, But Ann Marie Di Legge’s Belief In Healing Was Beyond Sight.
Almost Considered Legally Blind And To The Point Her Doctor Feared She May Not Be Able To Keep Her Driver’s License, The 31-Year-Old Is Now Boasting 20/30 Vision.
Things Began To Change When The Italian-American Wife And Mother Of Three Met Adora Kassab Ibrahim, An Old Friend Of Her Husband’s From School. They Sat At The Table At A Friends’ Wedding. They Began Talking About Faith. The Two Began Praying For Each Other’s Families. Ibrahim Mentioned ECRC And Tom Naemi’s Story And Healing Mass.
Prayer And Healing Was Not Foreign To Di Legge. As A Deep Believer, She Grew Up With Her Father Praying In Tongues And With A Deep Devotion To The Holy Spirit. He Would Pray Over Her While Playing Worship Music And Read The Bible Over Her At Night. “I Have Had Miracles Happen To Me,” Said Di Legge. “A Pot Of Boiling Oil Spilled On My Face At 3 Years Old And My Father Prayed Over Me. I Have No Scars From The Injury.”
Di Legge Was Born With A Genetic Eye Disease Called Keratoconus, Which Is An Abnormal Cone-Shaped Protrusion Of The Cornea Of The Eye; She Was Told That She Would Eventually Need Cornea Replacement. The Surgery Is Done On One Eye At A Time And Would Require Di Legge To Not Drive For Six Months After Each Surgery, Which Would Mean A Year Of Not Driving.
In Order To See, She Had To Wear Two Sets Of Contacts Daily.
As She Grew Older, Her Eyes Became Progressively Worse, And Last Year She Developed An Ulcer Of The Cornea. Doctors Prescribed High Doses Of Motrin And An Anesthetic Eye Drop For The Pain. “I Felt Like Someone Was Cutting My Eyes With Glass,” She Said.
One Night She Fell Asleep And Woke Up Screaming From Pain. Fluid Oozed From Her Eye. “I Told My Husband This Was It. My Cornea Was Splitting And I Would Go Blind,” She Recalled.
She Asked Her Husband To Get Holy Water And The Bible, And To Start Praying Over Her By Reading Scripture. She Also Woke Up Her 5-Year-Old Daughter To Pray Over Her. “She Placed Her Hand Over My Eyes And Began To Speak Another Language,” Said Di Legge. “I Asked Her What She Had Said And She Said, ‘I Asked Jesus To Heal Your Eyes And He Said Yes.’ My Eyes Stopped Hurting And I Went To Bed.”
“The Next Morning I Was Going Through My Day And My Eyes Started Pounding And Became Extremely Sensitive To The Light,” She Said. “I Had A Headache. I Was Looking For A Priest To Do Healing. I Knew I Needed Someone To Pray Over Me. I Made Phone Calls And Could Not Find Anyone And Then Remembered Adora Mentioning Tom Naemi. I Called Him.”
Naemi Was Quite A Distance Away And Was Not Able To See Di Legge. He Told Her That He Would Be Free In A Few Days, But She Could Not Wait. His Healing Mass Was Too Far In The Future. She Was Driving Her Car At The Time And Naemi Told Her To Pull Over. He Began To Pray Over Her Through The Phone.
“He Asked Me First If I Was A Believer And If I Believed In Miracles,” She Remembered. “I Said Yes, Of Course. He Told Me To Put My Hands On My Stomach. I Felt Heat And Immediately I Had No Pain. I Was Crying And My Head Felt 10 Times Bigger Than Before. I Started To Blink My Eyes And I Was Not Feeling The Same Pain. When The Heat Went Through Me, My Dogs Ran From The Back To The Front Of The Car And Began Licking My Face.”
Believing She Was Healed, She Called Her Husband And Told Him About Naemi’s Prayers. She Went To The Doctor The Next Morning. “He Told Me I Still Had Scar Tissue, But I Was No Longer In Pain.”
Di Legge Still Wanted More Prayers And Healing, So She Planned To Attend The Healing Mass At ECRC. She Prepared By Fasting For A Week Prior To The Mass.
“That Friday Morning Adora Called Me To Tell Me That Day Was The Feast Of St. Lucia, The Patron Saint Of Eyes. I Called My Dad Right After And Said, ‘I Was Born To Be Healed Today.’ He Cried And Laughed At The Same Time,” She Recalled.
She Attended The Healing Mass And Gave Her Testimony. This Time, Naemi Prayed On Her In Person. She Fell Out By The Holy Spirit.
“The Next Morning, I Woke Up And Saw A Pair Of Eyes Following Me. There Was Not Real Color, But The Eyes Moved,” She Said. “I Then Blinked. I Could Not Feel Any Callouses, And At First I Thought I Fell Asleep With My Contacts On Because I Was Able To See My Husband Sleeping Next To Me, Which I Would Not Be Able To Do Without My Contacts.”
It Was 4 A.M.
In Amazement, Di Legge Began Walking Around Her House Looking At Things She Could Never See Before, Like Images On The TV, And She Didn’t Even Have To Feel Her Way Through The House.
“I Could See The Fireplace, Mantel, Stockings … I Could See The TV,” She Said With Excitement. “I Opened The Bible And I Could See Words, And I Wrote In My Dream Journal On The Lines. I Got On My Knees And Thanked The Lord. And The Christian Channel Was On And Someone Said There Was Going To Be Healing, And Someone Will Experience Partial Healing And Some Will Be Restored. Some Things Were Blurry. I Said, ‘Lord, In Seven Days, I Am Going To Be Restored.’”
She Visited The Doctor Once Again. For The First Time In More Than 10 Years, She Could See The Large E On The Eye Chart. She Returned Seven Days Later And Her Vision Was Even Stronger. She Had 20/30 Vision.
“God Is Amazing,” She Said. “My Vision Will Be Restored. I Made A Covenant With The Lord And I Will Not Miss One Sunday Mass. I Am In Awe With What He Is Surrounding Me With Right Now. I Am So Grateful For Adora And Tom Being In My Life And The Lord Answering. It Is A Miracle. I Am Humbled He Chose Me To Work Through.”
That Was Not The Only Miracle In Her Family. Days Later, Naemi Visited Di Legge’s Grandmother, Who Hadn’t Walked In A Year Due To Hip Surgery. He Prayed On Her And She Was Able To Stand Up And Walk To The Bathroom.
“God Is Awesome And He Has Been Taking Me On This Journey,” She Said.
– Vanessa Denha Garmo
