Divine Mercy Supportive Care

Please help us to continue to provide Intensive caring to those in need of end of life services.

Testimonials

"Do not become upset when difficulty comes your way. Laugh in its face and know that you are in the hands of God." This quote by St. Francis de Sales came to my family at a time when difficulty was present in a way we never knew would be possible. This is my story of this critical time in my life that formed me into the person I am today and led me to be the intern at Divine Mercy Supportive Care.

I should start by introducing myself. My name is Miranda Smith and I am a 20 year-old attending Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. I was born and raised here in Colorado with my parents and older brother. In November of 2013 -my freshman year of college- we learned that my mom had an aggressive brain tumor called glioblastoma. At this point in my life I had been very blessed not to have dealt with anything as difficult as this. I learned to rely fully on God and His plan instead of worrying about what I could not control. My mom is a very strong woman, she had surgery and then began chemotherapy and radiation. She started to improve and after months of treatments and pain I thought our lives would finally be back to normal (or at least as close as possible). But that was not God's plan. My mom had a seizure in early July of 2014 and we learned that her tumor had returned and was more aggressive than before. This began the final journey of my mother's life as her health continued to deteriorate.

It was at this time (when I was just about to head back to school) that our family started to explore hospice care options. After researching we found Divine Mercy and knew right away that it was exactly what we were looking for. As my mother's health declined she required a hospital bed in our living room and many other medical devices that would make caring for her possible. Divine Mercy was able to provide all of that and so much more. Our nurse was absolutely brilliant and I never doubted that my mom was receiving the best care possible. This was a blessing that I didn't fully understand how much I needed. For me, being home was too difficult; so I returned to school and would come home on the weekends to see her. I was only able to do this because I knew that my mother was being taken care of at home. She was surrounded by safety, and faith, and love. In that last month of her life Divine Mercy not only supported my mother, but also our family. We all had the comfort of knowing that we were doing all that we could to make her time on earth as peaceful and joyful as possible.

On September 28, 2014 my mom passed away painlessly in her sleep. She was 50 years old, and losing her at age 19 was the most challenging thing I have even had to endure. God does not make bad things happen; but when they do He will carry you through it and bring you many blessings in the midst of your suffering. There are countless blessing that have come after losing my mom, they do not take away the pain instead they make it possible for you to take up this cross and allow God to help you carry it. Divine Mercy was one of the greatest blessing to our family. They were able to support each member of my family in the way that we needed them. For me Divine Mercy gave me peace when I was away from my mother, because I knew that her and my family were being taken care of.

It was these blessings that called me to serve as the intern at Divine Mercy Supportive Care this summer. There is a saying "What you receive as a gift you must give as a gift". This summer I hope to help bring help and peace to Divine Mercy by helping them in any way that I can. This blog will be one of my contributions, so this is not the last you will be hearing from me (and I promise I won't be talking about myself most of the time). All I hope to do is share some of the love and blessings that God has given me. As St. Therese of Lisieux (one of my mom's favorite saints) once said "Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love."