"I told her this could be controlled but it could not be cured," said Gibson, now an assistant professor of medicine and oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. At best, he thought, the treatment could double her life expectancy to 12 months.
"You try to be hopeful but realistic," he said.
He said records show that Heibel took weekly treatments at Hopkins starting on June 22, 2004, with CT scans about every three months. As long as there was cancer present, her treatments would go on.
A call to a special prayer
In January 2005, a friend who had recently converted to Catholicism suggested that the Heibels ask their pastor to begin a schedule of novenas - prayers for a particular purpose recited nine days consecutively or once a week for nine weeks - appealing to Seelos.
As they recall, they began on a Wednesday in late January, stepping into a conference room with then-pastor Rev. Denis Sweeney as the Seelos reliquary - a metal ornamental piece that looks roughly like an elaborate candlestick - was brought in from the rectory and placed on the table. They prayed, addressing themselves to the "Divine Physician" and asking for help from Seelos, who had been given "the gift of your healing."
They cannot remember exactly how many times they prayed in this way before Heibel underwent the scan of Feb. 8, a week after her final chemotherapy treatment.
Gibson said his recollection is that the cancer must have been diminishing along the way, but this scan showed something extraordinary. While there was a possibility that residue of the disease remained, Gibson said, "all the other stuff she had went away."
Amazed, he departed from his usual practice and left a message on Heibel's answering machine.
"Dr. Gibson called and said, 'Congratulations on your CT scan,' " she said. "He said, 'There's no tumors left. They're all gone.' "
Her husband recalled that later, the doctor said "it wasn't his treatment that did it."
Explanation eludes doctors
Gibson, who has been practicing medicine since 1996 and specializing in oncology for about five years, said he had not seen a similar case.
"I'd never seen anybody be cured and not recur until her," he said, adding that a scan in March 2008 was clear.
The Heibels say that each scan since has been clear. She was last examined a year ago and has a scan scheduled in August.
