Neverland, Michael, and Cancer: A Story of Healing

The following story was submitted by a visitor to Oprah Winfrey’s website:

In 2000, when I was 15 years old, I was diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer in children, and I was supposed to begin chemotherapy in August of that year. Many people don’t know this, but Michael opened the doors of Neverland (his former ranch and home in Los Olivos, California) to the public several times a year. Everything was free—games, amusement park rides, food… everything.

One of my friends, who was a regular customer of Neverland, told me that Neverland would be open for two weeks at the beginning of August that year. Although the doctors were against it because of my weakness, I insisted, and a week before chemotherapy was set to begin, I went to Neverland with my family.

After driving a few miles, we reached the gates of Neverland, and as soon as we passed through them and headed toward the amusement park, I felt something envelop me. I can’t describe it—something like a feeling of peace and calm.

When we got out of the car, a man came toward us. We signed some documents, and he said we could use all the facilities there and eat whatever we wanted. He also said that Michael sometimes comes out of the house to meet people who are at the amusement park.

A few minutes later, I was riding the Ferris wheel with my father. We rode it three times, played for more than three hours, and then ate popcorn and cotton candy. When we sat behind a table with our snacks, we saw a group of children all running in one direction. I stood up on my chair, but I couldn’t see anything. A little later, the crowd came toward us, and that’s when I saw Michael. He was standing under a large umbrella, laughing, while the children pulled at his arms and legs and hugged him.

My mother took my hand to go to him. We introduced ourselves, and my mother told him that her daughter had cancer and would begin chemotherapy one week later. Michael placed his hand on my head and said, “God bless you.” When he did that, I felt the same calm that had come over me when we passed through the gates of Neverland. He spoke with us for a while and then left.

That night, when we returned, the same man who had met us at the entrance gave my father a note from Michael. He invited us to dinner. My father accepted immediately. The man guided us along a path that led to my home. I expected to see a huge mansion—this wasn’t a small house, but it wasn’t that big either. Many of the house’s employees met with us. We had dinner with Michael and his children, and it was the best night of my life to this day.

After dinner, he asked my parents whether he could pray with us. I had never heard anyone pray like him. I started crying. After he finished his prayer, I opened my eyes and saw that my parents were also crying.

After that, Michael was so kind that he allowed us to visit some things we hadn’t been able to see during the day at Neverland. He showed us the walkway and the cinema hall. His cinema hall wasn’t something ordinary. In addition to the usual seats, it had beds specifically for very sick children who couldn’t sit up. They could lie on those beds and watch movies through the glass wall.

A few days later, my mother was surprised to receive a phone call from Michael. We thought he had gotten our number from the documents we had signed at Neverland. He asked how I was doing, and my mother told him that on Monday I would go to the hospital for chemotherapy. He gave a number so that if needed we could contact him directly, and he asked us to call him after the chemotherapy.

On Monday, we went to the hospital. They had taken a blood sample from me two days before chemotherapy, as is customary. My doctor entered the room and asked us to sit down. We were terrified that the cancer might have spread throughout my entire body. The doctor said, “I don’t know how to tell you this. I don’t know how to explain it, but Daniel doesn’t have cancer anymore.” We stared at him, and my mother finally broke down and cried.

The first thing we did after getting home was call Michael. My mother was crying on the phone, and she handed the receiver to me—it was clear that she had started crying too.

In the years that followed, he kept in touch with us and called a few times a year. Sometimes he would send us gifts and cards.

Now it has been 10 years since I was healed from cancer. What happened to me at Neverland can’t be explained. I only want people to know that I’m not the only person who went to Neverland while sick and came back healthy. There are hundreds or thousands of other examples.

But our story was never told because Michael wanted it that way. He was an extraordinary man. I’ve never seen anyone care as much—not only about children, but about other people too.

Source: eMJey / oprah.com