Theresa DESROSIERS
1923 Accident

a newspaper story Father Gravelle wrote in 1964.

It is a remarkable story of a six-year old girl, Theresa Desrosiers, who lived on a family farm near Chiswick in 1923. She was picking flowers to take to her first communion when her father André accidentally hit her while mowing hay, and almost completely severed her left foot. Her father held the foot in place while Theresa screamed in pain. The nearest phone was in Alderdale, 6 km away, and Dr. Harcourt, the local doctor, was 16 km away in Powassan.

When Dr. Harcourt arrived three hours later, he immediately set about to remove the foot. Theresa pleaded for the doctor to "wrap it up" and let it heal. "Good Saint Anne will help me, and I can have my first communion," she said. The doctor told her that too much time had already passed, there was no circulation to the foot and infection was going to set in, perhaps causing the loss of more of the leg.

Theresa's parents joined in the request to save the foot, so, against his better judgment, the doctor proceeded to set the bones and stitch the foot.

When Dr. Harcourt and his partner Dr. Dillane returned four days later, they expected to amputate the leg below the knee. They were shocked to find that the circulation had been restored, and that there was only a slight swelling. Father Gravelle postponed the first communion for two weeks. Theresa was served communion at her seat, and the miracle was complete.

Twenty-eight years later, in 1951, Theresa-now Mrs. Roger O'Connor-returned to Chisholm for a visit. When asked about her accident, she said that she hardly ever thought about it anymore. But when she was shown an old newspaper article about the event, she burst into tears as memories of the experience flooded back.

People who know the story can only explain this 1923 operation-twenty-five miles from a hospital, and performed on a kitchen table-as an act of faith. It also says a lot about Father Joseph Gravelle, who saw the family through that terrible time.

September 5, 1964
The Ottawa Journal
Ottawa, Canada
Page 37

www.pastforward.ca/ perspectives/ May_42001.htm

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