At 58 years old, Tammy Peterson received devastating news: She had a rare and aggressive form of kidney cancer and was told she had less than a year to live.
Speaking with Mark on The Mark Swartzberg Show, Tammy recalled returning home and telling her son, Julian. When she saw the tears in his eyes, something changed.
“I felt the weight of the world lift off my shoulders,” she said. Looking at her son and experiencing the depth of their love, Tammy felt herself filled with something she would later recognize as the Holy Spirit.
Her response was simple: “Julian, only God knows when I’m going to die. And I said, we will go forward with gratitude, accepting help, and that’s it.”
That surrender was only the beginning.
After complications sent Tammy back to the hospital, her Catholic friend Queenie Yu visited with a rosary blessed by the pope. Tammy admitted she didn’t know how to pray the Rosary, so Queenie offered to teach her.
She returned every day for five weeks.
As Tammy prayed, each decade became an opportunity to reflect on the people she loved. She prayed for her deceased mother, her children, hospital workers, and political leaders. Slowly, her prayer expanded.
“I could make it local and at the same time universal,” Tammy explained. “I could pray for my mother and all mothers.”
Later, Orthodox Christian artist Jonathan Pageau joined Tammy on her podcast to discuss the mysteries of the Rosary. After one recording, he quietly told her, “You gotta go to church.”
She took those words seriously.
As more Catholics entered her life and she encountered the teaching of Blessed Fulton Sheen, Tammy found herself increasingly drawn toward Catholicism. Eventually, a priest began catechizing her while she traveled.
When Tammy returned to Toronto, she entered the Catholic Church.
Today, the word Catholics so often use for conversion has taken on a deeper meaning for her: home.
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