# Audrey Toguchi (Damien 1999) ## Intro Audrey Toguchi was a retired schoolteacher from Aiea, on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. In 1997 she was found to have liposarcoma, a rare cancer of fat tissue, in her left leg. Surgeons removed the tumor, but in September 1998 an X-ray showed three growths in her lungs. Her surgeon, Dr. Walter Chang, told her the cancer had spread, that no surgery was possible, and that in his judgment she had no chance of surviving it. She had already been praying to Father Damien, the Belgian priest who served the leprosy settlement on Molokai and died there in 1889. She went back to his grave at Kalawao and asked him to pray for her. She declined chemotherapy. Within weeks the lung growths were shrinking, and by May 1999 they were gone. She had received no treatment for them. Dr. Chang, who belonged to no religion, published the case in the *Hawaii Medical Journal* in October 2000 as a complete spontaneous regression of cancer. The Vatican's medical board found the recovery unexplained, and Pope Benedict XVI approved it as the miracle for Damien's canonization in July 2008. Damien was declared a saint on 11 October 2009. The case is filed in the documented tier because it has both a published medical case report and the formal Vatican process behind it. ![A black stone cross inscribed FATHER DAMIEN inside a low iron railing, hung with leis, in a grassy churchyard with tall palms and the sea and a rocky islet behind it](/codex/assets/father-damien-grave-kalawao-molokai.jpg) _The grave of Father Damien beside St. Philomena Church at Kalawao, Molokai, where Audrey Toguchi prayed for her healing. Photo: Straitgate, 2003, public domain, via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Damien_Grave.jpg)._ **The 30-second version:** > Audrey Toguchi, a retired Hawaii schoolteacher, had liposarcoma removed from her leg in 1997 and 1998. In September 1998 three growths appeared in her lungs, and a biopsy of one matched the liposarcoma. Her surgeon said her survival chance was zero even with chemotherapy. She declined chemotherapy and prayed at Father Damien's grave on Molokai. The growths shrank from October 1998 and were gone by May 1999, with no treatment. Her surgeon, who is not religious, published the case in the *Hawaii Medical Journal* in October 2000. The Vatican's medical board found it unexplained, Pope Benedict XVI approved the miracle on 3 July 2008, and Damien was canonized on 11 October 2009. ## In full Damien de Veuster (1840 to 1889), born Jozef De Veuster in Flanders, took the name Damien in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He went to Hawaii as a missionary and in 1873 volunteered for the leprosy settlement on the Kalaupapa peninsula of Molokai, where he contracted the disease and died in 1889. He was beatified in 1995 on the strength of a first miracle, the 1895 recovery of a gravely ill French nun. Canonization required a second, and the Toguchi case supplied it. The clinical facts come from two directions. The Associated Press (August 2008), drawing on Dr. Walter Y. M. Chang, reports a diagnosis of liposarcoma in December 1997, several operations and radiation to the primary site, an unrelated thyroid cancer removed a month later, and in September 1998 an X-ray showing three lung growths, one of which was biopsied and found consistent with the liposarcoma. On 2 October 1998 the growths, expected to have grown, had shrunk, and by May 1999 they had disappeared. Chang's report in the *Hawaii Medical Journal* (vol. 59, no. 10, October 2000, pp. 379 to 387) presents "a case of pleomorphic liposarcoma with bilateral lung metastases" among four cases of complete spontaneous regression, and says it "may be the very first" case of its kind to be described. Catholic News Service (May 2008) adds that scans in May and October 1999 showed no sign of cancer, and that a diocesan tribunal in Honolulu heard six doctors, Toguchi, her husband, her sister and two priests in 2003, before the file was opened in Rome on 11 September 2003. The Congregation's medical board found the cure "unexplainable according to available medical knowledge" in October 2007, Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu announced the theologians' approval on 29 April 2008, and Pope Benedict XVI authorized the decree on 3 July 2008 in an audience with Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation. Benedict XVI canonized Damien in Rome on 11 October 2009. Under the Miracles schema the case is Tier 1 on two independent grounds: a MEDLINE-indexed medical case report by the treating surgeon, and Vatican ratification. ## Summary Audrey Toguchi, a retired social studies teacher from Aiea, Oahu, who taught for 44 years before retiring in 1995, was diagnosed with liposarcoma in 1997 and had the primary tumor removed from her left thigh and buttock. In September 1998 an X-ray found three growths in both lungs, and a biopsy of one was consistent with metastatic liposarcoma. Her surgeon, Dr. Walter Y. M. Chang, judged her survival chance to be zero and urged chemotherapy, which she declined. She prayed for the intercession of Blessed Damien de Veuster, including at his grave at Kalawao on Molokai. The lung growths shrank from October 1998 and had disappeared by May 1999, without treatment. Chang published the case in the *Hawaii Medical Journal* in October 2000. After a diocesan inquiry and review in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI approved the cure as a miracle on 3 July 2008, and Damien was canonized on 11 October 2009. ## The event 1. **The primary cancer.** In 1997 Audrey Toguchi found a lump on her left thigh, which proved to be cancer (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 2008). The AP dates the diagnosis to December 1997 and places the tumor in her left buttock. Dr. Chang removed a fist-sized tumor from the left thigh and buttock (Star-Bulletin, July 2008), and she had several operations and radiation (AP, 2008). 2. **The first pilgrimage.** Before surgery she and her sisters, Beverly Plunkett and Velma Horner, went to Damien's grave at Kalaupapa to pray for her healing (Star-Bulletin, April 2008). She is reported to be the granddaughter of a leprosy patient sent to Molokai (Star-Bulletin, July 2008). 3. **The spread.** In September 1998 an X-ray showed three growths in her lungs, and a biopsy of one was consistent with the liposarcoma (AP, 2008). Chang told her, "I cannot do anything for you. No surgery is possible" (CNA, May 2008). He judged her chance of survival at that point to be zero, even with chemotherapy, and told her, "Mrs. Toguchi, prayers are nice and it's probably very helpful, but you still need chemotherapy" (AP, 2008). 4. **The prayer.** She declined chemotherapy and returned to Kalaupapa, where she attended Mass, received Communion and prayed at the grave (Star-Bulletin, April 2008). "I prayed that he would ask God to heal me," she said (CNA, 2008). She also recalled thinking, "Father Damien is not going to let me go" (CNS, via *The Record*, May 2008). 5. **The regression.** Chang imaged her lungs monthly. On 2 October 1998 the growths, which he expected to have grown, had shrunk (AP, 2008). They kept shrinking and were gone after about four months (Star-Bulletin, April 2008). Tests in May 1999 confirmed they had disappeared (AP, 2008), and scans in May and October 1999 showed no sign of cancer (CNS, 2008). 6. **The report.** Chang published the case in the October 2000 *Hawaii Medical Journal*, writing that the "lung metastases disappeared with no therapy at all" (CNS, 2008). 7. **Recognition.** Toguchi wrote to Pope John Paul II about her cure, which began the inquiry (Star-Bulletin, April 2008). Her name was kept private until Bishop Larry Silva published it on 29 April 2008. She was 79 at the time. Chang, among the first people she told, planned to travel to Rome for the canonization with her (Star-Bulletin, April 2008). ## Witnesses + documentation - **Audrey Toguchi**, the patient, who gave interviews to the Honolulu press and the AP in 2008. - **Yukio Toguchi**, her husband, a retired teacher, who testified before the diocesan tribunal (CNS, 2008). - **Beverly Plunkett and Velma Horner**, her sisters, who went with her to the grave; one sister testified before the tribunal (Star-Bulletin, April 2008; CNS, 2008). - **Dr. Walter Y. M. Chang**, her surgeon, who removed the primary tumor, followed the lung growths and published the case. He retired in 2004 and belongs to no religion (AP, 2008). - **About six other physicians**, who, according to the AP, could not explain the recovery; six doctors testified before the diocesan tribunal (CNS, 2008). They are not named in the published reports. - **The diocesan tribunal of the Diocese of Honolulu**, which held a month-long inquiry of seven sessions in 2003 and reconvened in 2005 at the Congregation's request (CNS, 2008). - **Monsignor Robert Sarno** of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who interviewed her and told her of the decision (Star-Bulletin, April 2008). - **The Medical Council of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints**, which found the cure medically unexplained in October 2007 (CNS, 2008). - **Pope Benedict XVI**, who authorized the decree on 3 July 2008 (AP, 2008; Fides, 2008). ## Verification **What was checked:** 1. **The medical report.** The *Hawaii Medical Journal* article (Chang WY, "Complete spontaneous regression of cancer: four case reports, review of literature, and discussion of possible mechanisms involved," 2000; 59(10):379-87) is indexed in MEDLINE as PMID 11789163. Its abstract names "a case of pleomorphic liposarcoma with bilateral lung metastases." 2. **The official recognition.** Agenzia Fides reports the decree on "a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed, Fr. Damian de Veuster," presented by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, and the AP and CNA date the papal approval to 3 July 2008. 3. **The canonization.** The Vatican's published homily of 11 October 2009 records the canonization of Jozef De Veuster (Damien) by Benedict XVI. 4. **The stages of review.** The diocesan tribunal of 2003, the reconvening in 2005, the medical finding of October 2007 and the theologians' approval of April 2008 are reported by Catholic News Service and the Honolulu press. **Naturalistic explanations considered:** - **Spontaneous regression.** Cancers sometimes disappear without treatment. Chang's own paper estimates the rate at about one in 140,000 cancers, rarer than earlier estimates of one in 60,000 to 100,000. Dr. Richard Schilsky, a University of Chicago oncologist who did not treat her, told the AP that it happens mostly in melanoma, kidney cancer and lymphoma, and "hardly ever" in solid tumors such as breast, prostate or colon cancer. "The bottom line is, it probably does happen," he said. Chang wrote that a regression of liposarcoma lung metastases may be the first of its kind described. - **Only one growth biopsied.** Schilsky noted that only one of the three lung growths was biopsied, and that small inflammatory nodules can resolve on their own. Against this, the biopsied growth was consistent with liposarcoma and it disappeared along with the others. - **Effect of earlier treatment.** Schilsky suggested that treating the primary tumor may have helped her immune system control the remaining cancer. The lungs themselves received no treatment. - **Chang's own framing.** "For the true believer or faithful, this is a miracle. For the true skeptic, this is a random or very unusual coincidence. For the doctor and scientist, we call it complete spontaneous regression of cancer," he told the AP, adding that "no one truly knows" why some cancers disappear. **Caveats and remaining uncertainties:** - **The full medical file is not public.** The Vatican medical board's report has not been published. The case report itself is published, but the full text was not reviewed for this entry; the clinical detail above comes from the abstract and from press reports quoting Chang. - **A spontaneous regression is a medical description.** The Vatican's finding of "unexplainable according to available medical knowledge" and Chang's finding of "complete spontaneous regression" describe the same facts. Neither establishes a cause. - **Long-term follow-up.** Reports in 2008, nearly ten years after the regression, describe her as cancer-free. No later medical update was found. ## Tensions The published accounts differ on several points. They are recorded here, attributed, without choosing a winner. - **The site of the primary tumor.** The Star-Bulletin (April 2008) and CNA describe a lump on her left thigh; the AP (August 2008) says her left buttock; the Star-Bulletin (July 2008) says her left thigh and buttock. - **The timing of surgery.** The Star-Bulletin (April 2008) places surgery in January 1998. The AP places the diagnosis in December 1997 and reports several operations. The Star-Bulletin (July 2008) says the fist-sized tumor was removed "a year later" than the 1997 diagnosis. - **The year of the miracle.** The AP's July 2008 lead calls it a recovery "in 1999," and a sidebar to the same story says 1998. The shrinkage began in October 1998, and the disappearance was confirmed in May 1999. - **Chemotherapy.** The Star-Bulletin quotes Chang as saying nothing more could be done; the AP reports that chemotherapy was offered as the only option and that Chang urged it. Both may be true, since the AP also reports Chang's view that chemotherapy would at most have slowed the cancer. ## Apologetic value - **A treating physician with no religion.** The case was first written up by the surgeon who treated her, who is not religious, in a medical journal, years before any canonization. He urged her to take the case to the Church. - **A measured before and after.** A biopsy-supported metastasis, monthly imaging, and scans showing disappearance without treatment give the case a documented sequence that does not depend on the patient's memory. - **Answered prayer, read in biblical terms.** The scene fits the promise that "the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick" ([James 5:15](/codex/james-5-15/), ASV). The healing is God's; the Catholic recognition attributes it to Damien's intercession, which Protestant readers will read differently. - **Honest limits.** Spontaneous regression of cancer is a recognized, if very rare, phenomenon, and an outside oncologist has offered natural possibilities. Deploy the case as one strand in a cumulative case. See [Argument from Miracles](/codex/argument-from-miracles/). - **How to deploy it.** Lead with the published case report and the surgeon's own words, including his three-way framing. Concede that "spontaneous regression" is a real category, then press how rare it is for this cancer, the timing after prayer, and the absence of any treatment to the lungs. ## See also - [Miracles](/codex/miracles/), master hub - _schema, the vetting standard this entry follows - [Vittorio Micheli (Lourdes 1962)](/codex/vittorio-micheli-lourdes-1962/), another sarcoma whose regression was ratified as inexplicable at Lourdes - [Delizia Cirolli (Lourdes 1976)](/codex/delizia-cirolli-lourdes-1976/), a childhood bone sarcoma whose cure was ratified at Lourdes - [Jake Finkbonner (Kateri Tekakwitha 2006)](/codex/jake-finkbonner-kateri-tekakwitha-2006/), another American canonization miracle documented by treating physicians - [Argument from Miracles](/codex/argument-from-miracles/), the argument this case supports - [David Hume](/codex/david-hume/), whose standard for credible miracle testimony this case presses on - [Naturalism](/codex/naturalism/), the worldview such cases press against
## Common questions this page answers **Q: What was the miracle for Father Damien's canonization?** It was the recovery of Audrey Toguchi, a retired Hawaii schoolteacher whose liposarcoma had spread to both lungs. After she prayed at Damien's grave on Molokai, the lung growths shrank from October 1998 and were gone by May 1999 without treatment. Pope Benedict XVI approved the miracle on 3 July 2008, and Damien was canonized on 11 October 2009. **Q: Who is Audrey Toguchi?** She is a retired social studies teacher from Aiea, Oahu, who taught at Aiea High School and retired in 1995. Her cure from metastatic liposarcoma was recognized as the miracle for the canonization of Saint Damien of Molokai. **Q: Did a doctor confirm Audrey Toguchi's cancer disappeared?** Yes. Her surgeon, Dr. Walter Y. M. Chang, followed the lung growths with imaging and published the case in the *Hawaii Medical Journal* in October 2000 as a complete spontaneous regression of cancer. He told the AP her chance of survival had been zero, and that he and about six other doctors could not explain the recovery. **Q: Could spontaneous remission explain the Toguchi case?** Spontaneous regression of cancer does occur, but it is very rare; Chang's paper estimates about one case in 140,000 cancers, and an outside oncologist told the AP it hardly ever occurs in common solid tumors such as breast, prostate or colon cancer. Chang wrote that a regression of liposarcoma lung metastases may be the first of its kind described. The Vatican's medical board found the recovery medically unexplained. **Q: When was Father Damien made a saint?** Pope Benedict XVI canonized Damien de Veuster in Rome on 11 October 2009. He had been beatified in 1995.