The faith of Belén Domínguez, a young Spanish woman who fights against a spinal tumor

The small Bethlehem room in the Madrid hospital of Ramón y Cajal is one of those special places full of peace that transforms everyone who is fortunate enough to enter and witness the greatness of God.

From her bed and barely able to move due to a spinal injury, but without losing her smile for a moment, Belén Domínguez—just turned 31 years old—tells ACI Prensa how her faith allows her to face the cancer she suffered with peace and joy. He has been suffering for almost a year.

“This is for me, the Lord has sent it to me for something”

Last summer, after various tests due to severe pain in her neck, doctors diagnosed Belén with an intramedullary tumor. This was a hard and sudden blow for the young woman, which she, however, knew how to face with serenity from the beginning.

“I have been tempted to ask: why me?, but I have never done so. From the first moment I have accepted it, I have always said that this is for me, that He has sent me this for something,” he shares.

A few days after receiving the diagnosis, Belén had to undergo emergency surgery. “They told me that after the operation I could become quadriplegic, that it could affect my breathing, that I could die or anything could happen. But since they gave me the Anointing of the Sick, before entering the operating room, I have had a lot of peace, God has given me strength.”

Despite having lost mobility and sensitivity, he affirms that what he has never lost is confidence, “even when after a few months the oncologists told me that there was nothing more to do and that I was going to palliative care,” he remembers.

However, to the surprise of Belén and her family, after putting themselves in God’s hands and praying to find an alternative, they soon found a treatment for her, which she now combines with immunotherapy.

A message of hope

Every day, from that corner full of pictures of saints and images of the Virgin – to whom she has promised to pray a Rosary every day – the young woman from Seville draws the necessary strength to humbly transmit a message of hope to the more than one hundred thousand followers. what he has in his Instagram account.

“He has sent it to me to make others better, and I believe that my role here, today, is to evangelize and give an example of my faith. “I am a mere instrument,” he remarks.

Furthermore, he says that “there are many people who write letters to me and are grateful that I am helping them strengthen their faith. I know that the Lord is here present with me and He is giving it to me for something.”

“God’s plans are perfect”

Despite the difficulties, she reveals that God sends her small gifts and signs every day, and assures that she feels immensely lucky to be able to transmit her faith to others.

She is also grateful every day to have her family by her side, her friends, and especially Emilio, whom she had planned to marry this May.

“It couldn’t be, but God wanted us to be more united than ever,” she says excitedly when talking about her life partner, her “joy and gasoline,” who smiles at her with admiration from a corner of the room.

“Although our plans have changed, we have discovered that God’s plans are perfect and that I have to be here for something,” he agrees.

“Communing is my best medicine”

The first thing Belén does when she wakes up is receive Holy Communion during a visit from the hospital chaplain, with whom she has forged a special friendship. “It really is what makes me happiest because it is my best medicine. I start the day happy, with a lot of joy. “I wake up and I’m already happy.”

Belén tells ACI Prensa that before “I had a fairly ‘normal’ faith, so to speak,” but now, she affirms, Christ is the primary thing in her life: “Thanks to Him I have everything else, Jesus is guiding me in every step, He is the rudder of my life. It’s all thanks to Him, it’s not me.”

“Now every day I pray more, because that is when I am happiest. Through prayer I have discovered that He is the first thing, He is the only thing, and thanks to Him I have Emilio, my family, my friends come to see me… it is all thanks to Him, so I accept the illness and I am very happy”.

Looking towards the sky, Belén assures that she trusts in providence and that “if at some point He wants to take me, I will be happy because I am going with Him, and I know that He will give the strength to those around me to face it.”

“And if you want, I will stay here, which is what I ask of you every day, because I would love to continue glorifying him and do the greatest apostolate I can, which I now try to do from a bed.”

This experience has taught him to make the best of every situation and enjoy every moment. Although it is not always easy, he emphasizes that the Lord helps him not to fall into despair, not to give in and to “always respond with a smile.”

Advice for young people

He also gives advice especially to young people: “I think there is no need to worry, no need to get ahead of events. We worry too much and we are always thinking about something that probably won’t happen. We have to live from day to day, because we don’t know what will happen to us tomorrow. “We do not decide the plans or the events.”

“Whatever is not in our hands, we try to put aside, not think about it and not give it any more thought. Instead, whatever we can do, let us do it. “It is what serves me the most in my daily life,” she emphasizes.

The power of prayer

Belén is immensely grateful for the prayers for her recovery, which people from different countries join every day. For her, “the power of prayer is the only thing that is capable of changing the will of God.”

“I think that God has plans, but if we all unite in prayer, the Father always listens to us, I know it, I know that he listens to us and sees us, and I know that he can change them, I am convinced, I trust.”