As the world mourns the death of Pope Francis, a family in Silver Lake is holding on to personal memories of meeting him in Rome.
At the age of 14, Leanora Wilson was diagnosed with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis, a rare condition that deteriorates the brain over time. There is no known cure.
“We shared the same friends growing up”, her brother Jarus Wilson said. “We went to the same schools growing up, and all of that was taken away, basically in an instant.”
The diagnosis hit the whole family hard, but Lea’s mother, Noralee Haas, said, “When she was told she had this disease, she looked at me and said, ‘Mom, this is a gift from God… and we’re going to do this right!”
Her plan? To meet Pope Francis and give him a hug.
Her mother recalled, “Make-A-Wish was like, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to meet Mickey? He’s a lot easier to hug’… and she’s like, ‘Nope, I want to hug that Pope.”
Make-A-Wish made it happen. Lea met Pope Francis and asked him to pray for everyone who had helped her in the past, was helping her now, and would help her in the future. The
Pope smiled and said strongly, “I will!”
And they hugged.
“They just had this, like, instant connection”, Jarus said. “They locked eyes, and the smile on both their faces is something I’ll never forget.”
Upon her return from Rome, Lea’s seizures stopped for a couple of months, impressing her specialist here at home, Doctor Prakash Kotagal at the Cleveland Clinic.
“I told Lea, ‘Lea, you have to give me a hug as well so I can get a little of that healing and positive energy from you.”
A positive energy until the very end. Lea passed away in November 2024.
“She led a life that was bigger than the rest of us”, her mother said. “It was shorter. But it was bigger.”
“She refused to let us see her as her illness”, Jarus said. “She refused to back down from any part in life.”
The family believes Lea’s purpose in life was to make connections with everyone she met, wherever she met them. Even Rome.
“(They’re) watching over us right now,” Nora said.
