By ANDREW HANSEN
Editor 

The following story appeared in the documentary, God is Alive, Part 2, produced by the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and which premiered earlier this year.

It’s the afternoon as my sister, Mary Davis, of suburban Chicago, gets ready for her shift as a nurse in the neuro-ICU. 

“As a nurse in the neuro-ICU, I love being the best part of someone’s worst days, and specifically, as a critical care nurse, I get to take care of the sickest patients and be there for them and their families during some of the hardest times of their lives,” Davis said.

She gives a goodbye kiss to her husband, Alex, also a nurse in the same hospital, and her two children, Eve and Viviana. It’s a beautiful scene of family love before she heads off to care for patients, but this family, their love, and Davis helping the sick, would not exist if it were not for tragedy and God’s hand.

When Davis went to college, she majored in nursing, but the heavy workload combined with being on the basketball team became too demanding, so she switched majors. After graduation, she received what she called her “dream job,” working for the finance firm, Meryl Lynch in Chicago. That’s when in April 2015, our brother, Kevin Hansen, went to the hospital with a severe illness. 

Kevin was a man of tremendous faith. He was a theology teacher at Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago. Kevin prayed daily, Mass was a priority, he took his students on mission trips and taught his students to live a life of virtue and being selfless to others. Kevin would get students pumped at home homecoming rallies. He would sing in the stands to get students excited to shave their heads for charity on St. Baldrick’s Day, and he did the least desired job on the football team, the equipment manager. Kevin had a quote he shared with his students often, which also hung on his classroom wall, “Right is right even if no one is doing it. Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it” (St. Augustine).

Back in the hospital room in 2015, Kevin was diagnosed with a super aggressive form of leukemia. Family, friends, and several priests all visited him, praying for healing and offering Masses for him. A week after entering the hospital, however, he died at the age of 33.

“I had woken up from my sleep the morning he died all confused because I remember seeing him in a dream,” Davis said. “I saw him in a black field, everything was black, and he was running toward me, and there was nothing around, and he was like, ‘I’m OK, I’m OK, I’m happy, I’m good,’ and in the dream, I thought, ‘OK, he got healed, he’s better, he’s doing OK.’ Looking back, I don’t know how dreams work exactly, but I probably was having that dream at the moment that he died.”

The death of Kevin was devastating to the family. For Davis, seeing the care and compassion the nurses showed Kevin that week, combined with wanting to honor our brother who always put others first, led Davis to return to nursing school. After graduating, she landed a nursing job at the University of Illinois Chicago Hospital. 

It’s funny how God works, even amongst a tragedy, because it was at her job she met Alex. Long story short, they fell in love, were married, and now have a beautiful family together. Alex even converted to Catholicism. 

“To be able to see that this family has a strong bond of commitment — there’s this awareness of inclusion, family support, and then there’s the faith, and that commitment is something I’ve always been looking for in my family,” Alex said. “Now to have my own family, I’m happy that Kevin is one of the leading role models, even though I haven’t met him.

“I love the Catholic faith because it challenges you to be a better version of yourself. I feel like I was able to censor myself. I believe all the noise of my past self was quieted by listening for God, and I honestly think it feels right. It feels better.” 

To think that this beautiful marriage, two precious children, and a new man of faith, all stemmed from Kevin’s death.

“I think about it often, my life, and the many blessings I’ve had in my life because I’ve had tragedies, but I’ve had way more blessings than tragedies, and the tragedy of losing someone is hard in that moment, but to trust in God’s plan, and that’s all I can tell people, is as hard as it is, you have to trust that there’s a plan,” Davis said.

“I am very happy that God made it very challenging for me because you never appreciate something until it’s gone, and when it’s gone, you can ask yourself, ‘Why me?’ or you have to ask yourself, ‘Is there a bigger picture?’” Alex said. “Just like with Kevin’s death, yes, there was a bigger picture. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him dying, we wouldn’t have our beautiful family. Who knows, but the most important factor is there was a reason, and I’m happy to be a part of that reason.”

To watch the documentary, go to dio.org/documentary. The website also features God is Alive (part 1).