Dr. Nevado's wife Consuelo, nurse (Almendralejo, 1 July 1993)
When we got married, in December 1962, I remember that he already had some damage to his hands due to repeated exposure to X-rays.
In June 1992 he had to stop operating altogether because it was clearly impossible for him to carry on. At that date, I remember the appearance of large hyperkeratotic plaques, alternating with areas of increased pigmentation of the skin, and above all, of ulceration on the back of his hands. The worst was a large lesion with hardened and infiltrated edges, that spread over the whole of the back of the middle phalanx of his left middle finger. My husband covered this ulcer, which was very ugly, with different types of dressings that I used to change frequently.
Dr. Isidro Parra, professor of dermatology and friend of Dr. Nevado since 1963 (Mérida, 2 July 1993)
The last time I had seen these affected areas on his hands was a year ago, more or less, at a gathering with other friends. On that occasion, apart from the signs described above, what caught my attention was an extensive ulceration at the back and on the internal side of the middle phalanx, of the middle finger of the left hand. It was a clear clinical case of squamous cell carcinoma. I stressed to him that he ought to have this lesion operated on. He did not pay much heed and did not adopt any treatment.
Sister Carmen Esqueta, Sister of Charity of our Lady of Mercy, a nurse who worked with Dr. Nevado since 1962 (Jaén, 5 October 1993)
Little by little he had to limit himself to doing only minor surgery. He stopped practicing orthopedic surgery and did not do any operations with X-rays. The only thing he did was to mend minor fractures and put limbs in plaster. In the end he had to abandon surgery altogether.
Dr. Manuel Nevado (Almendralejo, 30 June 1993)
Towards the beginning of November 1992 I had to go to the Ministry of Agriculture to deal with some questions of farming. While we were trying to find the person we had an appointment with, we providentially met Luis Carrascal, an agronomic engineer who works at the Ministry. He kindly looked after us while we waited for the person we were meant to see.
Luis Carrascal, engineer (Badajoz, 19 May 1994)
When our business was over and they were taking their leave, I noticed his hands, and was struck by the fact that they were covered with sores. I asked what had happened to him and he told me that he had been suffering from serious chronic radiodermatitis for a number of years.
Wanting to help, I gave him a prayer-card of Monsignor Josemaria Escriva, the Founder of Opus Dei. I remember telling him that Monsignor Escriva had been beatified only few months before, and I suggested he could seek his protection and ask for the favor of his hands being cured. He thanked me for the prayer-card and for my concern, and after we had exchanged business cards, he left.
Dr. Manuel Nevado (Almendralejo, 30 June 1993)
I did so straight away. A few days later, I went to Vienna to attend a medical conference. In Vienna I was very impressed to find prayer-cards of Blessed Josemaria in all the churches I visited. This made me invoke his intercession more often, as I had been recommended to do. I prayed in my own words, commending myself to his intercession, without sticking to the words on the prayer-card. But I did also use the prayer on the prayer-card sometimes.
Consuelo Nevado (Almendralejo, 1 July 1993)
I had noticed that his hands were improving rapidly. He no longer asked me to change the dressing and I could see that the deep ulceration had formed a completely healed scar, and the hyperkeratotic plaques had disappeared.
Dr. Manuel Nevado (Almendralejo, 30 June 1993)
From the day I was given the prayer-card, from the moment I placed myself under the intercession of Blessed Josemaria, my hands began to improve and, after approximately a fortnight, the damage caused by the disease disappeared and my hands became perfectly healed, as they are now.
It is evident that this cure cannot be due to natural causes. I have already said that there is no cure for radiodermatitis and that I did not use any medication. It had crossed my mind to ask a dermatologist to do a skin transplant to try closing the ulcers, but I never actually got round to it.
Dr. Isidro Parra (Merida, 2 July 1993)
I saw him again recently and examined his hands. Surprisingly, the ulceration I have described above had disappeared. The other lesions and growths had all regressed spontaneously without any specific treatment.
In my wide experience of this condition, this is an unexpected and inexplicable development. The normal evolution of the damage caused by chronic radiodermatitis is chronic and progressive, heading towards malignancy, never towards recovery.
I had certainly never seen a single case of spontaneous regression. The usual way of dealing with the squamous cell carcinoma that may develop with time is to amputate the fingers.
Luis Carrascal (Badajoz, 19 May 1994)
A few days before Christmas, I received a telephone call from Dr. Nevado Rey who wanted to tell me, with great joy, that growths and lesions on his hands had disappeared completely. He attributed the cure to Blessed Josemaria.
Dr. Manuel Nevado (Almendralejo, 30 June 1993)
I was very much afraid that a metastasis might develop which would have left me with no possible hope of recovery. But that did not happen. Quite simply, the radiodermatitis has been cured, and I can only attribute it to the intercession of Blessed Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer.