Now I See
Now as, Jesus passed by,
He saw a man who was blind from birth.
And His disciples asked Him, saying, “
Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered,
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,
but that the works of God should be revealed in him. must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was [b]blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”
Some said, “This is he.” Others said, [c]“He is like him.”
He said, “I am he.”
Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to [d]the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
Then they said to him, “Where is He?”
He said, “I do not know
John 9: 1 – 9 (NKJV)
Imagine it is an ordinary day just like any other, but it is full of hope and potential. A loving couple knew they were about to embark on an incredible new journey of a lifetime with the arrival of their new baby. One day, in November of 1978, in Houston, Texas, the couple welcomed into this world and into their lives a baby girl. By all accounts, all was well and amazing for this baby girl and her parents. Like in any good movie or story, an unexpected twist occurs for this couple and their baby. The mom-to-be had a very easy pregnancy. Once she was given her epidural, she and her husband played cards waiting for her labor to start! The mom called her mother to let her know she was in delivery so the soon-to-be grandmother could start her drive to Houston. Delivery was easy. The mom-to-be’s water had broken at home, but she wasn’t having any labor pains so they had to start a pitocin drip to speed things along.
It was a girl, and mom and baby were safe, happy, and healthy. The baby girl had significant jaundice, and edema (unexplained swelling), so they stayed a couple of days in the hospital. That way the baby could get what she needed, and the hospital stay extended for five days. The grandmother was able to stay to be a part of helping for weeks.
Not long after she went home, the father got a tree, and they decorated it for the holidays. At the baby’s one-month checkup, the pediatrician asked if the baby had ever looked at her mama…focused on the mom. The mom of the baby said no. She had not been overly concerned because it was her first, and she didn’t know how the baby’s eyes were supposed to behave. The question, though, unsettled the new mom a bit. The mom put her new baby girl in the bassinet beside the Christmas tree, but the baby didn’t notice the lights. The mom thought to move the bassinet to the other side of the tree, thinking her baby girl might prefer looking to the other side. No difference. Then, the mom started to be more unsettled. The new mother noticed her baby’s eyes were never still.
At the two-month checkup, same question, same answer. Then again, at the three-month checkup, same question, same answer. Then, their pediatrician said, “This has gone on long enough. You need to see a pediatric neurologist.” The pediatric neurologist looked through the baby’s eyes with his little light; he couldn’t see the baby’s optic nerves (because they were so pale, it turns out), so he informed the parents, “Your daughter is blind; she doesn’t have any optic nerves. He wanted the couple to go and see a pediatric ophthalmologist who could advise them regarding how to proceed from here.” This next step in this journey led them to an amazing pediatric ophthalmologist.
This pediatric ophthalmologist was widely known so much that people traveled from out of state to bring their children to see her. She examined the baby’s eyes and said, “She does have optic nerves; they were just so pale pediatric neurologist couldn’t see them. However, your baby is blind. She explained that it was optic nerve atrophy, which meant it would not get better. The parents were informed that atrophy only continues to get worse.” The parents asked if their baby could see anything at all. She responded that perhaps she could distinguish between light and dark, maybe shadows.
As anyone else would be, the parents wanted to know if anything could be done, such as surgery. The answer was no. To this day, in 2021, there is still no course of correction. The parents also asked about treatment. Again, the answer was no. The problem was there was not enough blood flowing through the optic nerves, and there was no way to stimulate blood flow.
Of course, and most understandably, the parents left the doctor’s office devastated. They went to their parked car, talked, cried, then prayed, and, upon praying, believed that God would heal their baby girl. Never once did they doubt it. Once they got home, they called our church First Baptist Church, Houston, TX. They called friends and relatives and asked them to start praying and to have their churches start praying for their baby girl’s healing.
Word spread at the church, and a compassionate man they did not know, would go to the nursery on Sundays, hold the baby girl, put spit on her eyes, and pray for the baby. The parents were informed by a woman in charge of nurser of this happening for their baby girl. Months went by, no healing. The mom would go for walks with her baby girl in the morning and talk to God, and she would sometimes say, “If You are waiting to see if I will lose faith or give up, You can forget it. You gave me peace like I have never felt when my husband and I prayed for her at the doctor’s office. I know You intend to heal her, so I am not giving up.”
After about six or so months, a friend of the family and Sunday School teacher, asked the parents if they had considered having their baby girl anointed with oil and prayed over it. They said no. They hadn’t because they didn’t know their pastor John Bisagno did that. Their friend said they wouldn’t know because, unlike faith healers, he does it scripturally with two deacons in the privacy of his office, not making a big show of it! The friend encouraged the couple to talk to their pastor about it, and they did. They were given some scriptures and materials to read. After doing that and praying, they called and told him we wanted to go forward with it, but they were leaving on a week’s vacation. They arranged to meet in his office Sunday night after church once they returned (June 1979). They were introduced to the two deacons the pastor chose to pray over and anoint their daughter. They had not previously met them as the church in Houston was 15,000+ in members. One of the deacons wept as he was praying for the baby girl, which moved the mom. The baby girl slept through the entire prayer time and on the way home which was 30-40 minutes. They got home and put their daughter to bed without her waking up.
The next morning, their daughter woke up at her usual 7:30 am, and the mom walked into the doorway to stand quietly and watch her play for a few minutes, as was her habit. On this particular morning, before she let her know she was there the baby turned her head towards her mommy and looked straight at the mom with still eyes for the first time! Well, you can imagine the excitement the mom felt, and she immediately took her daughter to the bathroom vanity and held her up to look into the mirror! She couldn’t call her husband yet because he was on his way to work! She couldn’t reach the church because they weren’t open yet. Then it dawned on the mom I should “call God” first! So, the mom thanked God profusely for answered prayer and asked Him to use this for His glory. Then the mom called friends and relatives after that and throughout the day. She took her baby girl around the house, watching her look at things, took her daughter outside so she could see God’s creation!
The following months were eventful and sometimes challenging. At the girl’s nine-month checkup, she wasn’t walking yet, and pediatric ophthalmologist
couldn’t see her “perform.” Doctors don’t spend much time with patients. She looked at the optic nerves, saw that they hadn’t changed colors, and made her pronouncement that nothing had changed. This made the father mad because she wouldn’t listen to all the examples they gave, including the baby picking up a penny on a brown carpet without groping for it. The father said, “We’re not going back.” The mother stated, “Yes, we are. We don’t know what we are in for, and she can help us.” Their daughter did have a muscle problem, and her eyes still moved, over up and down (nystagmus), but clearly, she could see!
The couple went back when their daughter was 15 months old, and by then, she was walking. This time the doctor could observe her walking without bumping into anything, walking toward something, picking up things without groping, etc. As she examined the child, her neck started flushing all the way up to her chin, and she repeatedly said, “I don’t know what to tell you, I don’t know what to tell you. Her optic nerves haven’t changed colors, but the child is seeing.” The mom listened to her befuddled repetition for a couple of minutes and then said, “We prayed for a miracle.” The doctor repeated, “But her optic nerves haven’t changed colors.” Then mom said, “I didn’t ask God to change the color of her optic nerves; I asked Him to let her see.” The doctor seemed to relax after that. Her neck returned to its standard color, and from then on, there never was any pushback from her after that. She continued to oversee the vision of the child for 21 years, performed several surgeries, and gave the parents good advice.
The child was and is a medical anomaly. Optic nerve atrophy is rarely isolated, so her parents were asked to have a chromosome study done, which they did. Their daughter didn’t have any of the horrendous, terrifying things they were mentioning, like brain damage or Turner’s Syndrome. They couldn’t find a genetic link on either side of the parent’s family.
Children have to be a certain age before eye exams can be done with accuracy, so they just decided to let the girl show them what she could do. The parents had been told she likely would not be able to distinguish colors or learn to read. When she was two, they gave her magnetic letters. Since the mom stayed home, she was taught her daughter colors and ABCs (some of them) by identifying them with something that she already knew: M- MaMa; D-DaDa; N-NaNa, etc. So, when the home preschool teacher came (the State of Texas starts that at 2), she looked at the medical records and tried to tell mom what to expect. The mom then told her she knew some colors already, but the woman from the state didn’t believe it until she saw the girl in action; same for the letters. Since the girl wasn’t supposed to be seeing because of the color of her optic nerves, she had to be the one to show them and tell them what she could see. That was what worked for the parents and doctors.
Do I have a bunch of curious cats reading with great anticipation? Well, I will end the suspense. Are you ready for the punchline? If you guessed that I’m that baby girl, then you would be right. Anna Michaela (Swinney) Cox, the red-headed baby girl, was born on November 7, 1978, in Houston, TX. Not long after my birth, it was discovered I was blind and that I would be visually impaired /legally blind for the entirety of my life, and it was not correctable or fixable. It would be permanent even after I gained my sight. There would never be a breath I would take or day I would live that I wouldn’t be visually impaired, legally blind, and disabled.
As I grew up going through life as disabled, I would face numerous and what would appear to be insurmountable odds and challenges academically and socially. This included not being able to drive and being told I would probably not ever be able to make better than C’s in schools or read well, among other things I was unable to do in my life. However, my story does not end there. I was able to go and finish school, graduate from high school with a 3.129, then earn my B.A. in Sociology with a double minor in English and History with 2.896. I would, in 2016, earn my M.A. in Political Science and a graduate certificate in Ancient /Classical History and finish with the honors due a 3.8050. In 2018 I was published four times in the International Journal of Social Science Studies. Moreover, to the date of 2021, I’m a seven-time published author, and I will continue to keep writing what I feel I’m supposed to write and what has been laid on my heart to share with others.
I absolutely do not say these things to brag, toot my own horn, or say look at me. Truly I only say these things to give a testimony and to testify to the incredible story of my life and the blessing that has been bestowed upon me in my life only through God’s miraculous healing power that He so generously and graciously gave me in His faithfulness. Also, I say these things to give honor to God and thank Him for what He has done in my life because it is in and through Him and Him alone this has been done. I am who I am and where I am because of God. Now I See and have learned how to go from much tribulation to thriving in all things traveling through the journey of my 38DDD and all things in life.