Laboring for each breath, straining for each word, speaking in a staccato rhythm, Gloria Strauss prays from her hospital bed.</p>
<p>“I’ve never actually thought about what’s in my body. And what it’s doing, how it can spread.”</p>
<p>The hiss of her oxygen tank competes with her voice.</p>
<p>“And so I really want to pray tonight for the tumors that are moving throughout my body.”</p>
<p>Bones, bone marrow, brain, liver, lymph nodes, lung cancer violating an 11-year-old girl. Gloria takes a longer pause, shifts the conversation to all the people who are suffering. She gains stamina, picks up her pace. She concludes with a prayer that grips all 13 people in her hospital room.</p>
<p>“So I really just ask right now, dear Jesus, that you hold each and every one of us in your arms,” she says. “Our bodies, hold them tight and squeeze them hard. Put us on your shoulders, so that we can feel it. Amen.”</p>
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<p>More than four years ago, Gloria was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer that is supposed to kill her. Gloria believes God will heal her because of a voice her mother, Kristen Strauss, heard before this journey even began.</p>
<p>“When I heal her, I will change the lives of many.”</p>
<p>Kristen says God was speaking to her. The Strausses trust those words. After a stem-cell transplant, three experimental drugs and seven bouts of chemotherapy, Gloria abandoned cancer treatment five months ago and opted to lean strictly on her Catholic faith.</p>
<p>Now, surrounded by friends and family, lying beneath a wall clock with the word “Believe” hanging from it, she is ready for what could be her final battle.</p>
<p>She is not alone. Her story has captivated the lives of many, her reach extending far beyond her Federal Way community. Thousands of people who know only her name and her story pray for her. “In this culture of death, she teaches us all so much each day about life,” says John Miller, Gloria’s cousin.</p>
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<p>“For us, it’s pretty clear,” he [Gloria’s father] says. “Jesus is the healing and the healer. Either Gloria lives or she’s going to heaven. As parents, we want our kids, ultimately, to go to heaven. So the healing is going to happen, no matter what. A lot of people think we’re only praying for the miracle we want.”</p>
<p>During a break from heavy conversation, Brooke James, a nurse who has helped Gloria for four years, enters the room. By the end of the visit, James and another nurse are dancing. And Gloria is laughing.</p>
<p>A nurse: Brooke James</p>
<p>"I’ve heard a lot of nurses talk about Gloria and say, ‘God, she’s a miracle.’ Even before the past month, people have said that to me.</p>
<p>I would say a lot of kids in her position, with as much neuroblastoma that’s in her body, with her respiratory status, wouldn’t have made it off the ventilator. It’s amazing that she’s lived this long when, in April, doctors gave her just a few weeks."</p>
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<p>Gloria focuses on living simply. One day. One goal. Maybe it will all add up.</p>
<p>In the meantime, she continues to pray. She learns of another sick child on her floor and offers up all her pain to God for that child’s healing.</p>
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<p>A patient: Diana McKune</p>
<p>"I really believe in Gloria’s miracle, and she has encouraged me. She’s only 11, and the way she’s handling things is more amazing than other people I’ve seen, probably myself included.</p>
<p>When you’re talking about cancer, people will say, ‘Oh, I understand.’ But they don’t. Sure, they can sort of relate if they’ve been really sick before. But with cancer, every day you’re thinking, ‘This could kill me.’</p>
<p>The last month or so, I can feel my faith getting stronger. I remember praying at Gloria’s bed. I felt all the holiness in the room. It was really strong. I was holding this stone heart, and I could feel the heart beating in my hands. It was the weirdest thing. It was so amazing. It almost felt like I was holding Gloria.</p>
<p>So I got out of my wheelchair and prayed by Gloria’s bed. I was aware all my bones were hurting, but I didn’t really notice it. I was in my own world.</p>
<p>She’ll always have a place in my heart. I’ll never forget what she’s taught me about life."</p>
<p>Gloria demands to meet with her doctors. She’s found a bump under her arm. She needs a medical opinion. Now.</p>
<p>Once a meeting is arranged, Gloria pelts the doctors with questions. They answer them diplomatically. Several minutes later, she turns even bolder.</p>
<p>“Let’s cut to the chase,” Gloria says, about the new bump. “Is this cancer?” The doctors say it could be.</p>
<p>“OK, thank you,” Gloria says.</p>
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<p>“I ask now that you raise all of us,” Gloria prays. “Not just me, but all of us. Let us all rise, rise up in a new and fresh way.”</p>
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<p>“Lift us all,” Gloria prays. "For any sickness or problems that we’ve had. Or for any bad things that we’ve done. Or for any new things that we need to do.</p>
<p>“Lift us all. And give us the strength to get down on our knees.”</p>
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<p>Four years ago, after a cancer treatment, Gloria endured a side effect called mucositis. It caused mouth sores, and torturous discharges.</p>
<p>Doug could not handle seeing his daughter suffer. He prayed for an answer. He heard the words “quality of life.”</p>
<p>He turned to Gloria, who was 7 then.</p>
<p>"Gloria?’ he asked. “Have you had quality of life?”</p>
<p>Dad expected Gloria to be confused, but she quickly replied, “Look at how many people have come to God through me. Yeah, I’ve had quality of life.”</p>
<p>Now she lies in bed with doctors circling her, a patient who has outlived dreary prognosis after dreary prognosis. And helped change the lives of many.</p>
<p>The doctors look at their patient and tell her she is amazing. Gloria seems too tired to communicate, but she responds.</p>
<p>She lifts her right arm, balls her hand into a fist and declares, “You’ve got to have strength.”