Prayers for Katie - Please Read

This beautiful young woman is 25-years-old Kate Donahue. I took this picture of her on Thanksgiving 2009. Today, I am asking for prayers for her.

I met Katie for the first time about five or six years ago at her aunt Trice's house. She came here to become a nurse. She is a beautiful, very optimistic woman, who always put smiles on other people's faces and more often than not makes us laugh with the wonderful stories she tells. She is fun to be around and has lived life to the fullest.

About a year ago she moved to Seattle where she had found a good job in health care, and where she also met Jesus, to whom she became engaged last November. And although I have never met Jesus, I heard that he was such a nice and wonderful guy and that he and Katie were so happy together.

They flew to Puerto Rico for New Year's to meet Jesus' family and celebrate their engagement and the holiday. On New Year's Day they were at a family gathering when, according to police report, Jesus' uncle came into the room, splashed kerosene on everybody and lit them with a torch made from a stick and a fuel-soaked cloth.

Both Katie and Jesus were seriously injured (burns over 80-90% of their body) and brought to a hospital in the town of Florida, PR. Jesus' 17-year-old sister died as well as a 32-year old cousin, and later, his grandmother. Wednesday early morning, Jesus died from his injuries.

On Wednesday, Katie was flown out to the University of Miami Burn Center where she is still in a coma. She is clinging to life, but her prognosis is said to be very poor. She does not know that Jesus has died. She is a strong woman and a fighter, so we're all praying for a miracle.

This is where you come in. I'm asking you for prayers for Katie and her family as well as for Jesus' family who has lost four of its members. Katie's parents and brother are with her in Miami and we know that many people across the US are praying for her. Although I am not a religious person, I do believe in the power of prayer, and Katie needs all the prayers possible.

Please pray for Katie.

If you want to get more information and how to further support the family, you can go to a newly established Facebook page for her and Jesus here. There is detailed info and a regular update on the wall. I will update on my blog as well.

Thank you.