Audrey Toguchi of 'Aiea is already planning her trip to Rome.

Elated to hear that Pope Benedict XVI signed off on the miracle that ensures the Blessed Damien de Veuster will become Saint Damien, she plans to be there when it happens.

And the former high school teacher is bringing her husband, Yukio, and well as one of her sons.

It was Toguchi who lived the miracle in the first place — her liposarcoma was cured after she prayed at the graveside of Father Damien in Kalaupapa.

She said the news of Damien's inevitable sainthood means just as much outside her church circles as it does inside: Her surgeon, Dr. Walter Chang, is not Catholic, but he told her he's thrilled it occurred in his lifetime.

"He's more and more excited," she said. "Now, he doesn't have to fly to Rome by plane. He has enough energy to fly there on his own!"

Her financial adviser, another non-Catholic, told her he was dancing around, he was so inspired by her story.

She recalled how the nuns and priests of her formative years taught her that when something bad happens, she should put it in the hands of God, which then begins the healing.

"The body starts healing itself. Guess who's healing it?" she asked.

Toguchi had health scares in the past, such as a kidney problem in 1979, but the news from her surgeon, Chang, sounded so dire: "My heart was filled with (thoughts of) Yuki and my sons."

She wishes her other son could go on the trip to Rome for the canonization, as well, but understands if he has to miss the occasion to take care of his autistic son.

It will be her third trip to Rome, and she's been prepping. She's ordered some documentaries off Netflix about the sainthood process and was so enthralled, she turned around and bought them.

She plans to join a tour group with the diocese.

"We're too old to be traveling by ourselves — and I don't know Italian," she said with a laugh. "The safest thing for me is to join Father Chris Keahi (the local provincial for the order of Sacred Hearts) and the gang. Will it be more fun? You bet."

Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8035.