Mary Travers was facing certain death. She was battling leukemia, and five weeks of chemotherapy failed to put the disease into remission. It looked like her singing days were over.
The legendary folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary was about to lose their Mary. This trio was the most popular folk singing group of the 1960s – perhaps the most famous folk singing trio of all time. Peter Yarrow, Noel “Paul” Stookey and Mary Travers formed the group in 1961 and dominated the charts for the rest of the decade. They split up in 1970, and Mary Travers pursued her own solo career and made numerous recordings. But the famous three got back together again in 1978 and have been travelling extensively ever since.
Travelling extensively ever since? Not quite. On December 07, 2004, it became public that Mary had been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. When chemo failed, the future for Mary was bleak. Happily, this story takes a very positive turn.
Mary is back on the road again, singing with Peter, Paul and Mary. They were performing recently at a sold-out concert in Illinois. Before the concert began, a woman Mary had never met before was welcomed backstage. Her name was Mary DeWitt Hessen.
While others watched on, including Hessen’s husband and daughters, the leukemia survivor, Mary Travers, opened up her arms and enfolded Mrs. Hessen in a very tight emotional embrace. Travers told reporters: “This is a very special woman to whom I owe everything.”
What brought these two women together? Why was there such a warm embrace? Complete strangers who had never met before, but now they have just finished their embrace, and they are sitting side by side, clasping hands. The connection was a raging life-threatening disease and a gracious donor who provided the cure by way of a matching bone marrow transplant.
I have never performed before a sold-out concert and never will. But I do have a personal story I wish everyone in the world could hear. I have someone in my life to whom I owe everything. Mary Travers pointed to Mrs. Hessen and called her a very special woman, and rightly so. I can point you to a very special man and tell you I owe everything to Him.
My raging leukemia was the spiritual disease of sin. No laboratories could produce a cure for my disease. No church, synagogue or mosque could provide a cure either. The more I understood the nature of my disease and what the outcome would be – the more desperate I became. If no cure for my sin could be found, my life would be either wrecked or, as a minimum, wasted, but worse still, I would perish in my sins and suffer eternal death. I can’t think of a bleaker prognosis or prospect.
So, you can imagine the joy I experienced the day I found the amazing cure for my sin. I discovered that God knew all about my disease and that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the Cross for my sin to provide the complete remedy and cure. Of course, I embraced Him without reservation or hesitation! I thanked Him repeatedly and told Him I loved Him more than anything or anyone else in the world. In fact, I keep on telling Him that.
Mary DeWitt Hessen probably means nothing more to you than being a donor in a human interest story – there is no personal connection. What does Jesus mean to you? Another historical story – but no personal connection? When you discover that HE is the cure for your sins, you will embrace Him affectionately, and an inseparable bond will be formed.
The Apostle Paul said about Christ: “The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. The Apostle John wrote about the cure and inner cleansing for sin. “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from ALL sin.” 1John 1:7
Heaven4sure Note
Mary Travers died September 16, 2009
Peter Yarrow died January 07, 2025
Source:
USA Today, 28 August, 2006, Travers Sings Praises of Her Bone Marrow Donor by Judy Keen.)
Awesome
My heart jumped.for joy to hear Mary Travers is with Jesus. He is the only way. John 14:6, John 3:16,, Acts 4:12
Thank you. The story on this website refers to a physical illness Mary Travers experienced and someone who was able to intervene to meet her physical needs. The story does not deal with Mary Travers’ spiritual condition. The story simply illustrates the fact that – like a physical disease, everyone of us has a spiritual disease called sin that requires a remedy. The remedy is Jesus. The three Bible verses you cited are beautiful. Thank you.
After just watching a show on Peter, Paul and Mary made on channel 61, I wondered whether or not Mary Travers’ embraced Jesus Christ in repentance and faith (equals trust) as her personal Lord and Savior from sin. My heart rejoices to know she did without hesitation. as the only assured way to God/heaven (John 14:6) and “the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We all love you Mary and you have encouraged others by your beautiful testimony of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
religion iis a personal matter. most people acknowledge such a person may have lived. but never acknowledged his existence as the son of a deity. people who identify him as a peronal savior. feel a chidlike need for acceptance. the concept of original sin seems to express survivors guilt, but for what? the emergence of a species that would not evolved if the dinosaurs had not been wipped out by an asteroid, who knows? anyway this “original guilt” concept dissallows idividuals who feel this guilt from aspiring to their capacity as human beings. mary may or may not have felt her disease was a sin, when in fact it was an unfortunate situation with in some cases an inherited coponent. she still lived a successful life. the bone marrow transplant gave her more time to enjoy life and continued to sing
Thanks Erin. I hope no one thought the post was saying that someone’s disease was a sin. The point was that the cause for universal suffering and pain was the result of one act of disobedience (Genesis 3 and Romans 5:12,16 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.” Suffering and death are ubiquitous and can be traced back to the original rebellion of against God. Christ came into the world to be the Saviour of sinners and by His death, burial and resurrection, He opened up a way for all to come to God. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes (receives, trusts, comes, embraces)on Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Just one more comment: No, it was not the stranger (Mary DeWitt Hessen) who who saved Mary Travers, as stated above, but Jesus Christ Himself, through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit supernaturally working in the Christian testimony of this stranger (Mary Dewitt Hessen) to convict Mary Travers of her need to believe in (embrace or trust) Jesus Christ and His perfect righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21 to save her from sin , which she did willingly in saving faith without hesitation to the glory of God. We all love you Mary not only for yur music which has inspired us all, but for your testimony of the power of God’s grace to give even Mary Travers forgiveness of sins, peace with God (Romans 5:1) and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. To God be the glory. Amen.