When your nine-year-old son comes home from school with a stiff neck, you never expect it will turn out to be cancer.
As a pediatric nurse, Maureen Olsen had experience with childhood diseases, and when faced with her son’s cancer diagnosis was determined to stay positive. She was convinced that her doctors would find an effective treatment to heal her boy. So, when her beloved Chase repeatedly asked, “Mom, am I going to die?” Maureen reassured him, “You’re not going to die you’re going to get better!” After all, how could she tell him the truth when she herself couldn’t accept the possibility that Chase might not survive.
But just months after Chase was diagnosed, his condition began to deteriorate rapidly. Eventually, his lungs filled with fluid and he was put into a medically induced coma. With his family gathered around him, 9-year-old Chase slipped away.
Struggling with grief and guilt
The fact that she wasn’t able to keep her promise to Chase and that she hadn’t prepared him for his death haunted Maureen for years
after his passing. As a nurse, she replayed the events over and over in her mind. Could she have caught the cancer sooner or sought out a more aggressive treatment?
There must have been something she could have done!
For ten years, Maureen struggled with grief and guilt over her son’s untimely death. She even sought out several mediums for comfort and reassurance. Before Chase’s passing, Maureen had been interested in mediumship, but had never attended a demonstration or employed the services of a medium.
After she lost him, the grieving mother attended a number of mediumship demonstrations hosted by Tyler Henry, James Van Praagh, John Edwards, Teresa Caputo, and others. She was never selected for a reading, but watching the mediums connect audience members with their loved ones in Heaven comforted her.
Signs from Heaven
At the same time, Chase was making his presence known to his mother. Dragonflies and music were his most common ways to reach out. After Chase’s death, Maureen often noticed a single dragonfly hovering nearby. Intuitively, she knew the dragonfly was Chase’s way of staying close to her. But that wasn’t all. In the last year of his life, Chase had become obsessed by Michael Jackson. He especially loved the song, “Man in the Mirror.” He learned the words and practiced the pop star’s dance moves. He had even planned to be Michael Jackson for Halloween. Maureen had already started gathering pieces for his costume when Chase entered the hospital. He was never able to dress as Michael, but after Chase passed his mother would hear Michael Jackson at the most unexpected times and feel that Chase was reaching out to her.
Have you heard about Matt Fraser?
About ten years after Chase had passed, Maureen was still trying to come to terms with the loss of her son. Then a good friend told her about Matt Fraser. “You have to see Matt the next time he comes to New Jersey” she urged Maureen.
The next time Matt was scheduled to be in town, Maureen quickly purchased 2 tickets to his event. She invited a friend who had recently lost her son. Her friend’s grief was still fresh, and Maureen badly wanted to help.
“I kept talking to Chase asking him to help bring our friends son through. He had crossed recently, and I wanted to help ease his mothers’ pain.”
The Reading
When the day of Matt Fraser’s event arrived Maureen and her friend arrived at the venue and took their seats. Matt jumped on stage and began his introductory remarks. While he was speaking to the group, Maureen noticed him glancing over at the empty chair next to her. At
one point he even said, “If there’s an empty chair next to you, your loved one will sit there!”
Maureen was convinced Matt could see Chase sitting next to her. Sure enough, as soon as he was done with his introduction, Matt came straight over to Maureen’s row and look right at her.
“I have a young child who has passed” Matt pointed directly to Maureen.
Nervous, Maureen pointed to my friend, “Is it her or me?”
“He said your dad is with him.” Maureen’s father had passed three years earlier and had shared a special bond with his grandson. Before he passed, Maureen had begged her father to find Chase in heaven and give him a hug for her. At that moment she realized the reading had to be for her.
“I feel like he can’t breathe. Was it in his lungs?”
“Yes, he couldn’t breathe at the end.”
Matt said, “your son told me you took him to several doctors.”
Maureen had been to many specialists before Chase was diagnosed.
“He tells me that you did everything you could for him – there was nothing more you could have done, and he doesn’t want you to feel guilty. You were the best mom ever, and he’s sorry for everything you had to go through.”
Then Matt asked Maureen to come out to the aisle. “He wants me to hold your hand.”
Maureen walked out and Matt took her hand, then suddenly he looked over at said “He keeps talking about a baseball mitt”
Maureen was stunned. “We buried him with his baseball mitt!”
“Get the Hell out of here – you have got to be kidding me.” Matt blurted out.
“Now he’s saying Happy Birthday” Chase’s father was having a birthday that week.
“He wants to say happy birthday to his dad!”
Maureen had seen many mediums in action, but she was amazed by how Matt had captured details about Chase so accurately. More than that, she felt that he had captured the essence of Chase – bringing through his loving nature and kind soul.
As the night unfolded, Matt did more readings for others in the room.
Maureen shared her impressions of the event. “Everything Matt told the people in the room was so spot on. He has an incredible gift, and he had us all laughing. He’s so normal – with such an incredible gift. He cares so much about what he does.”
Helping and healing.
Later that evening Maureen noticed that Matt had mentioned connecting with Chase on his Facebook page after the event, and said it was his favorite reading of the night. People who were in the audience commented on how moving the reading was. Maureen posted a picture of Chase in his baseball uniform with his glove in the comments.
Maureen reflects back on the night, and thinks she knows why Chase was so determined to come through to Matt.
“I had to go to work that night, and something really devastating happened the next day at my job. I was in a bad place for about a week until the situation resolved itself and I found out that everything was okay. I know in my heart that Chase reached out to support me thorough this difficult time.
It took me a while to put it together, but in retrospect, I have no doubt in my mind that he made his way through first – with hundreds of people in the room – because he knew I would need him.“
Maureen’s friend didn’t get a reading, but she was thrilled when Chase came through for Maureen. Hearing Matt’s words made her feel closer to her own son.
Supporting families in need
The Olsen family has become very involved in helping others affected by childhood cancer. September is Childhood Cancer Month, and they help decorate the schools and businesses in town with gold ribbons. Throughout the year, they work to provide financial and emotional support to cancer victims and their families.
Maureen and her husband also started a small foundation in Chase’s name and give out scholarships. On the year he would have graduated high school they gave out scholarships to many of his friends.
“It helps us to heal, and I know it’s what Chase wants us to do. We do it honor him, and to pay it forward.”
Maureen explained, “If there’s one I truly believe, it is that this was his path. Matt’s reading helped me make peace with losing Chase, knowing that he is always around me sending me signs and coming through when I need him the most. I can tell he knows what we’re doing to help other children and families in need, and that he’s right there cheering us
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