At our last meeting together as Hylie's fundraisers, the talk was mostly about Methusalabs and their donation to the effort. After the meeting, someone, I can't remember who, approached me and asked me the most audacious question I've ever had put to me. "Is this a miracle?" she asked. I was so taken aback by the question. I said, no, it wasn't a miracle. The good that we did was obviously done by men, and I was admittedly annoyed, after all the talk of the power of community that came with our success, that this woman would come up to me and suggest that anything other than our hard work had made this possible.

Later, I thought about it a little more. I felt that a miracle doesn't necessarily have to come from God. In fact, I found out that the word "miracle" comes from a word that just means "a little amazing thing." Then I considered the following facts that had been circulated at the last meeting. You should examine them yourself, and then you can judge whether or not this is a miracle.

* Hylie is undersize for her age.

* The dosage used to sustain Hylie was a mere 10 mg, far less than the amount of aspirin in a single tablet.

* This program began as an effort to help only one child.

* No other pharmaceutical company in history has made such a widespread effort to help the poor.

* The drug that cured Hylie is like no other substance known to man.

* The gene search that Methusalabs is now giving away for free can detect over 1200 genetic flaws and conditions.

* Anyone can help by doing a very small thing; that is, tying a ribbon for Hylie.