“You're supposed to always enjoy your senior year, aren’t you? But when I go back to that year in my mind, that day is the first thing I think of.”

That day was February 16, 1980. Della Kenny was a senior at Shepherd High School in Isabella County, Michigan. The 17-year-old had just found out she was pregnant by her high school sweetheart, Jon Seeley. Despite being a cradle Catholic, the solution seemed obvious: abortion.

“Jon drove me down to the clinic,” Della recalls. “When they took me back to where they performed the abortions, I just remember a bunch of women vomiting, lying lifeless. I saw buckets of blood and baby parts, but it all happened so fast. It was horrible.”

“I remember the suction machine, and then they said, ‘Everything's good. You can leave!’ When I came out, it was like the whole world changed. I hated the world and myself.”

Jon knew it was wrong.

“I remember never telling her not to go through with it. I never had enough nerve to speak up. But, yes, it was like a place of death.”

Jon and Della were married in 1983. Jon entered the Catholic Church. They later welcomed two more children, Nathan and Angela. Life continued but, somehow, everything was now darkened and diminished.

“In the early years of our marriage, we never talked about the abortion. We just didn't,” says Jon. “As I said, I knew it was wrong, and I knew I had to face God for what I had done.”

“He stayed busy just working,” says Della. “It was something we just could not talk about for years, but it was always there. It even affected life with my children because I did not forgive myself even after having children. In my mind, I didn't feel I was worthy to be a mother.”

The gloom lingered for over two decades. In June 2004, though, those dark skies began to break open, both metaphorically and literally.

Della was watching the popular television evangelist Mother Angelica on the Catholic television station EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). Her guest was a mother who had undergone three abortions.

“She was singing a song to her babies,” says Della, “and I was just sobbing. Then she talked about how you can find healing, and she talked about Rachel's Vineyard. I instantly said, ‘I've got to go there.’”

Then Della went outside into the sunlight to check the mailbox.

“I just remember it was a clear day, not a cloud in the sky. I looked up, and there was an angel. I think it was my guardian angel, and I could see it as plain as day. I just rubbed my eyes. I was like, ‘This isn't happening.’ Then the second time I looked up, it felt like I was lifted off the ground.”

The darkness was dispersing. By the grace of God, an opportunity to heal had come.

Jon and Della contacted Rachel's Vineyard. Founded in 1996, the Pennsylvania-based organization offers weekend retreats for mothers who have had abortions and for others, including fathers, who have also been hurt by abortion. It is named after Rachel in the Bible, who weeps “for her children.” (Jer 31:15)

“It's just a beautiful ministry,” says Della. “I was a totally different person when I left that first retreat. We were able to acknowledge our child — that she was real. We had a memorial service. We received a life certificate for our baby.”

During that retreat, Jon and Della even bestowed a Christian name upon the daughter they had lost through abortion: Mary Elizabeth Seeley.

“Mary Elizabeth is still part of our life,” explains Della. “She watches over our family. We can ask for her intercession. She is a real person, and she will always be my daughter.”

Family life is now very different for the Seeleys of Corunna. Della says the anger, sadness, and darkness are gone. In their place have grown bonds of love, peace, and affection. This summer, the entire clan — including their two living children and six grandchildren — made a pilgrimage to Rome.

As for their message to others suffering after abortion, Della concludes:

“They should know that God is a forgiving God. He is a father who will never stop loving us, no matter what. He is always there to hold us in his arms.”