BRAINTREE -- It started out with some shoulder pain.

Deacon Kevin Martin, a permanent deacon at St. Agatha Parish in Milton, chalked it up to too much swimming. After all, he was an avid marathoner and triathlete. He had recently been diagnosed with a mild form of prostate cancer, which doctors told him was nonfatal. In January 2024, he found out that the shoulder pain wasn't from swimming; the cancer had metastasized to his bones and was terminal. Deacon Martin was put on two hormone therapies and chemotherapy. He was terrified, believing he had only months to live. Doctors gave him a prognosis of two to four years.

"That weighed on me heavily, still weighs on me," he said.

Deacon Martin recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He's running in the Berlin Marathon on Sept. 27, and will run in the Tokyo Marathon in March 2027. He currently has no evidence of disease, a rarity for prostate cancer patients. Lisa Martin, his wife of 34 years, has accompanied him through his treatment.

"The doctor's going to take their part, but what can we do?" Lisa Martin said she thought upon receiving the news of her husband's terminal cancer. "There must be something we can do."

Lisa Martin wrote the book "Our Healing Home, 360 Changes We Made When Cancer Arrived at Our Doorstep," about her and her husband's experience. She hopes the book, which comes out on Nov. 15, can help parishes and families going through the same thing. The book's profits will be donated to cancer research.

"Lisa and I, we leaned into our faith, we leaned into the cross, and we leaned into the good that often comes from suffering," Deacon Martin said.

A week after he was diagnosed, Lisa Martin was at her women's Bible study, which she has run in Milton for 20 years. She read Psalm 62: "Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

"I think that's what's sustained me, and hasn't shaken me during this whole process," she said.

The parish "rallied around" Deacon Martin after the diagnosis.

"The community stepped up and sent food and sent prayers and sent beautiful notes," he said, adding, "I can't tell you how many people often come up to me looking for me to pray over them for a miracle."

He believes he found his own miracle when he and his wife went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in April 2024. The Martins have friends in the Order of Malta, who invited Deacon Martin to come to Lourdes as one of the Malades (French for "sick") who are chaperoned and cared for by the Order. Typically, 25 Malades and their caregivers come to Lourdes, accompanied by 250 Order of Malta members and associates. The pilgrims attend Mass daily, receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, attend adoration, and march in candlelit Marian processions.

"Every day, we just prayed and prayed to Mary, to Jesus, to ask for healing," Lisa Martin said.

Before his cancer worsened, Deacon Martin planned to run in the Boston Marathon. He asked if his chemotherapy could be postponed until after the marathon, then after the pilgrimage. When the Martins returned to Boston, they went to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to begin chemotherapy.

"Your numbers are all great," the doctor told him. "We're not going to do chemo today."

"That was the miracle of Lourdes right there," Lisa Martin said.

Deacon Martin became a chaplain for the Order of Malta, and Lisa Martin became an associate of the Order. In 2025, the couple returned to Lourdes as volunteers helping the Malades.

"It was a beautiful thing to be on that side of it," Lisa Martin said.

At St. Agatha's, Deacon Martin has preached about his diagnosis and his time in Lourdes. Even in the midst of cancer, he has found "so much grace in the journey." The diagnosis allowed him to "fine-tune" his ability to feel hope, compassion, and empathy. This November, he will become a Knight of Malta. The Martins hope to return to Lourdes soon -- if the Tokyo Marathon doesn't interfere.