It has been a decade since Andrew Hansen’s brother, Kevin — a high-school theology teacher from Chicago — was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia, which claimed his life in just seven short days. He was 33 years old.

“Certainly, our family was praying with fervor for a miracle, for my brother not to die. We had Masses, we had priests come in, Rosaries nonstop. God answered the prayer, but the answer was No,” Hansen, who serves as communications director for the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, told the Register.

Despite the tragic circumstances of Kevin’s death, the real miracle, Hansen said, was the fact that God was able to draw immensely positive results from it. The experience of caring for Kevin during his hospital stay inspired the Hansens’ sister, Mary, to return to nursing school; and after getting a nursing job, she met her future husband, Alex. Mary and Alex now have two young daughters, and Alex has since converted to Catholicism.

“Because of my brother’s tragedy, we have new life with these two beautiful girls; we have a beautiful marriage; and we have a new man of faith, all stemming from tragedy,” Hansen said.

The story of Kevin Hansen’s “good death” is perhaps the most personal of the stories that Hansen and Father Michael Trummer share in the new documentary film God Is Alive, Part 2, which premiered in April and is available to watch online for free.

The film, a sequel to a 2023 film of the same name produced by Hansen and Father Trummer, a priest of the Diocese of Springfield, aims to showcase the miraculous ways God is working in the Midwestern U.S. Interspersed with the unofficial miracle stories, Hansen and Father Trummer discuss, as they drive, what they’ve seen and heard and how the stories relate to their own faith lives and vocations.

Hansen was inspired to create the first installment of the documentary after realizing how many fascinating stories of miracles and faith could be found within a few hours’ drive of Springfield. Hansen said the new film similarly aims to showcase the presence of God in both extraordinary and mundane aspects of life and focuses on the importance of personal testimony as a primary way to build up the faith in others.

Since its release, the 2023 film has garnered more than 25,000 views on YouTube. The positive reception of the 2023 documentary underscored people’s yearning for relatable, real-life faith stories that resonate with their own experiences, he added.

Hansen said one of the key lessons he learned from doing the first installment was the power of storytelling in communicating faith. By focusing on contemporary tales of faith and miracles — rather than historical accounts from distant lands or past centuries — and showcasing the miraculous within settings familiar to many ordinary Catholics, Hansen said he hopes the film connects deeply with viewers who might otherwise feel disconnected from grand narratives of faith.

That focus on personal testimony is what inspired Hansen to share the story of the tragedy of losing his brother and the profoundly positive fruit that came from it — as a means of giving hope to other people who have experienced personal tragedy.

“The best way to evangelize is through stories. That’s what resonates most with people,” Hansen emphasized.

“Testimonies are what can ultimately help someone either return to the faith or grow stronger in their faith, because it’s relatable to what they’re going through in their life. What we’re trying to also convey in these documentaries is for people to share their own testimonies.”

Father Trummer, pastor of several central Illinois parishes, told the Register that he hopes the new film fosters a greater expectancy among Catholics that God is very active in the modern world — and that he accompanies all believers in their suffering.

“It’s easy for us to fall into this mindset that God is sort of on the edge of the universe and that sometimes he sticks his hand down and does something,” Father Trummer said.

“I’m really convinced that so much of the spiritual battle that takes place is really a battle for our attention, and the enemy absolutely wants to get us distracted from God and what he’s doing.”

Midwestern Miracles

The new film brings the pair further afield than last time; first to rural Gower, Missouri, site of a purported miracle that captured the world’s attention during the summer of 2023.

Benedictine Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, the founder of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, was exhumed that year, and her body was found to be remarkably well preserved, despite not being embalmed. A medical examination commissioned by the bishop of Kansas City, Missouri, and announced in August 2024, confirmed a lack of “any detected features of decomposition.” Thousands of Catholics visited the monastery to see the holy woman’s potentially incorrupt body for themselves.

In the film, Hansen interviews one of the sisters who knew Sister Wilhelmina, Sister Scholastica, who believes the miracle of Sister Wilhelmina’s body conveys that “there is life beyond the grave. There is a place where we are to be going.”

The film later chronicles Colette Gaston’s healing from numerous health conditions. Gaston, a resident of Ashland, Illinois, battled as a teenager severe ulcerative colitis, a collapsed lung, a near-fatal femoral artery blockage, and kidney shutdown, with doctors at one point giving her less than a 40% chance of survival.

Gaston’s mother, Joanne, remembers being approached by an elderly man in the emergency room who prayed with her and then “was gone” immediately after — a man her mother believes to be an angel. Colette later felt “a giant hand” over her head in her hospital bed, which she believes was God’s hand.

Numerous instances of the mystical and the miraculous manifested themselves around Gaston as she recovered. Gaston received the “last three units of blood in the entire hospital” at a critical moment, exactly the amount she needed to survive. While sedated, she was heard saying, “Blessed be Jesus” and had a vision of saints “all interceding for me” while in her hospital bed. A blessed rose petal from a healing service revealed the image of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, a saint the family had invoked.

Despite initial prognoses that Gaston’s reception of blood thinners and dialysis would be permanent, Gaston was able to cease both treatments just months after the healing service. Doctors were “blown away” by her recovery, which the family calls a miracle.

The film also tells a story of miraculous forgiveness involving Alma Pederson of Edwardsville, Illinois. Pederson endured abusive treatment from an alcoholic, a mother who told her she didn’t love her, a sexual assault and a resulting pregnancy at age 17, and her father’s alleged attempted molestation of her sister.

A weekend retreat led to a deliverance experience for Pederson where she fell to the floor and felt something “come out of her stomach.” The experience enabled her to forgive her father, mother and rapist. She emphasizes in the film that suffering can be a “way to get to God. A way to get to eternity. To happiness.”

Father Trummer said Pederson’s story touched him in a particular way — the joy and peace that she radiates today, even after enduring so much suffering, is inspiring to him.

“It was really an invitation for me to trust God more, to know that he makes all things work together for the good, and also just how beautiful mercy and forgiveness is, which I think she models really well,” Father Trummer said.

Sharing personal experiences of how God has worked in a person’s life — even if those experiences don’t involve grand miracles — can have a profound impact on others, Hansen underscored.

“People need to share their own way God is alive in their life with their friends and family, because you never know how your story can help someone else,” Hansen said.

“I think we’ve all faced moments where we’ve all wondered, ‘God, where are you?’ That’s a natural thing. But the point is to keep the faith, to keep that perseverance, because not only is God is alive, but he will be there for you. He will comfort you, but you have to let him into your life.”