Eighties crooner Chris De Burgh has cured a woman’s paralysed arm with his healing hands, it was claimed yesterday.
Best-selling author Marisa Mackle has told The Sun how her horrifically injured limb came back to life after the singer touched it.
The amazing healing follows controversial claims by Chris De Burgh earlier this month that he could perform miracles like Jesus.
The Lady In Red star told TV host Gloria Hunniford: “I have found myself able to cure people with my hands.
“I met someone in the West Indies who was not able to walk. I put my hands on him and he was able to get up.”
And De Burgh, 56, added on Gloria’s BBC1 religious show Heaven and Earth: “I know the tabloids will get excited by this so I try to play it down.”
But Irish beauty Marisa is also excited by it. She says she now has a fully functioning arm again after a chance meeting with De Burgh that changed her life forever.
Marisa almost died after slashing her arm on a pane of glass trying to break into her own home. Despite six hours in surgery, it remained virtually paralysed.
Marisa, 33, told The Sun: “I was coming home from a book launch on November 2 last year and I realised I had no key.
“There was a crack in one of the panes of glass in the door so I decided to push it in.
“But I ended up shoving it with all my force and my arm went through the door. It was slashed to the bone.
“The blood was pumping everywhere and I thought, ‘I’m not going to make it.’
“I rang my dad and my best friend to say goodbye, I really thought that was it for me.” However, doctors at St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin eventually managed to to stop the bleeding.
Marisa, whose novels include The Mile High Guy and So Long Mr Wrong, explained: “It took six hours of surgery and I had to wear a cast for two months after.
“Doctors said it would take two years to heal and even then I wouldn’t have the full use of my hand — in particular my little finger.”
For the next three months, Marisa’s left arm was completely useless. Then came the amazing night out in late January.
She says: “I was in a restaurant with Chris’s daughter — the former Miss World, Rosanna Davidson — and she noticed I was using one hand to do everything.
“I was spending five days in physio and still couldn’t move my hand.
“Of course I didn’t want her to think that I had terrible manners so I told her about the accident and that I couldn’t use my left arm.
“The next thing, she told me her dad Chris was a really good healer.”
At the end of the night De Burgh came in to pick up Rosanna and she told him about Marisa’s complaint.
He began to quiz Marisa on her injury, told her of his history as a hands-on healer and asked if he could take a look at her hand.
At first Marisa says she was unsure whether to take part in the unorthodox treatment.
She says: “My arm was covered in a bandage and was very badly scarred. I also come from a family of doctors so I was more than sceptical about the whole ordeal.
“But I was suffering from intense pain and would have done anything to stop that, so I said OK.”
The singer then sat down beside Marisa and began to place his hands on the scarred area. He told her he was looking for the heat spot and began to concentrate his palms on specific areas.
She said: “I suppose I didn’t really feel any different after the treatment.
“But then one of the girls called over to me to try it out so I tried to lift a pint glass. And I could — it was just unbelievable.”
The next day she was back at her typewriter, tapping away at another story — with both hands.
Marisa adds: “When the accident happened one doctor rather cruelly told me I would never play the piano again and that I may not regain the use of my baby finger.
“Yet the day after Chris’s treatment I could use my little finger and was playing piano within weeks.”
The following day Marisa went back to her physio and displayed unbelievable progress.
Marisa said: “She had to admit that there was a huge improvement.
“At first she thought I had been doing my exercises but when I told her what happened she was flabbergasted.
“She remained a bit sceptical but said that there were a few people out there who claimed they could do it.”
Marisa also claims De Burgh helped her cope with the crippling pain she suffered.
She says: “He taught me to ignore my pain and from that night on I never let myself suffer again.
“I believe he has one or two regular clients that he helps and a lot of what he does is convincing them they don’t have to accept pain. That is what he did with me.”
Marisa is now almost fully recovered and busy writing her next novel.
She adds: “Chris is not some crook setting up a stall in a market looking for money for a service. He just saw me in pain and helped me.”