Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand, born on 4 September 1961, joined the Congregation of the Little Sisters of Catholic Motherhood (Petites Sœurs des Maternités Catholiques) in 1982 and worked as a maternity-ward nurse. In June 2001 she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease — the same disease that had by then visibly afflicted Pope John Paul II. By early 2005 she could no longer write, and her left side was progressively immobilised; she could barely walk or perform her duties.
Pope John Paul II died on 2 April 2005. On the evening of 2 June 2005 her community at Puyricard, near Aix-en-Provence, prayed together for his intercession on her behalf; her superior gave her a pen and asked her to write the late Pope's name, and her handwriting that night was steady. The next morning she rose without her habitual tremor, went to Mass, and continued the day without the paralysis. The symptoms had vanished entirely. Her neurologist, Dr. Jean-Pierre Chevrot, examined her, and the diagnostic tests confirmed the disappearance of the disease.
Her cure was investigated at the Vatican's request by medical experts, including non-Catholic specialists, who concluded that there was no natural explanation and that the cure was instantaneous, complete and durable. On 14 January 2011 Benedict XVI signed the decree recognising it as the miracle required for John Paul II's beatification, which took place on 1 May 2011; Sister Marie Simon-Pierre was present and carried a reliquary of the beatus into St. Peter's Square. She remains in active ministry with her community.