(LifeSiteNews) — The following is a personal story about the incredible influence of LifeSite, and in return on LifeSite, related to the life of a dear, tragically recently deceased friend who achieved astonishing things for life, family, and faith. He was also an enormous help to me regarding health issues I have been enduring.
After reading this, you might be inspired to give a generous donation towards LifeSite’s quarterly campaign so that we can continue to inspire and help many other pro-life warriors in the world, like this incredible man who tremendously appreciated and used our news reports to perform miracles.
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On May 20 of this year, in my usual daily flood of emails, I received one with an attached obituary about a Dr. Gene Antonio. I knew a Gene Anthony, but not Gene Antonio, and have never communicated with the unknown person who sent the email, so I just kept on glancing at my other emails and did not open the obituary file.
A few hours later, I got a sick feeling that the email might be about my many years Dominican Republic friend and naturopathic doctor, Gene Anthony, who, as far as I knew, was not dangerously ill. His real last name, which he did not use in our communications, was, I now realize, Antonio. To his English correspondents, he called himself Dr. Anthony.
I talked to him on April 27. He sounded like he had a bad case of the flu or something similar and asked me to pray for him, but he did not give any details other than it is “really bad.” Gene was one of the most fit persons his age I have ever known and he still sounded like his usual bouncy self, so I was not too worried – a regrettably big mistake on my part.
I opened the attachment and was shocked to see the photo of my dear friend and extraordinary pro-lifer who, it was stated, died on May 3, one week after I talked to him. That hit hard. I was in tears for some time.
Gene was always an active fitness person, and the most amazingly effective Christian pro-life evangelist I have ever encountered in over 40 years in the movement. I have personally met almost all the top pro-life leaders.
Gene was a humble, ALWAYS super joyful, constantly giving superstar who saved many thousands of lives from abortion, pornography, drug addiction, suicide, and other perversities of our modern age through his Save Helpless Babies ministry.
I learned that Sue Cyr, who was the person who sent me the obituary, is a solid Catholic who helped Gene’s ministry from her home in Dallas for the past five years. She has also been intensely active in pro-life work in the United States. After I contacted her to ask what could possibly have caused the death of this robust friend, she wrote,
“Gene slipped and fell down a staircase a year ago, as he was packing to go give pro-life talks in a school. That messed up his back and leg. He’s been in recovery mode all year, going to get therapy, infrared, etc. — while continuing to work pro-life. A few months ago, he was in a lot of pain and went into a hospital and then a rehab. And then he went back home. A few weeks ago, he was in excruciating pain, went to get some sort of pain relief at a hospital. Then he called me again in terrible pain a few days later, and the next I heard from his son Dominic, Gene was back in a hospital and had exploratory surgery – where they found a serious infection and some sepsis in his internal organs. He died that evening in ICU. I’d say likely he focused on the pro-life work and didn’t slow down enough to properly recover and care for his own issues.”
It was a fluke death of a pro-life giant that no one, including Gene, expected would happen until the last few hours.
What a sad report it was to read, but on the other hand, I feel privileged and inspired for having known this amazing, selfless hero, shared so much with him, encouraged him, and seen how many thousands of lives he was blessed to positively influence.
Among many other things, Gene spoke to classes and entire school assemblies, including all the teachers, in literally hundreds of schools in the Dominican Republic, the United States, and other nations his family lived in. You have probably never heard of him because he was not one to promote himself.
PLEASE read the obituary. It relates the life of a giant to whom the Lord will surely have said, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Gene and Steve
For several years, Gene used to frequently, often daily, message or call me out of the blue, late at night or during the day, sometimes 2-4 times in one day. He would ask how I was doing, often encourage me to keep going, and also be his sounding board when he was ecstatic and crying on the Internet connection with tears of joy over a flood of moving testimonials he received from around the world expressing deep gratitude, changed lives, porn or drug use stopped, suicides not carried through, babies saved, often with photos, in response to the work of himself and his family and his other crew members.
Listen to one of Gene Anthony’s brief calls below. I don’t know who he was talking to or the context, but it doesn’t matter. It conveys Gene Anthony’s unforgettable personality and total commitment to saving babies’ and other lives.
Gene Anthony loved those in need with an incredible passion and gave everything he was blessed with to do this. He did not care what faith or Christian confession they were from; all received equal treatment.
This pertains to LifeSiteNews because Gene Anthony was, in my experience, the world’s number one fan and consumer of LifeSiteNews information. He faithfully read LifeSiteNews every day, devouring all the pro-life, pro-family, and other related news and using it for his life-saving mission work.
He constantly raved about LifeSiteNews articles he had just read and sent me news tips about stories he thought we should cover, many of which we did report. One example is this one he sent with the comment, “That is HUGE! Fills me with joy, hope and motivation! Thanks for covering it.”
His mission also involved his wonderful wife, Rebecca, their children, and a small band of other dedicated assistants in the Dominican Republic. It was always a low-budget, humble operation that accomplished more than most with far more money and staff because they totally trusted in God to provide whatever was needed. LifeSite was one source that especially inspired him and fed him much that he was able to use in his mission.
Gene was constantly, profusely grateful, and praised LifeSite. It bowled me over. He saw clearly what many others were not able to see.
My relationship with Gene started about 10 years ago when I went to the Dominican Republic for a stem cell treatment that naturopathic doctor Gene Anthony offered, which successfully helped many of his patients. I met one of them after my treatment.
I had a severe, chronic neck pain condition that, among other things, did not allow me to sleep lying down on a bed for several years. I had to sleep sitting up in an easy chair. It was rough, and I was desperate after seeing numerous doctors and alternative health providers in the US and Canada.
The stem cell treatment did not help, but I developed a close relationship with this amazing pro-life warrior who always cheered me up and reminded me that LifeSiteNews was, in his firm opinion, the top news service of any kind in the world. He emphatically meant it. He would frequently say, “There is nothing like LifeSite in the world. It is THE best and ONLY news service that anyone needs.”
Gene frequently used LifeSiteNews materials in his ministry, forwarded them to many others, and gave me many tips that became LifeSiteNews articles. What he above all appreciated was that we reported all our news on every topic, no matter what is was, from a faithful Christian perspective like no one else did.
Gene said he had a serious obligation to dedicate himself to helping me with my health issues because what I was doing was so incredibly important for the world. He kept telling me, “You are an important person, Steve. The world needs you to keep healthy for the work you are doing for others.”
After a few years, he found a supplement regimen for me that made a tremendous difference to my neck pain. Soon after using it, I was able to finally sleep most nights lying down in bed again. That was a giant relief. He was always asking about my other health conditions and trying to suggest solutions, many of which were helpful.
I incredibly had my own personal naturopathic doctor for about 10 years who offered his help 24 hours per day, seven days a week and who communicated with me almost daily from the Dominican Republic mostly over WhatsApp. It was humbling. I did not ask for any of this, but I am immensely grateful for what he did for me. I don’t believe I could still be doing this work but for Gene.
The international pro-life evangelist
Gene moved to the Dominican Republic from the U.S. because it allowed more freedom for pro-life evangelization, alternative medical treatments, medications, and supplements. The U.S. was far too restrictive and medicine too controlled by Big Pharma for him. Gene often told me that, as poor as the DR was, its medical system was superior and much less costly than in the U.S. mainland.
He was also dedicated to daily physical workouts and would often send me photos or videos of him working out at a gym filled with others working out at 4 am every day. That was one of the secrets to his incredible energy. I doubt he slept for more than 4-6 hours most days.
Gene’s incredible discovery of how to reach millions
Especially in the last several years, Gene found a unique way to mine the Internet to reach millions and save many thousands of lives from abortion, suicide, and the effects of other moral depravities. He strongly promoted the benefits of homeschooling.
The new websites his team created and the unique way that he promoted them (I still don’t know exactly what he did) encountered explosive readership. A few years ago, he first started with a Spanish-English version, https://embarazosduros.com/, which quickly resulted in massive positive responses of babies being saved and readers changing their lives and turning them over to God.
Several times, Gene would call and read me some of the numerous heart-rending messages he received, but he could barely do so because these dramatic testimonies emotionally overcame him.
Gene repeatedly told me, “I have seen thousands of messages like this as a result of people seeing the website.” Many included photos of their saved babies, such as the one below, who he was told was named “adorable Chloe,” and who he said had a “lovely name.”
He always included a prominent free ad for LifeSiteNews on his English or Spanish websites and other websites in various languages, such as Russian.
Gene produced a Russian version of “Reproductive health is a fundament right” which in reality, like the Spanish version, was pro-life and contained the explicit abortion victim videos, “The Silent Scream” and “The Hard Truth,” but, above all, also many photos of beautiful babies and mothers throughout the website. Gene was a pro-life marketing genius.
Next, he added a Spanish site, https://mejorquesuicidio.com/, which in English means Better than Suicide. Gene said it became “the number one most visited suicide prevention website in the world. Thousands have been saved through it.” He had thousands of testimonies to prove it. His websites targeted many different nations, including Equatorial Guinea and other African nations.
The volume of communications was far beyond what he and his tiny team could respond to. However, he told one mother, “The fact that you are worried clearly indicates you are a responsible, loving, and caring mom. Not to worry. Block out the lies!”
Of course, he had many challenges and told me about that mom who sent the baby picture: “Trust me, I’m extremely grateful to God, and I’m enjoying it a lot, but there is this tiny voice that makes me feel worried about failing God and her 😥.”
He told another mom, “Be ecstatic…she (her baby) is a gift from God!” He once told me, “I have literally 1000s of kids in Russia, Equatorial Guinea, Latin America.” Again, he had the evidence, but it was too much for him to process. He never expected such an overwhelming response to his websites. There were also the usual hateful attacks, but Gene could easily ignore them because of the huge volume of expressions of gratitude. He also had to deal with censoring governments and other issues, but somehow, he eventually overcame most of those issues.
After successfully changing the lives of thousands of students and teachers in the hundreds of schools he gave presentations to, Gene realized that the Internet was the way to reach even more millions! Which it did.
LifeSiteNews did not write about Gene because, in recent years, he had to keep his work below the radar because of potential threats from the Dominican Republic government, mainstream media, and U.S. authorities when he was there. He feared his wonderfully God-serving Save Helpless Babies ministry being interfered with or shut down by the cancel culture that LifeSiteNews frequently wrote about.
After a few months, a Russian agency blocked Gene’s incredibly successful Russian language website, and the same eventually occurred with some of the other language websites. Still, he usually found a way to recover most of them.
Gene often sent me videos and photos of his numerous school sessions and the astonishing results that happened by the end of his talks. His message was always hardcore truth about abortion, including showing the blunt Hard Truth and The Silent Scream movies showing aborted babies or involving whatever other moral issue he was addressing, especially pornography use and suicide. His hard but consistently joyful approach proved to be amazingly effective and appreciated. He convinced the young students to change their lives and that faith in Jesus Christ is the answer to avoiding these evils and repenting of past involvement. They overwhelmingly loved him for it.
At the end of his many school presentations Gene always got everyone up, including teachers, cheering and singing inspiring, rousing songs and changed their lives like no one else I have ever seen.
Gene quickly learned that he had to get to the children by at least the age of 12 because many became sexually active at that age or earlier. He told me that most were addicted to porn by the age of 8 or older. He knew he was fighting demons and only grace from God would cause them to stop that highly destructive behaviour. See a sample video here of Gene’s wild enthusiasm (in Spanish).
Everything Gene did was low-budget, relatively simple, attractive, and mostly beautiful. He had enthusiastic and talented associates who did the technical work, and some of his family members have also become speakers.
What a tragic, strange end it was for such an incredible pro-life warrior who brought so much forgiveness, joy, truth, and changed lives to hundreds of thousands and possibly millions because his websites reached across entire nations. Their tracking software proved that.
Letter to Gene’s wife, Rebecca
This is an excerpt from the condolence email I wrote to Gene’s wife, Rebecca.
Please accept my heartfelt condolences about the loss to you and your family of that amazing, huge-hearted, dynamo husband of yours for whom you all must be experiencing a giant vacuum in your lives. When someone like Gene suddenly leaves this life, the permanent lack of his earthly presence is strongly felt.
Words cannot adequately express what all of you must be experiencing, and yet, life must go on and the Lord allowed this for some reason known only to Him. I am sure that does not make it any easier, but it does perhaps give some sense to it. I am sure the Lord has said to him, “Well done, amazingly good and faithful servant.” He was extraordinary.
Email from Gene’s friend, Sue Cyr
Sue, the one who sent me the email with Gene’s obituary notice, sent me the following to use for my article.
Sue Cyr is part of the Finn family, who have been active in pro-life work since they were children. For the past five years, from Dallas, Sue has helped Dr. Gene expand his Save Helpless Babies ministry in the Dominican Republic.
“Dr. Gene, and his family, are a courageous example of loving until it hurts. Dr. Gene was in ‘Unwavering Beast Mode’ since we first met him, fighting against many evils in our culture. He was a heroic soldier, running to stand in the most raging battles of our day. When we were together fighting for life, he was also authoring books on many hot topics. His uncompromising advocacy left anyone near him very clear where he stood on the issues that nearly all churches are still too afraid to take on.
He was a keynote speaker at an HLI conference where he introduced me to my husband, Tom, and even set us up for a get-acquainted date after his talk. Throughout his missionary travels around the world with his family, finally ending in the Dominican Republic, he impressed us with his unwavering zeal for pro-life.
When we heard that he was a kingpin in the Dominican Republic to uphold their steadfast respect for life, and to keep abortion illegal there, we offered to join his team to help with raising funds for Save Helpless Babies. His pro-life work has inspired many people to continue saving babies, moms and souls in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Dr. Gene put others first and has literally helped save tens of thousands of lives and souls. He ran his race to the very end and stands as a veritable model for what it means to have passion for the gospel and chasing the pearl of great price. Dr. Gene, we salute you. Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Amen.
Please consider donating to LifeSiteNews’ current campaign so that we can continue to inspire and help the many pro-life warriors worldwide who appreciate and need our news reports.
For Gene and all others who benefit from the best news service in the world, donate to give.lifesitenews.com.
With gratitude,
Steve Jalsevac
Co-founder
LifeSiteNews.com
