Mother Teresa turns 86 but still in danger .
Rupam Banerjee
CALCUTTA 1996-08-27
Mother Teresa spent her 86th birthday in a Calcutta hospital bed on Tuesday as tributes to the legendary missionary poured in from around the world .
Doctors said that later in the day they would try to wean the Nobel Peace Prize laureate from the respirator that has aided her breathing for the past six days .
" Her condition seems to be better , but the danger remains as long as she is on respirator , " an official at Woodlands Nursing Home said . "
She is conscious but her breathing is irregular . "
The revered Roman Catholic nun was admitted to the Calcutta hospital a week ago with high fever and severe vomiting .
She later suffered heart failure and was diagnosed with malaria .
Her fever has since abated and the heart failure has been brought under control , but her heart continues to beat irregularly , doctors said .
" Unless she breathes on her own , I would advise you to keep your fingers crossed , " said a doctor who was familiar with her case but not part of the six-member team treating Mother Teresa .
The nun 's birthday prompted greetings , bouquets and prayers from around the world .
Pope John Paul II and Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy sent her get-well messages , the Press Trust of India said .
" Ask for a miracle .
Happy Birthday to our Dearest Mother , " read a placard at the Shishu Bhavan children 's home in central Calcutta run by Mother Teresa 's Missionaries of Charity .
On Monday , both houses of India 's parliament wished the nation 's adopted sister a happy birthday and speedy recovery from her illness .
Prayers continued in Calcutta , one of the world 's poorest cities , where Mother Teresa 's Missionaries of Charity runs several homes for the poor and destitute .
Street children , some of them born to prostitutes , held prayers on the street . "
All of us know about her .
She is like a goddess , " said Raju , 8 , who has a mother but no father .
The Statesman newspaper quoted 40-year-old Mangala Das , paralysed from her waist down and a resident of the Prem Dan ( Gift of Love ) home for the destitute , as saying she and her friends had been praying incessantly for Mother Teresa 's recovery .
Tarak Das , 70 , was picked up from a Calcutta footpath a week ago by passers-by who took pity on him and brought him to Nirmal Hriday ( Immaculate Home ) .
" I do not know who she is .
I have never seen her , but I can only bless her for what she has done for people like me , " Das told The Statesman .
Mother Teresa 's condition improved on Sunday as her fever abated , and on Monday she was able to scribble notes to doctors and nuns .
Thousands in Calcutta , where she founded her Missionaries of Charity religious order in 1949 , prayed for her recovery .
Ministers of the communist government of West Bengal state and people of different religions joined Catholics to pray for Mother Teresa 's recovery at Mother House .
" We joined the prayer to express our solidarity with her work for the cause of the poor and downtrodden , " said Nanda Gopal Bhattacharya , a communist minister in West Bengal .