AceShowbiz - Madonna thinks it is a "miracle" that she is still alive. The 65-year-old pop icon suffered a "serious bacterial infection" earlier this year but still managed to kick off her "Celebration" tour in October and thanked those who helped her in her time of need during a recent show.

Speaking live on stage at the Barclays Center in New York on Saturday, December 16, she said, "The fact that I'm here right now is the f**king miracle. There are some people in this room tonight that were with me in the hospital. There is one very important woman who dragged me to the hospital ... I passed out on my bathroom floor and I woke up in the ICU."

However, even though the "Material Girl" hitmaker, who has Lourdes Leon, 27, with ex Carlos Leon and son Rocco, 23, with ex-husband Guy Ritchie and is also the adoptive mother to David Banda, 18, Mercy James, 17, and 10-year-old twins Stella and Estere, made her comeback to the stage just months after she initially took ill, her children were recently said to still be wary of her health.

A source told Us Weekly, "Madonna's kids didn't want her to push herself too soon, but they know music is her passion and that she was determined to go on tour. They trust that she's listening to her body and will be taking things easy if need be."

At the time, the "Like a Virgin" songstress took to the stage at London's O2 Arena as part of her tour and after being joined by five of her kids, pointed out David's mother was amongst the faces projected onto the screens and noted that she had been "saved" by her brood.

She said, "It's such an honor for me to not only perform with my children every night on the stage but also pay tribute to his mother and hopefully everyone's mother. We all have motherly connections with one way or another and my children always say to me, 'Thank you mom for giving us a better life', and I say to them, 'No you, you saved me.' "