Testimony of Healing June 5, 1915 Issue

In the spring of 1912, my answer to an inquiry as to when...

C. C. van Aelst

In the spring of 1912, my answer to an inquiry as to when I was going to send in my testimony was that I would wait till the attacks, caused according to the verdict of medical doctors by a clot on the brain, had stayed away at least a year. This excuse no longer holds good, for it is now several years since I had one, and I consider it my duty publicly to acknowledge the benefits physically, morally, and spiritually received through a better understanding of Life, and the relation of God to man, gained by my daily study of Christian Science as revealed to this age by our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy, in her priceless book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."

In the summer of 1905, while stacking alfalfa on a Nebraska farm, all at once my right arm commenced to twist and move with terrible convulsions, and I lost consciousness after experiencing an agony of pain. These attacks recurred every four or five days; also, I could not control the muscles of my face. I had the best medical care I could obtain, given with the utmost kindness. My home doctor could not diagnose the case, so I went to see a specialist on nervous and mental diseases in Omaha, Neb. After keeping me six or eight days in a hospital and having me examined by two more doctors, this physician sent me home, after diagnosing the case as blood clot on the brain and incurable. He told me that if there had been one chance out of ten I would have been operated on. That my case was regarded as utterly hopeless, I have the most convincing proof in a letter from this specialist, dated Feb. 13, 1906. My home doctor then told me I might receive some help by going to the mountains, so I sold out and moved with my family to Sandpoint, Idaho. Here, for the first half-year or so, the attacks were not so frequent, but they came back worse and oftener than ever.

It was at this time that another doctor from whom I was taking treatment told me he could do nothing for me, but advised me to try Christian Science. This advice, however, was not given until I was utterly broken down, with death staring me in the face. The doctor told my wife not to cry because I was going to die, but rather cry because I was alive yet, so great were my sufferings; and on being asked what he thought about Christian Science, his answer was, "By all means, try it."

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