I was a professional opera singer and was preparing to move to Germany to perform. Having had difficulty for some time with swelling and pain, I believed the throat problem was the result of an overly heavy vocal schedule. It was recommended that I see a specific vocal coach (later I learned that he was formerly an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist). After observing my vocal cords as I sang, the coach told me that, in his opinion, I was suffering from throat cancer and must do something about it quickly. He followed this earth-shattering news by expressing a loving desire to recommend the best medical specialists. He concluded, however, with a most remarkable statement. His son was a student of Christian Science (I had earlier told him that I was a Christian Scientist), and he wondered if perhaps I already had my answer.

Leaving this kind gentleman's studio, I felt quite shaken. I had been raised in a Christian home but had always relied on medical treatment; sometimes with success, sometimes not. In my twenties I began studying Christian Science and experienced many wonderful healings over the next thirteen years. Now I struggled to embrace more thoroughly the spiritual laws that Christ Jesus demonstrated—the laws that, in 1866, Mary Baker Eddy interpreted and demonstrated as effective for permanent and quick healing even today. Divinely inspired, she writes in Science and Health: "Our Master treated error through Mind. He never enjoined obedience to the laws of nature, if by these are meant laws of matter, nor did he use drugs. There is a law of God applicable to healing, and it is a spiritual law instead of material" (p. 463). Oh, how I longed to know more about that specific law.

Having decided to rely on the Science of Christ for healing of this disease, I began my spiritual journey. Every day I spoke to a Christian Science practitioner. His spiritual understanding helped erase the pain and fear I was experiencing. He saw me as the perfect child of God far more clearly than I could at the time. I worked daily with the Bible Lesson found in the Christian Science Quarterly. In addition to reading from Science and Health, I studied the Scriptures and didn't care to read anything else, other than articles and testimonies of healing where people had faced similar situations and won on the basis of revelations of Truth.