When I was born, I had a clubfoot. For six or seven years I had to sleep with a brace on both of my feet, locked in position in a shoe. It was quite uncomfortable, but I got used to it. Up to the age of seven or eight, I also had to wear special orthopedic shoes.

I used to see a doctor in Brookline, Massachusetts, for an annual checkup. For years he always told me to exercise my left foot because my left foot did not have the strength of my right foot. He constantly told me to build the arch, but I could never really build it. I worked out at health clubs, always trying to strengthen my foot. I spent practically all of my life trying to do this.

Also, because of this weakness (it had about 75 percent of the strength of the right foot), the calf on my left leg was at least an inch and a half thinner than the right one. It was always embarrassing to wear shorts when I was growing up.

As I got into my 20s and 30s, I always played sports. Even as a kid I had played softball—played shortstop, pitched. The big problem was always maintaining my balance, especially when I played shortstop. In late innings I would get tired and my foot would drag.

I'd always loved God. Then, a little over ten years ago, I started to study Christian Science. (I am now in my 40s.)

In April of 2000, I went to The Mother Church in Boston with my friend Tino for the 10:00 a.m. service. During the service I had my eyes closed all of the time, listening. At the end of the service, the First Reader read: "Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual" (Science and Health, p. 468). When he said the word spiritual, I felt strength— it's the only way that I can describe it—in the heel of my left foot. I turned to Tino and said, "I think that I have just had a healing."

He said, "A healing of what?" And I said, "Never mind, I can't tell you." All the way home he said, "What happened? What healing?" And I said, "I can't tell you now. But I will tell you."

He was asking me all day, and I kept saying that I was sorry but I wanted to wait before I talked about it.

On the next Tuesday we had a softball practice. I went out and put my cleats on for our first practice of the season. I was walking around feeling this incredible balance. This was a feeling like I have never felt in my whole life. A feeling of perfect balance. I felt whole. It was unbelievable to me.

The day I was healed, I put on shorts and went for a walk. For so many years I was reluctant to wear shorts because of the way my leg looked, so I would only wear them on very hot days. But after the healing I wore shorts every single day and night, throughout that spring and through the summer. People were looking at me funny-like, probably thinking, "I have never seen Walter with shorts on before."

Then one night in late September or early October of 2000, I ran into a friend of mine, Jack, at the 7 p.m. church service. He's an usher there. He greeted me, "Hi, Walt. You look like a tourist with those shorts on." We had a laugh, and I gave him the story. I told him about the healing, and I told him that I'd vowed to wear shorts until it snowed—that I was so grateful to God I was going to keep on wearing shorts.

That didn't pan out, because a few weeks later Boston hit a really cold spell without snow, and I had to give up wearing shorts for the winter. But I am so grateful for Christian Science, for this incredible healing.

Walter Dinardo, Jr.
Saugus, Massachusetts

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