(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Ma Zhongbo and I am 32 years old. My fellow villagers all know that my family spent lots of money on treating my condition -- necrosis of both femoral heads -- and that I was cured through Falun Gong practice. Because I spoke the truth, "Falun Dafa is great," the perpetrators of the persecution detained me and sent me to a forced labor camp and various detention centers. They tortured me and released me only when I was on the brink of death. After I recovered by doing the Falun Gong exercises, the authorities came again and took me away.
In 1998, I was diagnosed with a dislocated spinal disc and necrosis of both femoral heads. I had to walk with crutches. Six months and 10,000 yuan later, my condition only worsened. My legs hurt terribly and I could not walk, even with crutches.
In February 1999, I went to Dr. Zhang Lianxi, a specialist at the Harbin North Femoral Head Necrosis Research Institute. My sister had to carry me up the stairs because I could not walk by myself. There, I was diagnosed with Degree II necrosis of both femoral heads and one medication alone cost more than 2,000 yuan. The doctor said, "a CT-scan will be taken eight months from now." The diagnosis felt like a death sentence to me. Eight months worth of medication would cost more than 10,000 yuan, and I learned that what I had was a terminal illness and it would cost at least 100,000 yuan to treat -- if the treatment was successful. In order to pay for medical expenses, my family sold the house and borrowed lots of money. I was forced to move into my mother's house along with my six-year-old daughter.
My mother took care of me and carried me around on her back. I suffered from more than ten illnesses including pleurisy, tuberculosis, cholecystitis, and inflammation of the heart and shoulder. Because my blood vessels were clotted, my condition grew worse. Every night I cried under the bedcovers from the excruciating pain.
As I was about to give up hope, my 80-year-old grandmother came to visit me and asked me to go to her house and practice Falun Gong. She gave me a copy of the book Zhuan Falun and I was deeply moved by what was written in the book. I thought, "This is a book from heaven!" I finished reading it in two-and-a-half days. Each evening, my cousin took me to the practice site on a pushcart and I went for three evenings. On the morning of the fifth day, I felt completely healthy. I asked someone to bring me my high heels and I was able to walk in them! I could hardly contain my excitement and shouted, "My legs don't hurt anymore! I can walk now!" I shouted and laughed, and people around me were very surprised. Soon, my husband took me home and we built another house.
On July 20, 1999, Jiang's group started persecuting Falun Gong. They spread countless lies, which deceived many people throughout the world. In April 2000, I went to the Harbin North Femoral Head Necrosis Research Institute to pick up my CT Scan results. The doctor could not believe that I was walking on my own and asked, "Aren't you the one with Degree II necrosis who was carried in here?" I said, "Yes, that's me." He looked up my charts and saw that I only took one month's worth of medication, and he asked, "You were not cured by drugs. Tell me, how did this happen?" I told him I was cured through practicing Falun Gong. The doctor said, "Since it's such a wonderful miracle, why don't you speak up for Falun Gong since the [state-run] TV programs are saying Falun Gong can't cure illnesses?" I felt ashamed of myself, as I realized I should not have kept my experience to myself and should instead share it with people to help them learn the truth. I took my CT Scan result and diagnosis, and I went to the Acheng City appeal office. I told them about my story and then asked why the government lied and claimed Falun Gong couldn't cure illnesses. They could not justify the slanderous propaganda but warned me not to appeal for Falun Gong. They sent me to the Acheng City 610 Office and then to the Acheng City Police Department. I decided to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Upon learning of my decision, my father said, "You have to go if no one else does. Dafa saved your life. We won't regret it even if you die in Beijing." My family borrowed some money and paid for my trip.
In June 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal. The perpetrators from Ashihe Police Station arrested me and took me back and sent me to the No. 2 Detention Center of Acheng City. During the detention, I held a hunger strike and demanded my unconditional release. The guards brought in a doctor from the Acheng City Hospital and had him force-feed me. He inserted a tube into my nose but could not force it into my stomach, because the tube kept coming out of my mouth. Once, he inserted it seven times and failed on all seven attempts. The whole procedure was extremely painful and my face was covered in tears and mucous. They deliberately added salt and alcohol to the food. The last time they fed me, I vomited the food when the doctor took out the feeding tube, and it was all over his coat. The doctor and his assistants were afraid of taking responsibility should I die, so they all left. I was released after over two months of detention, and the perpetrators extorted 3,500 yuan from my family.
In October 2000, I again went to Beijing to appeal. At Zhongnanhai Security Bureau, the police officers shocked me with electric batons, but I refused to cooperate with their demands to renounce Falun Gong. Officers from the Ashihe Police Station again took me back and this time they sent me to the No. 1 Detention Center of Acheng City. They illegally sentenced me to one year of forced labor and sent me to Division 3 of Wanjia Forced Labor Camp in Harbin City. I was forced to sit on a small metal chair for three days nonstop. The police didn't allow me to sleep at night. They even sent me to the male division, and I held a hunger strike to protest the abuse.
In June 2001, the labor camp authorities tried to force Falun Gong practitioners to write Guarantee Statements to renounce their belief, and they sent female practitioners to male divisions. We pointed out that it was against the law. Shi Yingbai, the head of the labor camp pointed his index finger at his nose and said, "The law? Close the door and I am the law!" Four male guards and one female guard dragged me across the floor while hitting and kicking me. My back and feet bled. I was held at the male division for nine days and was forced to squat for two nights and one day. My right foot began to fester and it swelled to such a size it could not fit into my shoe. The perpetrators gave me an old shoe that belonged to a male guard. When I could not squat, they handcuffed my arms to the upper bunk so that my feet could not touch the ground. They put me down after I lost consciousness, and then they again forced me to squat. They also made me sit on a hard stool for days and nights at a time. The flesh on my buttocks festered and seeped pus and blood. They didn't allow me to sleep or take a shower.
When they sent me back to the female division, I caught a high fever. My right foot was severely ulcerated and I could not walk for more than 20 days. I had to ask other people to bring me food. My breasts swelled up, I vomited and could not eat. My body was covered with scabies and the pain was so severe that I could not sleep. In the daytime, the guards forced me to make flax sacks and sort toothpicks. I was tortured for more than 20 days. One day, blood and pus poured from my breasts and filled half a basin. My breast tissue was almost completely gone. The labor camp authorities sent me to a hospital in Harbin City, where I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the evening, the perpetrators told the Acheng City 610 Office and the police department to pick me up, and my family took me home on the following day.
At this point, I was emaciated and extremely weak. Fellow villagers who came to see me all predicted that I was not going to live. My neighbor said, "Didn't you say Falun Gong cured your necrosis? If Falun Gong can cure your breast cancer, the whole village will believe in Falun Gong." A fellow practitioner took me to her home and asked me if I wanted to do the exercises. My body was shaking and my breast was swollen and running pus, I had bumps in my armpits and on my arms. I thought, "I'm a Falun Gong practitioner and Master is taking care of me, what do I have to be afraid of?" I said, "Yes, let's practice." After I went through four sets of exercises, I felt relaxed and energized, and the swelling on my breasts disappeared. The fellow practitioner's husband noticed the change and said, "If I didn't see this with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it no matter who told me." I completely recovered after about 20 days of doing the exercises and studying the Fa (the teachings of Falun Dafa). On the day I went home, my father-in-law was celebrating his 66th birthday, and the house was filled with friends and relatives. They were awestruck when they saw a robust and beaming me. My neighbor gave the thumbs-up sign and she said, "Falun Gong is really good! Our whole village must believe it now."
At the end of the year, however, perpetrators from the Acheng City 610 Office and police department came to my house again and took me away. My eight-year-old daughter clung to the door of the police car and cried, "Take me with her! I want to be with mom!" Many fellow villagers shed tears and condemned the police. They all knew Falun Gong saved my life when I was about to give up hope, and that I was detained and tortured numerous times only because I spoke the truth: "Falun Dafa is good!" The perpetrators again sent me to the No. 1 Detention Center of Acheng City, where scabies re-attacked and my breasts ulcerated again. The head of the detention center was afraid I would die in the labor camp, so he released me on medical parole. Once again, I recovered within a few days after returning home, by doing the exercises and studying the Fa.
Kind-hearted people! I am only one of hundreds of millions of Falun Gong practitioners, but the changes that took place in me are enough to prove the healing power of Falun Gong. I didn't violate any law by appealing, since I was exercising my rights as protected by the Chinese Constitution. I don't understand -- why do I have to suffer such brutal persecution?