(Minghui.org) My husband and I both work at the Forestry Bureau. I work in the archives office and he works in the transport department. We have two lovely daughters. Although our family was not well off, our lives were content.
Advent of Misfortune
On October 15, 1982, a colleague sought my husband’s help to drive one of the company trucks. These ancient trucks utilized a hand crank to start their engines. As they could still be driven, our work unit continued to retain them in service. The operation of this hand crank required a certain level of expertise, as the crank was prone to rotate in reverse at high speeds, causing physical harm to the driver.
My husband had little experience in driving these trucks. As he was starting the engine, the crank reversed and hit his cervical spine. He suffered immediate paralysis and was rushed to the hospital.
Our local medical facility had limited experience with such injuries. My husband’s doctor initially determined the injury to be minor, so my husband only received some heat therapy. After returning home though, my husband started suffering increasing numbness in his face, arms, and legs. As days passed, he found it increasingly difficult to hold his eating utensils, some days relying on us to feed him his meals. His increasingly weak limbs made it hard for him to do regular chores like picking vegetables. He started suffering from chronic constipation, numbness, and pain throughout his entire body and had difficultly falling asleep at night. Over the following two months, his symptoms continued to worsen. It was at this point that we realized the seriousness of his injury.
We reported my husband’s worsening condition to our local hospital, appealing for help to seek treatment at larger more established hospitals. We also sought medical aid from our work unit, as my husband had received his injury while carrying out his job.
Thereafter, my husband and I embarked on a 14-year journey to find a cure. We searched relentlessly, leaving home for up to half a year each time we sought help. Back then, my two children were only four years old and two years old respectively. Each time we had to leave we would entrust our children into our neighbor’s care.
Seeking a Cure
Over the years, we visited several famous neurology and orthopedic hospitals. Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, Peking University Third Hospital, Dalian People's Hospital, First Hospital of Harbin Medical University, and National Institute of Medicine, Heilongjiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine were just some of the places we visited. We left no stone unturned, even visiting many private hospitals and clinics in Dalian.
At the First Hospital of Harbin Medical University, medical specialists told us, “The patient has syringomyelia, a rare condition which currently remains surgically untreatable in China. Since the patient is still young, conservative treatment provides the greatest option of retaining his ability to move and take care of himself. Any invasive operation risks damaging the spinal cord, paralyzing the patient permanently.” We decided to take up the conservative treatment approach.
While receiving spa therapy at the Tanggangzi Sanatorium in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, we received a recommendation from a fellow patient. His uncle, an elderly man surnamed Liu, had developed expertise over the years in curing spinal conditions through traditional massages and Chinese herbal medicine. Among his previous patients were provincial leaders and ministers. We lived in Mr. Liu’s clinic for more than a month while my husband received special therapy and medication developed by the doctor. Mr. Liu did his best but eventually gave up when his therapies did nothing to help my husband’s condition.
After encountering many setbacks, we gave up and returned home. My husband turned to religion, picking up various practices including Tibetan Buddhism, Zen, Christianity, and Buddhism. He even started practicing various qigong exercises. However, they all had no effect on his condition.
Over time, my husband’s condition worsened. Left with no choice, we consulted Beijing Xuanwu Hospital again. Doctors there referred us to the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University, which specialized in cervical spinal conditions. There, my husband was diagnosed with spinal stenosis. Bony ingrowth had caused compression of a spinal nerve, worsening his condition. During my husband’s hospitalization, we became acquainted with an editor who worked for the Chinese Medical Association Journal. A failed lumbar disc surgery had landed him in the hospital. After learning about my husband’s condition and the accompanying high risk of surgery, he suggested we try practicing qigong as an alternative.
By then my husband’s condition was so severe he had serious difficulty walking. Doctors also advised that his disease was impossible to cure with drugs. I asked my husband’s attending physician about the benefits surgery could deliver and the doctor replied, “The operation cannot restore the patient to full recovery. At best, his condition will remain stable without further deterioration. The operation is risky, at worst the patient may lose his life on the operating table.” Nonetheless without this surgery, my husband’s condition would surely worsen at a rapid rate. Having weighed the odds, we decided to proceed with surgery.
On July 6, 1995, my husband underwent the procedure, helmed by several well-known, experienced orthopedic surgeons. This complex and risky spinal canal operation necessitated my husband to remain conscious throughout in order to detect any anomalies. My husband managed to endure the excruciating pain throughout the four-hour surgery.
When we were finally allowed to see him after the operation, my husband’s deathly pale and twisted face rendered him nearly unrecognizable. His surgeons were greatly impressed. Professor Dang, the lead consultant, bowed three times and praised, “Not a single cry of pain despite the grueling operation. Such strength is admirable!”
My husband was soon discharged, and we made our way home. The surgical wound however did not close well, and my husband suffered from frequent low fevers and arm aches. Walking remained a strenuous task due to persistent weakness. As his doctors predicted, his condition did not improve, but neither were there signs of further deterioration.
Difficult Times
For more than ten years, my husband’s condition forced me to undertake our household chores alone. At that time, our simple house had no piped natural gas or running water. I was so weak I could barely cut enough firewood each time to prepare a single meal. Each day, I had to walk to the nearest well, a few hundred meters away, to retrieve water. In winter, this became exponentially more difficult due to the slopes of slippery ice which would accumulate around the well. I would climb the slope, retrieve our water, then slowly and carefully slide both buckets and myself downhill. Because of the frightful difficulty in retrieving water from the well, whatever water I retrieved was prized more highly than oil.
My daily routine included dropping off my two children at school, working at the office, picking up my children and tutoring them at home, cooking, and doing housework for my family. My day would only end at eight or nine each evening. During that period, pain and suffering would drive my husband to lose his temper with us. With full knowledge of his condition, I could only take his abuse in silence.
Over time, the long-term stress and emotional burden manifested in the form of various illnesses. I started suffering from insomnia, headaches, chronic knee and cervical joint pain, gynecological conditions, lower back, and abdominal pain. Nonetheless, I determinedly soldiered on for the sake of my husband and children.
A New Life
On March 9, 1996, a neighbor visited our home and told my husband about a qigong practice called Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), renowned for producing miracles that cured diseases. My husband saw a glimmer of hope and followed my neighbor to the qigong class without hesitation.
My neighbor brought my husband to a house. There he watched a video of Li Hongzhi (Falun Gong's master) giving a lecture. The following day my husband told me about the practice. Intrigued, our two children and I went along with him to watch the lecture video.
Days later, small purple blisters appeared on my husband's back, chest, and sides. These flower-shaped blisters were painful to the touch. Subsequently, my husband experienced symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Besides coughing up a lot of phlegm, his joints ached so badly that he was barely able to leave his bed. Having listened to Master Li Hongzhi's lectures, my husband knew that these symptoms were part of the cleansing process. As a result, he did not take any medication nor seek treatment from any hospital.
Within a few days, his symptoms completely vanished, leaving only scars at the site where purple blisters once stood.
My husband visited the practice site daily to practice the exercises and study the Fa. Over time, his health began to improve by leaps and bounds. His arms stopped hurting and his legs regained their former strength. By September 1996, my husband had essentially regained his former health. Able to ride his bicycle and motorcycle, he took on more of the household chores, such as carrying water, chopping firewood, shopping for groceries, and cooking our meals. I also experienced a great improvement in health. My headache, neck pain, insomnia, and other chronic diseases disappeared without a trace.
My husband used to be an impatient person by nature. His injury only exacerbated this and made his temper and irritability worse. Having learned the principles of being a good person from Falun Gong, my husband made efforts to improve his temper. As for myself, learning about the true meaning of life allowed me to slowly let go of the sorrow and indignation in my heart. We became lighter and more carefree. Even our children benefited from learning Dafa with us, becoming more mature and considerate. Our family started living in harmony and happiness.
News of my husband’s amazing recovery spread far and wide. An illness that had stumped both Chinese and Western medicine for 14 years was cured within six months by Falun Gong! The director of our local hospital once advised a patient with chronic cervical spondylosis to seek out my husband for advice. That patient eventually did visit our home and my husband proudly told him, “I was cured by Falun Gong!”
Around May 1997, the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University wrote to our workplace, asking for my husband, and requesting that he return to the hospital for a review. Our workplace managed to secure enough funds to send us to the hospital.
The chief ward doctor and orthopedics department director met us and were surprised to see my husband’s much-improved condition. They asked if we had consulted another hospital thereafter and what medication my husband took. When my husband told them his recovery was due to Falun Gong, the doctors were taken by surprise. Back at our workplace, we reported confirmation of my husband’s recovery to the Director of the Forestry Bureau. The Director exclaimed, “Falun Gong is so good, you should continue to practice it!”
Previously, my husband’s medication, therapy, hospitalization, and other relevant fees added up to more than 10,000 yuan each year. Although these costs were fully reimbursed by the Forestry Bureau, over the years I experienced increasing difficulty in getting our money back. As the Forestry Bureau's profits fell, our benefits decreased and funds became more tightly controlled. My husband’s medical bill must have been a great burden for our workplace. It has been 24 years since we started practicing Falun Gong. Since then, not a single penny has been spent on medical expenses.
Our family continues to practice Falun Gong, following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Dafa has improved our moral values, enabled us to regain physical health, and brought our family happiness.
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Category: Health Benefits
