It is with a heart overflowing with gratitude that I wish to tell of the healing, through Christian Science, of my little daughter of what is known as infantile paralysis. In August, 1910, she appeared one evening to have a high fever, with a contraction of the muscles of the neck and back. A Christian Science practitioner was called to treat her on the second day of her illness. My husband brought in a physician to see her on the third day, who pronounced the case to be one of spinal meningitis, insisting that he must operate immediately, and that he must also notify the board of health. I asked him to postpone his action as long as possible, which he agreed to do. I then notified the practitioner of what the physician had said, and she did her work so well that when he returned in about four hours, the child was so much improved that he confessed he had perhaps made a mistake in his diagnosis. However, to make sure of the matter, he made the usual test, but found no trace of the disease and dropped the case altogether. Later, however, he spoke of it as a case of infantile paralysis.
The practitioner continued to treat the child, and she improved rapidly, though for several days she could not stand and had very little use of her legs and feet; but in a week she could stand and with a little help could take a few steps. She had about three weeks' treatment in all, and a lameness in the right leg, which she had had for some time, also gradually grew better.
There was much fear in our home at first, as there was a thought of the effects of this dreaded disease being permanent, and that the child might be hopelessly crippled; but this fear was destroyed by an absolute trust in God, and today my little daughter, who is now five years old, runs and dances joyously, a perfectly well child. The same practitioner also treated her through an attack of measles, and while she manifested the symptoms of this disease, she was not ill and was not confined to bed.
