Words are inadequate to express my gratitude for what Christian Science has done for me. Before coming into Christian Science I was for thirteen years a confirmed invalid, having been under the treatment of seventeen of the best doctors and specialists of the South, three of those who had doomed me now having themselves passed to the beyond. These physicians said I had five incurable diseases, namely, organic heart trouble, a stomach disorder, diseased and enlarged liver, serious intestinal disease, also a distressing condition of the kidneys, causing great pain and extreme nervousness. I was daily under the treatment of a specialist for about two years. When I was not sufficiently strong to go to the doctor's office, he would come to see me. I was indeed a great sufferer, and never slept without some drug, and as a last resort a strong stimulant. This continued for thirteen years, I growing steadily worse.
In the fall of 1907 I was so ill that it was deemed best for me to go to a sanitarium, where I remained only two or three weeks, since I was too nervous to stand the noise and excitement there. I was brought home, where I had two professional nurses and every possible attention. In the spring of 1908 my condition was so critical that I required almost the constant attention of my doctor, who himself became so ill at this time that it was necessary to call in another, who visited me regularly for about thirteen months. This doctor called a specialist in consultation, and, finding my condition so critical, he called in two other specialists, all remaining through the night. My emaciated body was punctured by the hypodermic needle, and after working with me all night, the doctors informed my son that everything they four could suggest had been done.
As the doctors had said I could not live here, I was sent to Nashville, my home city, as I supposed, to die. I remained in Nashville, where I have two sisters, for several weeks, almost in despair, preferring death to separation from my children, and while in this deplorable condition a classmate, a Christian Scientist, came to see me, urging that I try Christian Science. Feeling as I then did, so miserable spiritually, physically, and mentally, I gave my consent, saying that I knew nothing of it, had no faith in it, and should it kill me, it would only perhaps hasten what the doctor called the inevitable. (He had told my son that it was only a question of a very short time before the end came.) During the interview with my dear friend I arranged for treatment the following afternoon, and on Monday I received it, and again on Tuesday, with the result that I was perfectly healed. It is now over three years since I became a Christian Scientist, and I have never taken anything in the way of material remedies since.
