A little over two years ago we had a wonderful proof of God's protecting care. A telegram was received stating that my son had been severely injured and taken to a hospital. He had been working on one of the large freight boats for the summer, and had fallen into an empty hatch, a drop of thirty-five feet. Help was immediately asked for in Christian Science, and I left at once for the hospital. Upon my arrival, the second day after the accident, the doctors met me with these words: "Your son will live, but we do not think he will ever walk again. If he should, he will carry his injuries for life, and we will have to keep him in the hospital ten months to a year." His back had been severely injured; the left hip was fractured in two places, also the leg; the pelvic bone and several ribs were injured, and there were severe internal injuries, besides three compound impacted fractures of the wrist, and two fingers completely dislocated and broken.
A report went out each day by wire to the Christian Science practitioner, and in three days paralysis from the waist down was overcome. A marvelous improvement went on from day to day, and at the end of eight weeks my son was able to leave the hospital, walking on crutches. With the realization that God was his strength and support, the crutches were discarded the third week thereafter.
Four months after the accident, in order to make a settlement with the boat company, it was necessary to take the boy to a bone specialist, one whose opinion stands very high in medical science. It was found that the boy's back had been broken at the second vertebra and this doctor could not account for his recovery. He could not understand why the boy was not lying in bed totally paralyzed. He had never heard of a case of a broken back where the patient had not had a cast on for at least six months in bed and then worn a steel brace for six months to a year. This doctor advised the steel brace and the attorneys insisted upon it, but the boy rebelled. He felt that since God had been his only support in all these weeks, he could not rely upon material means, and the brace was not used. At this time, just four months after the accident, he was swimming and playing golf.
