When my son was four years old, he hurt his knee while playing. The injury seemed at first to be a mere bruise, but in a week or two the knee became stiff and swollen. Long and painful treatment by physicians gave no relief, and finally we were told that the knee joint was tubercular. We then sent the boy to a hospital in New York City, where he remained five years. During this time part of the bone was removed, and several other operations were performed in the attempt to make the limb straight and strong. When the boy was able to be out of bed he wore a steel brace or used crutches. Every time these were discarded the knee would "give" and another operation would be performed. At the age of ten he was discharged from the hospital with the report that there was no evidence of tuberculosis in the joint; that the knee would probably bend again, but that further operations would be inadvisable, as he was a very delicate child.
The boy's health improved very much after his return home, but in a year or two the knee became badly bent and twisted. The condition became unbearable when he was about eighteen years of age. Though I had become a student of Christian Science, my son, who was not interested in it, wanted to resort to surgery again, in the hope that the knee could be straightened. I consented, and the operation was performed. All went well for a year, when tuberculosis was again manifested, a condition which had been predicted by one of the physicians consulted before the operation.
The boy wanted to go to a sanitarium, so I placed him in one. The examining physician told me that the lungs were slightly affected, and that there was no hope of saving the limb. I was told my son would be kept there only long enough to build up his strength so that he could withstand the operation. Six weeks later he returned home with the knee in a deplorable condition. We called the surgeon who had operated the year before, but he could offer no hope of saving the limb.
Then I told my son that there was hope; that, after all the years of suffering, all the operations he had endured, I was sure Christian Science could heal him. I left him to make his decision. A day or two later he asked for Christian Science treatment. I went to see a practitioner, who told me to leave all with God, not to remove loose bone, and not to worry if it did not come out of the wound. No attention was given the knee after that, beyond washing and covering it. The practitioner never saw the boy. A few days after treatment was asked for he began to go about on crutches. Soon these were laid aside. Four or five weeks after the first treatment an old friend called and asked about the knee. My son's answer was to show a completely healed scar. This healing occurred nearly eight years ago. Two years later the physician who had examined my son at the sanitarium saw him at college and refused to believe that he was healed—said it was impossible. To-day he is an unusually strong, healthy young man. The leg is straight and sound, and he leads a very active life.
This is but one of many blessings that we have experienced. Pneumonia, uraemic poisoning, ptomaine poisoning, and many other ills have yielded to the truth as taught in Christian Science. Difficulties of many kinds have been overcome through its application.
We are deeply grateful to God and to Mary Baker Eddy, who followed so closely in the footsteps of Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, that she was able to give to this age the proof that "where the spirit of God is, and there, is no place where God is not, evil becomes nothing" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 480). — Little Rock, Arkansas.
