From the age of five I was afflicted with a disease of the lungs that physicians in Europe could not diagnose. By the time I was twenty-seven, they agreed that I could not survive more than five or six years. Then followed years searching for drugs or a climate that might alleviate the suffering. Then I was brought to California in the hope that its climate might prolong my life another year. But neither climate nor the best medical care proved curative, and more years were spent in battling just to stay alive. Finally one lung became so affected that I was informed that I could live but a few weeks.
Within a few days I received a letter from a relative who lived at a great distance, saying he had been notified of my condition and recommending that I turn to Christian Science for healing. He said he had been completely healed of congenital astigmatism that had necessitated the use of glasses for the previous twenty years. He enclosed the addresses of a Church of Christ, Scientist, a Christian Science Reading Room, and a practitioner.
I was very much surprised, because all I had ever heard of Christian Science was that its followers would tell me there was nothing the matter with me, and I was in no mood for such a statement. That evening when the family physician visited me, I thought it would be quite amusing to tell him the advice I had received. To my great astonishment, he said: "For heaven's sake, take it. I know nothing about Christian Science, but we can do nothing for you at all."
