When I was nine years old my father learned of Christian Science, and he soon became very interested in it. For about three years after that my parents went to church services and my brothers and I attended the Sunday School of a Christian Science Society in a nearby town. But then we stopped attending, and Christian Science was spoken of only occasionally in the family. At this stage I didn't realize the profound effect Christian Science would have on my life.
A few years later, about the middle of the Second World War, I developed quite a serious limp in one leg. My mother took me to the largest hospital in Sydney to have a medical examination, which resulted in my having to stay in the hospital under observation for a fortnight. At the end of that time the doctor informed my mother, though not me, that I had disseminated (multiple) sclerosis, which he said would render me completely helpless in a very short time and eventually take my life. The doctor apparently indicated to my mother that there was nothing they could do for me at the hospital.
When I was brought home, I was laid on a couch in the living room, and it was some time before my mother came in to see me. When she did, it was obvious that she was very distressed. I knew then what the doctor's verdict had been. I said to my mother, "Mother, nothing on this earth is going to kill me"—a statement influenced, I'm sure, by my previous association with Christian Science. From that time on, every avenue in the medical profession that we could possibly explore we explored, but without any success.
