AROUND 1915, my mother and father read a Christian Science lecture in a local newspaper. Shortly after reading it, my mother, who had been scheduled to have a hysterectomy, no longer needed the surgery. (Had she had that operation I would never have been born!) Soon after reading the same lecture a few weeks later, my father was healed of rheumatism. My parents then began studying Christian Science and putting into practice the healing ideas they learned. They moved to Hawaii and the family grew. All six children had many healings, including me.
In my midteens, I was stricken with paralysis in my right leg and couldn't walk. Mother wrote to a Christian Science practitioner on another island to pray for me. Communications were by letter on a biweekly interisland steamer. Bedridden and with much time on my hands, I spent my waking hours reading a variety of books friends and family brought to me. I loved to read, especially biographies. After a few months, my mother suggested that I read the biography of Mary Baker Eddy by Sybil Wilbur. While reading this book, I vividly remember feeling a profound sense of gratitude for Mary Baker Eddy, who dedicated her life to sharing the revelation of the Christ Science with the world. Healing immediately followed. I got out of bed that day and walked for a short distance for the first time in months, and went on to walk normally thereafter. I have never had a recurrence of that condition.
One winter, years later, when my husband and I were traveling to church over icy roads on a mountain pass in California, our car skidded and rolled over several times. Though the vehicle was severely damaged, my husband was all right. But I was immobile. I was airlifted to a Christian Science nursing facility in San Francisco for Christian Science nursing care.
