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The Journey by Jerry Willingham

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Taken from Dennis Luxford's Website

I had always been an extremely healthy person, large bodied at six foot two inches, with an
average weight of 240. I worked in construction for most of my life. Some of my working
years were spent in the real estate business. I had many hobbies, all of which took me
outdoors. I loved to hunt and hike into the mountains.

The father of two sons, I thought that life was good to me. I divorced in the 80's, remarried,
and relocated to Boise, Idaho, from the Salinas Valley in California. We had moved to
Boise for the enhancement of my wife's career. I took up truck driving for a couple of
years, then decided that it was time to go back to college, a long time goal of mine, to
become a social worker. I started classes in August of 93.

In 1992, while loading trucks at the warehouse, I noticed that I was dragging my right leg
after just slight exertion. It was then that I went to the doctor for the first time. My right
leg was not working properly. I could think of no other way to explain it to the doctor. No,
there was no pain or numbness. After a pile of money, a great number of tests, and
fourteen months, the diagnoses came back in October of 1993. The doctor said that with
the results of the EMG that he was sure that it was ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease). Four
days later the prognosis came. The doctor said that there was no cure and no hope of one
in the near future. When I questioned the accuracy of his diagnosis, the doctor said that if
he were wrong he would eat his shoes. So, assuming that he did not have much of a taste
for worn shoes, I started my journey.

Earlier in my life I had a little experience with Asian medicine, so within a week I had
located the best Chinese herbalist in the Northwest. After arriving in Seattle, Washington,
I met the most interesting gentleman. In five minutes he was describing the symptoms of
my disease. The herbalist never used the term ALS, but talked about the symptoms and
the prognosis. He started me on a daily regimen of cooking down a pot of herbs and then
drinking the liquid. The taste was (and is) the worst thing I ever experienced, but I trusted
that he knew how to balance my body.

I spent every spare minute I had in the library at Boise State University, looking for
hours-on-end to find out everything that I could about this horrendous disease. Metal
toxicy appeared to me to be a place to start. I read several articles on mercury. I
remember as a child playing with the quicksilver and touching it with my fingers (in those
days it was safe !). I decided to have the amalgams removed from my mouth. I read in Dr.
Huggin's book, It's All In Your Head, about a periodontal ligament. I found a dentist that
would remove this. I was really amazed when I walked into the parking lot from the
dentist's chair that I could noticeably walk better. My legs were not as cramped and they
moved easier.

Aluminum was another metal that I was concerned about after reading some of the articles
of ALS in Guam. I took a quart of water from my kitchen tap and had in analyzed at the
local laboratory for a cost of seven dollars and fifty cents. That report came back showing
23 parts per million. I wanted to remove all aluminum from my drinking water. I called a
reputable firm and they said reverse osmosis would remove ninety-eight per cent of it from
my water. After spending eleven hundred dollars on a R.O. system, I had another test done
by my independent lab and found that no aluminum had been removed at all. The second
try was a one hundred and thirty dollar distiller, which when the water was tested, revealed
that there was too little to measure. I had found the answer to clean water.

Kinesiology is the method I prefer to test for heavy metals. I do not believe that hair or
nail analysis is the type of test that a person with ALS should be taking. I question the
accuracy of these tests. Many Osteopathic physicians are very good at using this type of
test and are able to help the patient to detoxify their bodies of these metals. The patient
and their families can learn to do muscle testing on one another, not only for metals, but
vitamins as well.

I had also read quite a bit about a remarkable man by the name of Edgar Cayce. It was
reported that the wet cell machine that he had developed would help. After being on this
machine for twelve months I began to feel considerably better. My legs were working more
freely. I feel that it is extremely important to incorporate this into one's health regimen. I
have been using the Baar Wet Cell (Baar Products 1-800-269-2502) for fourteen months
and plan to continue to use it for another five months for a total of nineteen months. It is
important to note that it took twelve months of using the Baar Wet Cell before I could tell
there was significant improvement.

I must also add that diet is very important. A live food diet, if a person can stay on it, is the
best nutritional aid for cleansing and balancing the body. It consists of at least 60 per cent
raw vegetables. The difference between live food and food that is not alive, is that live food
is not cooked at all -- not even a little bit. This is important in order to get the proper
enzymes and vitamins out of the food. Meat should be eliminated from the diet, as should
fish from the bottom of the ocean (bottom feeders or dwellers).

Vitamins are another essential component of the program. One should talk to a nutritionist.
An Osteopath will probably recommend extremely high doses of vitamin C, not only orally,
but possibly intravenously.

I discovered as an ALS patient that it was important for me to take charge of my own care
and not turn my care over to another individual, i.e., a doctor. A positive attitude is not only
important, but necessary, to improve my health. Edgar Cayce speaks of the importance of
this positive attitude in his writings. There are A.R.E. support groups available in most
large towns.

After three years of determining my own care plan, I decided to go back and have another
EMG. With my medical records in hand, my wife Diane and I walked into a Neurologists
office with no expectations at all about the outcome of the test. The Neurologist was totally
in shock when the EMG test was normal. I don't really understand the meaning of this, as
most people with ALS are aware that it takes a negative EMG to confirm the diagnosis of
Lou Gherig's Disease. What it told me was that what I was doing, and am doing, works.
Although I still have some of the symptoms, such as muscle cramps and spasms, I seem to
be getting better. I still suffer from poor balance. Low energy stores don't allow me to be
up all day without resting. I have certain muscles in my legs and arms that continue to need
to be strengthened.

My wife and I are truly excited about a normal EMG. We believe that we are working on
and doing the right things that we need to be doing and we know in our hearts that the
prognosis we were given by the doctor at the time of diagnosis was correct, but that their
prognosis was not.

One of my greatest hopes is that others will contact me for more information and will use a
program similar to the one I have used. I believe that many ALS victims can be saved from
this horrible disease.

I may be reached at my home number 1-208-362-1899.

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My Story MND Care Coping Alt.  Treatments Supplementry David Atkinson Bill Blossom Peter Fillipoff Bob George Keith Gossett Clara Joseph Steve Shackel Jerry Willingham PALS Web Ring
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Revised: August 03, 1999.