I
was always a very healthy person. My family is a healthy
family. Was a self-loving person, arrogant,
impatient with others, selfish, proud of myself .I faced
a very difficult, stressful period when I was 40
years old . At that time, I felt my first symptom, I
fell in the street, without any reason, just fall down and
I thought this was real strange , cause I had never
had a fall in my life . I thought I was too
emotionally stressed, which was true. That
year, 1995, I lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina with my
family, a broken marriage, a new love and 3 teenager
daughters 15, 13 and 11. Was a difficult year for me. I
had to travel extensively through Latin America and USA, had
to face 3 different law suits , was winning prizes
for my paintings and was studying psychology. I
really wanted to attend everything and was beginning
to feel exhausted, had experienced difficulty in
walking. I sometimes even took off my shoes in the street
thinking that the shoes might be the cause of my
difficulty. At night I was awakened by tingling
running up and down my body. Especially in the right side,
strong pain in my back waist, numbness in my fingers,
cramps in my legs, needling in my hands. I found out I was
having some problem to take off the hand brake of the car. As
the year went on, I quit smoking. I was getting a little
scared but couldn't accept it, I underestimated my symptoms. In
December 1995, we had planned a whole family trip to USA,
starting in Miami and driving up to New York City. By that
time I couldn't walk more than 2 blocks without becoming
exhausted and had to hold on to walls and had starting
walking sort of a duck walk, with a limp. By the end
of December, in New York City I discovered I had a drop
foot. January I was in Buenos Aires and went to see
doctors ending in the neurologist. I was very
afraid. Doctors had told me it was a very bad situation. I
had several EMG,spinal cord fluid exam, blood,
urine, tests, biopsy of muscle and nerve. I was
given cortisone for 7 months, in very high doses. I
have had some other falls and had started using a cane to
help myself with my balance and had difficulty climbing
stairs. As I had to travel again to Mexico, my
doctors suggested a visit to Dr. Walter
Bradley, in Miami University, which I did. This was
November 1996. Dr. Bradley examined me, and told me then
that I didn't have ALS, and explained to me what ALS was.
He told me Lou Gehrig's story, of whom I had never heard
about before.
In April 1997, I went to see Dr. Bradley
again and then he told me he was sorry to tell me but things
had changed and that I had ALS. I asked Dr.
Bradley how I would die cause I couldn't believe what
was happening to me.
I started taking Rilutek and
vitamins and later Neurontin.It was a great shock for me.
I remember crying so much in the hotel room . Even
though I had my times of great anguish and
grief, I recovered quite quickly. First, I accepted the
idea that I would die and was glad of knowing how it
will be. Started thinking seriously about me. If I
were to die, I wanted to face with myself and accept what
kind of person I had been, how much harm I had
done to many people and to me. Back in Buenos Aires, I
asked help to a friend of mine who took me to the Anglican
Church . For the first time in my life, I could feel
love in there,, and that made me so good... I was being
happier than ever. I could now show people my
joy, my happiness. ALS had little importance by then, I
was sad of course, but I did not fear anymore, I wanted to
live in this life all the happiness I had never lived
before, that release that made me feel light, fresh, a new
person I received immonuglobuline treatment once,
with no benefit. My great discovery and comfort was to
find LOVE... I started feeling beautifully inside of me. I
could now talk and feel people's pain, joy and share with
them. I could comfort many, help them in their own
struggle. I am always happy to give love and care. I
translate ALS news from English to Spanish and email them
to PALS that don't speak English. I had had no
progress. My difficult in walking was my main problem, and
was steady. After a more or less two years of
praying, I was at ease at home one day, when I
heard clearly, very clearly, which gave me no possibility
of doubt, a voice in my interior that said: YOU ARE
HEALED. Personally, I am sure that was God's message
answering to my anguish. I was happy, said nothing, felt
self assured, thankful. Ten days after I had a meeting
with my neuro in BA. By then, I had forgotten what I had
heard, and of course, every meeting to a neuro in this
circumstances is not what we like most. As soon as I came
in, and BEFORE even saying hello, he looked at me and
asked me WHO HAS HEALED YOU??.... it was such a surprise
to me.. I could think of nothing to tell him... I was
really astonished and as he was looking at me and
waiting for an answer, I could only mumble... "God".
I surprised him. :D ... I could feel he was uncomfortable
and started examining me. While he was checking
me, he went to Dr. Bradley's information, came back to me,
examined me again and again. When he finished, he
then told me that the symptoms for which Dr. Bradley had
dx me with ALS were no longer there. My reflexes were
normal now, I had no fasciculations, no progress since
April 97, nothing that he could state that I had ALS.Since
then, I have been feeling better and better. Drs. are now
consulting Dr. Bradley about the possibility of treating
me with inmunosupressor.
