Category: Physical Health

The long road back from brain injury. by Alvin Robert Cunningham   A month after my near-fatal, one-car accident in early 1990, I first began to understand what had landed me in a large trauma hospital. I had been too tired to drive back to my country home that night. Falling asleep at the wheel,…

A deadly infection and the private perseveranceof a husband and wife. by Jenny Miller*   I’m glad I found out in the summer. I wore sunglasses a lot and could cry without being noticed. I would go on my daily walks . . . and cry. Mow the lawn . . . and cry. And…

A young adult shows that physical disability isnot a handicap to the human mind and spirit. by Linda Norcott as told to David Kidd   Born in Leeds, England, with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck, I had, to put it mildly, a less-than-ideal start to life. In those precious first moments, my brain…

It’s not easy for a person to set aside her will for God’s. by Nancey West   “We will find out what is wrong with you,” the doctor said with confidence, “but you won’t like it.” His words replayed in my mind over the following months. I may not like a diagnosis, but I hated…

by Vickie Baker   The images on the television screen sprang to life, jerking me back to another place and time. Fourteen years fell away as I saw myself standing on a pedestal twenty-five feet above the ground, reaching for a bar when it swung toward me. The sudden, all-too-familiar fear made me punch the…

How much do you know about diabetes? by Lynne Stamm   I was sitting in my doctor’s office waiting for results from routine blood work. My primary care doctor came into the room, sat down at her computer, and briefly scanned my information. Swiveling on her chair, she turned to me and said, “So, we…

by Margaret Saylar   Mark O’Brien depends on an iron lung for breathing, which he has done for 42 years. Yet while restricted to his apartment most of the time, he writes poetry and books. In 1997 the film Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien won an Oscar. Before he became ill…

A troubled soul finds anchor in the Onewho controls the troubled seas. by Carolyn L. Wade   I pulled off the freeway when my buzzing phone showed the medical clinic’s ID. Probably last-minute information about Thursday’s surgery. “Your recent mammogram shows suspicious areas, and we’d like you to come in as soon as possible for…

by Sandra Williams Schlenker   Michael Dorris wanted to be a father, but he lacked a partner. Did this stop him? No; Dorris decided to adopt. His decision came at a busy time. His candidacy for a Yale doctorate was in the works. He had recently completed a cross-country move from Alaska to New Hampshire…

A little time with the Father reaps greatthings for His kingdom. by Mikki Loomis as told to Barbara J. Guardino   I awoke from a deep coma to the gray, filtered light of a strange room. Tubes and machines surrounded my body. I was semi-paralyzed on the left side. Half of my face was numb,…