18. Relief From Spondylitis And Other Difficult To Treat Illnesses

　　By A Falun Dafa Practitioner In China

　　I have been a schoolteacher for almost twenty years. I want to share my personal story with everyone so that more of my fellow Chinese citizens, friends, and colleagues will have a chance to learn the truth about Falun Dafa.A Beautiful Life@

　　I had a kind and righteous husband and an innocent and outgoing daughter who enjoyed her studies at school. As for myself, I had a job with a steady income, and I loved what I did very much. I would describe myself as someone who had everything that she ever wanted. I earned many honors from my employer because of my hard work, and thus became very famous in my small hometown. I was revered as a trustworthy person and an excellent teacher. My family and my career were in their prime.

　　A Series of Unexpected Plights

　　Just as I was feeling delighted by the success of my family and career, I started to suffer from many types of illnesses.　First I developed high blood pressure, which caused me to pass out several times while teaching classes. After that, I had to carry many kinds of blood pressure medications with me at all times. Despite the medication, I constantly suffered from fatigue and headaches, which made it difficult for me to concentrate.

　　Next, I started to have symptoms of the occupational diseases that schoolteachers　often　suffer.　I developed chronic tonsillitis and a chronic sore throat, and had to take both Chinese and Western medications. I also suffered from beriberi (a disease caused by a lack of or inability to assimilate thiamine,　marked by inflammatory or degenerative changes in the nerves, digestive system, and heart muscle). Even in the wintertime, the inflamed and bleeding tissue between my toes would not heal and was unendurably itchy. I rinsed my feet with medicated fluids repeatedly. Even when the skin had started to flake, I still suffered from beriberi. I also suffered from an embarrassing medical problem hemorrhoids, both external and internal. When the weather became cold, they caused me a great deal of pain whether I was sitting or standing. I tried many kinds of medications, as well as many home remedies, such as sitting on warm bricks, rinsing the area with hot vinegar, and hot toweling the area, but nothing worked.

　　Moreover, in 1987 I developed severe pain in my back and legs. When the condition acted up, I felt excruciating pain in the center of my back, my neck, armpits, and chest. I sought medical treatment in hospitals all over China, and tried many kinds of treatments, but nothing helped. During those years, I consumed medications every day as if they were part of my daily meals. There was not a day that went by that I did not take a large handful of Western drugs and two to three cups of Chinese herbal tea. However, I still became increasingly weaker. I had a yellowish-green complexion, and my body was swollen. I could no longer taste the food I ate, and my weight dropped from 132 lbs to 108 lbs. In the end, I had to go on extended sick leave. During my sick leave, I was unable to get out of bed. Even when I managed to get up, I could not help with any housework. I could not bend enough to sweep the floor. I could not crouch to cook a meal. The slightest movement brought excruciating pain. Thus I was bedridden for a very long time, and I cried all day long.

　　Searching for a Good Doctor

　　Because I resolved to find a cure, I asked people for the name of a good doctor. I even sought treatment from those phony witchdoctors. As a last resort, my husband took me to Beijing to seek medical treatment at a special hospital. After some medical tests, eight medical experts met to discuss my case and declared that I suffered from spondylitis (inflammation of the vertebrae). When a person has spondylitis, all of one's joints become stiff. If the patient keeps his body upright, eventually he will be unable to bend at all. If the patient keeps his body bent, eventually he will be unable to straighten up. Either way the patient will eventually lose the use of his limbs and become completely paralyzed.

　　I was shocked when I heard the doctors' diagnosis. After all, I had just passed thirty but I would soon become paralyzed. I could not accept that this was happening to me.

　　After returning from Beijing, I continued my sick leave. During that time, I was very depressed. I watched my husband increasingly wither due to the burden of working and doing the housework.　I watched my little daughter wearing a painful expression on her face. I watched my elderly parents worrying about me all day long. The gray hair on their heads and the wrinkles on their faces increased day by day. As a wife, I could not do any housework or take care of my husband. As a mother, I could not tend my own child. As an adult, I could not take care of my own parents. My pain was simply beyond description.

　　In order to reduce the burden on my family, I forced myself to get up and help around the house. I had to stop and rest five times just to sweep the floor in two rooms. When I wanted to cook a meal, I could not bend my body even though I tried to endure the pain. When I tried to knead just a small amount of dough for steamed buns, I would break out in a sweat all over my body (not from the effort of kneading but from the pain). At night, when I wanted to turn over in bed, I would need both my husband and my daughter's assistance. If I washed only three garments during the day, I would have so much pain that I was unable to sleep at night.

　　Later I decided to endure the pain and go back to work. Sometimes I had to limp up to the teacher's platform in the classroom due to my leg pain. After 45 minutes in front of the class, the excruciating pain caused by the spondylitis prevented me from getting down from the platform. During those days I always felt very cold. Even in May or June I had to wear a thick cotton robe, thick cotton pants, and a rabbit hide to warm my back. Even so I still shivered in the summer. I felt coldness spreading all over my body internally.

　　Later on I decided that I could not endure the pain any more. When I heard that qigong could cure illnesses, I immediately started to practice all kinds of qigong. I tried every kind that was introduced to my area, but none of my illnesses improved.

　　Things Suddenly Get Better For Me

　　I thought to myself,　“I have become completely useless.” Feeling like an invalid needing full-time care, I thought I would be better off dead. Several times I picked up a bottle of pills and was ready to kill myself, but I could not do it when I thought of how much my husband had done for me and how little I had paid him back. I also thought of my young innocent daughter that needed my maternal love. I thought of my aging parents that needed my attention and care. Thinking of what my death would do to my dear family moved my heart and negated my wish to kill myself. I decided that I could not abandon my family, as they would be devastated if I killed myself.

　　Just when I was struggling with the issue of living or dying, I found out about Falun Dafa. It was like being saved just as I had one foot in the grave, and I obtained a new life.

　　It was April 1995.　I borrowed a precious copy of Zhuan Falun from a Falun Gong practitioner. I read the book in three days. During the three days, I forgot my pain and illnesses. I also forgot to eat. Like a lost lamb, I had found my way home. My surprise and happiness were beyond description.

　　Teacher Li's words in Zhuan Falun woke me up and shattered my old notions. Teacher's Compassion and the profound, magnificent Fa (1) completely changed my way of thinking. I decided to cultivate myself in Falun Gong. Thus, I started a journey of returning to my true self. The first day I practiced the Falun Gong exercises, I couldn't bend over or crouch, but on the following day I found I was more flexible. Within a few days, I could move my body freely again. In less than a year, all of my illnesses had miraculously disappeared.

　　Since I started practicing Falun Gong, I have become very energetic. I am able to walk quickly and straighten my back. I am no longer hunched over in pain. I can do all the housework by myself now. At work I am a diligent employee. I do not feel exhausted at all after a full day's work. Feeling healthy makes me feel happy. I feel that I have a meaningful life again. In sharp contrast to the past, I am a different person. Everyone who knew me when I was ill has given me the following compliments: “You have become younger,” “You are more animated,” “You have a rosy complexion,” and “Your skin has become smooth and soft.” I know very well that it is because I practice Falun Dafa. I must let everyone know one thing: Without Falun Dafa I could not have become what I am today; without Falun Dafa there would not be happiness in my family. It is Falun Dafa that has given me a second chance in life. I would like to thank my Teacher and Falun Dafa. I have been practicing Falun Dafa for more than eight years, and I've never needed to take any medication. By my calculation, I have saved myself and the Chinese government about 70,000 to 80,000 yuan　[Chinese　currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 Yuan] in medical expenses.

　　Since I started to practice Falun Gong, I no longer feel cold all the time. Even in winter I am warm and comfortable. (I live in the north of China where it is cold. In the winter, the temperature often drops to 30 degrees below zero).

　　My Dream

　　I am sharing my personal experiences with everyone because I would like people to know the truth: Falun Dafa is great! I hope that no one will misunderstand Falun Dafa or Falun Dafa practitioners because of the fraudulent lies broadcast by the Chinese government media.

　　Because of the evil persecution against Falun Dafa, over a thousand Dafa practitioners have been tortured to death by the police in jails, prisons and forced labor camps. Countless Dafa practitioners have been forced to leave their homes and go into hiding.

　　I have a dream of justice for my Teacher, justice for Falun Dafa, and a legal environment in which to practice Falun Dafa. To the millions of Chinese people who have been deceived by the Jiang Zemin faction, I say, please wake up and learn the truth!
　

　　(1) Fa: law and principles; the teachings of Falun Gong