88-Year-Old Once Relied on Crutches, But Now Walks Briskly

(Minghui.org) Many people admire 88-year-old Ms. Liu Lan. Seeing her now, it’s hard to believe that she once relied on crutches to walk and was told she needed to have major surgery to replace dead bone with metal.

Ms. Liu Lan, 88, relied on crutches due to femoral head necrosis when she was middle aged.

Grandma Liu graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and worked as an engineer for a scientific research institute for 40 years. She said, “There were no computers and we had to draw our designs.” After she retired in 1992, her legs were in constant pain. She went to a hospital and was diagnosed with femoral head necrosis. Her condition worsened and she had to rely on crutches to walk. The doctor told her that she needed to have an operation to replace the dead bone with metal.

In order to avoid the surgery, Grandma Liu started practicing qigong, but her condition kept deteriorating. Someone suggested that she try Falun Dafa.

Throwing Away Her Crutches

Grandma Liu said, “I was a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and an atheist. I tried Chinese and Western medicine to cure my disease, but nothing helped. I read a lot of books about spirituality and converted to Buddhism. I wished to have my condition resolved, so I started practicing Falun Dafa.”

Grandma Liu borrowed a copy of FalunDafa’s main book, Zhuan Falun, and began reading. “My legs used to hurt so much that I had to take painkillers every night in order to fall asleep.” She said, “It was a midsummer night when I began reading Zhuan Falun. After I read the first chapter, I felt sleepy. So I put the book down and immediately fell asleep. After I woke up, I wondered why my legs didn’t hurt the night before. I also forgot to take my painkillers! I read the second chapter the next day and the same thing happened again. On the third day, I read the third chapter and forgot to take painkillers again, and I slept very well. The book is magical!” After she read the entire book, Grandma Liu said, “I must learn this practice. It’s miraculous!”

She signed up for a nine-day Falun Dafa class. That was in 1997. The people who registered watched videos of Master’s lectures. After watching the first lecture, Grandma Liu felt relaxed. She said, “I had many minor ailments. After watching the lectures, my entire body felt relaxed. I was able to walk home, but out of habit, I still used my crutches.”

Grandma Liu began doing the Falun Dafa exercises with practitioners every morning. The other practitioners noticed her legs were getting stronger. After she did the exercises for three months a practitioner told her, “Throw away your crutches. I’ll accompany you home today.”

The practitioner walked with her until they reached the entrance of the compound where Grandma Liu lived. The doorman didn’t allow outsiders to enter. The practitioner was concerned and asked her, “Can you walk?” Grandma Liu recalled, “I walked home. My husband was stunned and asked, ‘You didn’t use your crutches today? You can walk?’ I said, ‘I can.’”

Grandma Liu no longer needed crutches and she canceled the major surgery that she had booked six months before.

Keeping Kindness Throughout Multiple Persecution Campaigns

Grandma Liu was in her 30s during the Cultural Revolution. “All my family members served in the army and were CCP members. They followed the Party’s directives and harmed people during the Cultural Revolution. But I never abused anybody, physically or verbally. I even protected a 50-year-old cadre who participated in China’s War of Resistance against Japan.”

A row of people, including this old cadre, were forced to stand on stools during a “struggle session.” Grandma Liu recalled, “I asked him to come down from the stool. He said, ‘Would it work that I come down?’ I said, ‘I’ll stand in front of you. When the red guards come to push you around, beat and curse you, you hold onto me, and at least you will not stumble.’”

Thirty years later, the CCP found another target, and Falun Dafa practitioners were subjected to persecution. Her former coworkers all knew her story: a a previously handicapped person no longer needed crutches after practicing Falun Dafa. Thirteen of her former coworkers began practicing Falun Dafa after witnessing her recovery.

On July 20, 1999, the day the CCP banned Falun Dafa, her old workplace held a meeting and told practitioners to sign a statement renouncing Falun Dafa. Grandma Liu refused. She said, “You all see me. I’m the biggest beneficiary.” When one of her former coworkers told her, “Now you’ve become a counter-revolutionary,” She said, “I practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and I strive to be a good person. I haven’t committed any crimes.”

The director of the security division at Grandma Liu’s former workplace saw that she no longer needed crutches after practicing Falun Dafa. He had a back pain problem and planned to go to the park and learn the exercises. The persecution of Falun Dafa suddenly started and he did not dare to practice, but he protected Grandma Liu.

Every time the police came to take Grandma Liu to a brainwashing session at the police station, the director stopped them from entering the workplace compound. (In China, state-run companies usually provide apartments for employees. The area is usually only accessible through a secured entrance.)

The director told the police that Grandma Liu was on a trip. When they left, he immediately called her and said, “Don’t go out now, or I will lose my job.”

Grandma Liu’s husband worked as technical advisor to the mayor before he retired, and he had contacts with city officials. When the director of the police department visited their home, he saw that she no longer needed crutches. He told her husband that he would turn a blind eye and try to use his power to protect her.

After living through the CCP’s many persecution campaigns, Grandma Liu said she clearly saw the CCP’s tyranny. She thus published her statement to quit the CCP and its affiliated organization on the Global Service Center of Withdrawing from the CCP.

Telling People that Falun Dafa Is Great

Grandma Liu moved to Canada in 2005 and lives with her daughter. Her daughter was infected with COVID-19 while working in a hospital in June, 2021. She came home, packed some basic necessities and lived in isolation. Grandma’s husband was infected during this short period of contact. While taking care of her husband, she also had some illness symptoms. Her husband was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, and an X-ray showed that half of his lung had already turned white. He passed away 2 weeks later. Grandma Liu also had difficulty breathing and was rushed to the hospital. She was able to recover after being hospitalized for three days.

Her daughter said that most people in their 80s in Toronto who contracted COVID-19 died, and the hospital wanted to draw blood from Grandma Liu for scientific research. She said, “Master took care of me and I survived.” Four tubes of blood were drawn, and tests showed that her blood contained antibodies. Her daughter told her happily, “Your blood can save lives.”

She asked her daughter to tell the hospital that it was because she practices Falun Dafa and the pure and righteous energy in her blood resisted the virus and produced antibodies.

Grandma Liu often says, “My life is given by Master.” Therefore, regardless of whether it’s the heat of summer or cold winter, she takes a bus every week and reads Falun Dafa books with other practitioners. She also regularly participates in doing the exercises outdoors at a group practice site. She does whatever she can to let people know how wonderful Falun Dafa is and about the brutal persecution of practitioners in China. She uses a computer to send information about Falun Dafa to China.