Several times in my life, I have seen very good things happen because of special spiritual circumstances and much intense prayer. This is one story, and several others will follow.
The old woman had lost most of her sight in one eye because of 'dry' macular degeneration. Once I asked her to cover her good eye and tell me about the vehicle ahead of us. She said she could see only to the sides, and couldn't see anything in front. Actually a big yellow school bus was right in front of us!
Eventually the lady's good eye began to deteriorate due to age-related 'wet' macular degeneration (wet AMD). Several laser surgeries were performed to stop the bleeding, but the disease was clearly becoming worse. The poor woman was very distraught because she knew she was going completely blind, and the doctor confirmed that the vision in her remaining eye was now worse than 20/500.
The old woman told me she was not able to read her daily prayers which she kept in a 3-ring binder. Someone had photocopied and significantly enlarged the print of the prayers, but even the very large letters were now indistinguishable. One of her daily prayers was to retain enough sight so that she could continue to read her prayers every morning.
A new treatment with Macugen injections had just been announced and the doctor decided to try the drug on the almost blind woman. The genetically engineered treatment is considered very helpful to halt further progress of wet AMD. However, the doctor noted that patients who start Macugen after wet AMD becomes advanced (as was this woman's disease) cannot expect much if any improvement.
After the course of treatment was completed, the praying woman had recovered most of her sight--better than 20/60 in the wet AMD-affected eye. The doctor marveled at her miraculous improvement and called her a "poster child" for Macugen. He said none of his other 60 patients had recovered their sight as well as this very old woman had.
Strangely, the elderly lady says that while she can now easily read her prayers, she still has a hard time seeing other things. My own opinion is that God gave her back the only sight she really needs.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It is great that some of this women's site has returned. but macular degeneration (particularly wet) if most often progressive over time.
Macular degeneration has been shown to be very responsive to specific nutritional supplementation and lifestyle changes through numberous peer review research studies. Dry macular degeneration in particular is less acute than wet macular degeneration and responds even more effectively to natural approaches, though both can respond well overtime to specific nutrient supplementation.
Although there can be an genetic component to this eye disease, macular degeneration is fundamentally an eye disease of "starvation of the retina".
Essential nutrients include lutein, zeaxanthin, taurine and omega-3 fatty acides along with other nutrients such as vitamin C, E, zinc, copper, selenium, betacarotene, gingko biloba, astaxanthin and bilberry are helpful as well. Having a healthy diet with lots of vegetables (mostly the green leafy ones), fresh fruit and whole grains (organic if possible) is critical as well. .
For more on specific research studies on nutrition and macular degeneration, go to www.naturaleyecare.com and click on the "Research" link.
Post a Comment