While attending BYU, I was taking a Botany class to fill my general requirements. It was taught by a dull, monotone man, who tried to impress the class by constantly using words and definitions that made the subject more like a foriegn language requirement. One day, my world changed...It was the day that a Professor Black taught the class...
He had an energy, and charisma, that was like a big bolt of energy had come and electrocuted everyone there. I had many, many class instructions during my stay at BYU, and it is amazing to me that this is one of my most readily recalled lectures...amongst my more liberal pursuits of art history, french language, and humanities comparasions.
His lecture all started with talk about that famous, English dog-trainer?..she was an older woman, with silver-white hair, and I have vague recollections of seeing her once or twice on TV during my childhood, running and commanding different types of canine. This immediately peeked my attention, in that it did not thave the requisite "oomycote" or some other form of the "botanical" language of fungus or flora...
He told of in her later years, that she had been diagnosed with Diabetes, and had started to deteriorate from its vices...She had gone legally blind, had sores on her extremeties from bad circulation, and had to turn to insulin to try to keep her blood sugars and body under control. For some reason, she decided to retire to the jungles of South America, with its dense rainforests, and tropical climate. I was now closer to the edge of my seat, for this was either going to get interesting, or it was going to turn into an allegory about spores...
While there, the natives gave her a special tea made out of neighboring jungle foliage...This "tea" is where the botany and miracle stepped in...By this special concoction, this dog-trainer from England, with her silver-white hair, had something amazing happen...SHE WAS CURED! Her eyesight came back, her wounds healed, and her dependency on insulin shots became obsolete.
I sat next to my sister (who took the class with me, and shares the diabetic "curse" with me) and we were both STUNNED...My heart was racing, and my eyes teary...Could this be? Was I really hearing correctly?!
The next part of the story still makes me sick to my stomach...
The Professor began to explain how this woman decided to return home, and tell of her experience...Of the hope that this could bring to so many...
Before she could get the aid required to research this discovery, it was GONE...
The jungle area containing this mystery "foliage" had been destroyed...mowed down...wiped off the earth...
I'm sure there are many reasons or answers for why this would happened...or maybe it was just an honest "accident," but when I look at the pin-pricks on my finger tips from monitoring my blood-sugar...the glucometer, shots, insulin and glucagon emergency kit I carry with me everywhere I go...the damage done to the body and spirit... it makes me angry, and unsatisfied with any offered answer. (Not to mention the MILLIONS of dollars that Lifescan and Lilly make off of me and others each month to "keep me managed..." Sound like a "conspiracy theory?" You KNOW I think so...)
So many times I hear/say, "At least it's manageable." But what consolation is that? It's like telling someone "At least you can go on dialysis." We have heated debates about stem-cells and morality, about "cures" verses "unfertilized eggs"...Would these opinions change if a loved one, or they themselves had the disease? Are we at a continual stand-still on progress until another Christopher Reeves or Michael J Fox is affected? Where is the "morality" when big-companies are making millions off of the afflicted, when there is a probable cure? Would they really give it all up, for the common good?
Tea, anyone?
Shoes of Yolanda
4 comments:
I am a TOTAL believer in that conspiracy theory. The big drug companies don't want you to get better!
It breaks my heart to hear this story. We are destroying ourselves and so many don't even act like they care.
It is a devastating feeling to have something wrong with you and not know how to cure it.
That is how I have felt all month with this intestines thing. It is scary and stressful and very draining.
I pray for you my dear. I Pray for a miracle. I sure love you!
You don't have to tell me twice about the conspiracy theory! I am a true believer that there is already a cure. The companies out there are making so much money, that the cure would put them out of business. There are so many things that have come about, stem cells being one of them, that just get "stuck". The funding is cut off or the government gets too involved. The world should be furious about this. I agree that while this disease may be manageable, it is not desireable to live with. The ramifications of this disease are horrible. Maybe our new crusade, second to "living" with the disease, should be to make a voice and to not take no for an answer. The greed and lack of care that these businesses have should not be tolerated. So, lets get mad, and lets get a cure so that we can actually start LIVING!! I would love some tea!!!
Don't you love this wicked disease?
I do. I love the shots and the testing and the guessing and the guilt.
The strain on the kidney's and the concern about internal organs, that others don't have to fret about.
The time and attention to things most folks don't have to think about?
My most favorite is feeling like a cyborg. Things coming in and out of my body that shouldn't be here.
And complain I could. For yonks. The worry and the fretting and the wondering, if every little thing I ate, caused Ethan's issues, or misscarriages.
*sad smile*
Its just fabulous.
Cordieo, has a good blog entry on this ... particular thing.
I'm too lazy to link it though.
You can find his blog, on my roll.
Love ya!
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