Shuffling my feet, I tried to make it to my seat with my husband's help. As I entered the church that crisp fall Sunday morning in 2003, I had no idea that my life was about to change and would never be the same again! Soon after I had reached my seat, a woman came up to my husband and asked, "I hope you don't mind if I ask, but what is wrong with your wife, is she sick?" My husband told her that I had been suffering with Multiple Sclerosis for 17 years.
That woman was Debra Irwin, wife of Bill Irwin, the only blind man to ever walk the entire 2,169-mile Appalachian Trail with only a seeing eye dog to guide him. And the reason Debra had approached my husband was that Bill had heard my shuffling feet and wanted to know what was wrong with me, because he thought he could help me. (You can read Bill Irwin's testimony in Back to the Garden, Issue #46.)
Twenty-one years ago, I was living in Florida working as a cashier in a store and under lots of stress. One day, in a quick moment, I started losing my eyesight. I was devastated! That incident was to change my life dramatically. Tests were performed and the end result was that I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. My heart sank, and I decided to return home to Maine so that I could be near my family.
After a few years, I met and fell in love with a wonderful Christian man named Ernie Livingstone. I told him I had Multiple Sclerosis, but that didn't matter to him. We got married and committed to take each day as it came. As the years went by, my disease got progressively worse. My legs became very weak; I suffered with cluster headaches and had lots of pain. For each issue, my doctor would give me another medication. An oxygen tank became my companion.
As my legs got weaker, we purchased a walker so that I could get around the house. I was still falling down occasionally, so my husband would have to leave work and come home to help me. Most of the time I could not shower or dress without Ernie's help. On good days I used a cane to help me walk. I was taking lots of medications including: Tegretol, Amitriptyline, Prozac, Zanex, and Methotrexate, to name just a few.
The side effects from these drugs made me almost helpless, and my husband had to take care of me like you would a baby. My body was now funny looking, my eye drooped, and I became very frightened. I was also very depressed even though I was taking all the anti-depressant medications my doctor had prescribed. Then the doctors told me that there was nothing more they could do for me. My medicine cabinet was filled with bottles of pills, but I was getting worse by the day.
It was at this low point in my life that God stepped in! It happened when Health Minister Bill Irwin entered my life after shuffling into church on that fall Sunday morning in 2003. Bill told me that I didn't have to be sick! He said that if I would make some simple changes in my diet and lifestyle, my body could get well. Bill told me about the Hallelujah Acres Diet & Lifestyle and almost immediately, after adopting that diet and lifestyle, I did start getting well.
My strength was the first thing to return. Bill was teaching me how to effectively take control of my life, and I loved what was happening! It was all so simple, yet profoundly wonderful to be able to do the things I had thought I would never be able to do again. As I learned from Bill how to release the stress, my progress accelerated, and I knew I would be able to live normally and joyously once again.
Within four months of making the diet and lifestyle change, I was off all my medications, all my physical symptoms were gone, and my eyesight had returned to normal. It has been four years since I met Bill and adopted the Hallelujah Acres Diet & Lifestyle and I can hardly believe how much energy I now have. I am thrilled beyond belief! Now I get up every morning to face the new day well and happy. I go hiking, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, swimming, and any other sport I choose to do without a single thought of never being able to do these activities again! I thank God every day for bringing Bill Irwin and this Hallelujah Acres Diet & Lifestyle into my life and for the wonderful healing I have experienced. To me this is a miracle from God and I pray that my experience will be an encouragement to other Multiple Sclerosis sufferers who feel there is no hope.
