A Story and a Testimonial

In March of 2000 I worked with a man who was fighting to survive cancer and subsequently passed away, peacefully, in his home, surrounded by family.

The following is a (revised) article I wrote before he passed away…after his first experience with Healing Touch. His testimonial is included near the end.

I had just said my farewells to a client when the phone rang.

“Healing Resources”, I answered. “Do you really think what you do can help me” the man asked. I took a deep breath and replied, “yes, I do.” Without hesitation he then said, “I would like you to come over here to the hospital and do it for me.”

We agreed on an evening visit and I hung up the phone. I sat there wondering what had made this man change his mind about experiencing Healing Touch.

Perhaps it was his wife’s persistence in asking him to let me work on him.

The work had helped her in so many situations; acute low back pain, before and after surgery, to help reduce the discomfort from a fractured arm and heal more quickly; she was certain it could help him as well.

The man had lung cancer.

He was 73 years old and a retired iron worker. He was retired due to a traumatic injury to his neck and shoulder 10 years prior that left him unable to work.

His cancer had been diagnosed 3 months earlier and he had been undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, in an attempt to reduce the size of the tumor enough to allow the thoracic surgeon to remove it with less risk of complications.

All had been going well until the third week of treatment when he was hospitalized with difficulty swallowing, fever, dehydration and ‘mucusitis’.

The hospitalization lasted 3 weeks.

During this time, his ability to consume liquids and food lessened and the decision was reached to have a feeding tube placed externally into his stomach.

While the difficult and painful swallowing was attributed to the radiation therapy, diagnostic studies did not substantiate a reason for the severity of his symptoms. He was becoming increasingly depressed and spending most of the day in bed becoming weaker and weaker. He was not sleeping well and was on intravenous pain medication. The family was quite concerned about his condition and prognosis.

When I arrived that evening, he was alone. I only briefly explained what I would be doing as he had seen me work on his wife in the past and was familiar with the process. I told him I would not awaken him if he fell asleep during the treatment.

I centered and grounded myself, and performed a technique which I have found useful for anxiety and acute depression, which I see frequently occur when someone has cancer.

I let go of seeking any particular outcome, allowed compassion to flow from my heart and out my hands and worked with him for about 25 minutes.

When I left, he was sleeping.

The next morning.

I returned the next morning and was met at the door by his wife who said excitedly, “You won’t believe it! He is sipping liquids and ate 2 bites of scrambled eggs.” I entered the room and was amazed at the change in his mood and outlook as well as the improvement in his energy level.

We had to remind him he was weak and needed time to regain his strength. I sat on one side of the bed and his wife on the other. We were chatting, when suddenly he began to cry uncontrollably, choking out the words, “I don’t even know why I am crying.”

The man’s wife, my mother, leaned over and said, “Donna always tells me to just let it come out,” and holding back my own tears, I added, “it’s okay not to know why Dad.” It was a major release and relief for him. His recovery time was rapid from that point onward. He insisted the feeding tube be removed, looked forward to physical therapy sessions and gained enough strength to be released to home from the hospital 3 days later.

A testimonial

When I was invited, almost 20 years ago, to write this article, my father was still alive. I asked him if he would write down his thoughts about the treatment and the following is an excerpt of what he said:

“I finally decided to let Donna use her skills on me but I didn’t think it would do any good except to make her happy. I was wrong, it did work. It won’t cure my cancer but it does enable me to concentrate on the rest of my life and family. I still don’t understand how it works but I do know that it does.”

I truly recognize every time I work with someone what a sacred gift I have been given, to accompany them on their personal healing journey. To serve as a vehicle for universal love to flow through my heart and out my hands. It was a deeply rewarding experience to work with my father during his time in the hospital and in the subsequent weeks before he died in hospice care.

Providing Healing Touch for my father was a way to give back to the man whose love and care played a huge role in creating the compassionate, caring, spirit seeking individual that I am today.

In loving memory of James Robert Watson 1/2/1926-03/29/2000