Page 5 - Good News October 2019 paper

OKTOBER 2019 GOEIE NUUS/GOOD NEWS TEL. (018) 293 1996 BLADSY 5

arbara Cummiskey Snyder she was in high school, at age gressive multiple sclerosis. The
had a very severe case of fifteen. At the time, she was a prognosis was not good, but she
Bmultiple sclerosis. It was gymnast, played the flute in the was determined to do the best she
predicted that she would die orchestra, and was active in a could in everything she did. At
soon. She was blind, bedridden church youth group. She remem- times, the disease seemed to
with severely impaired breathing bers not being able to grasp the become inactive, a common
due to a paralyzed diaphragm and rings in gym, and then slipping occurrence in multiple sclerosis,
a collapsed lung. Bladder control and falling down. At first her with relapses and remissions, but
and stomach control was lost. family thought she was clumsy. she never improved. She would
She occasionally tripped or get through a crisis, and then
Below is an account of her bumped into a wall while walking, stabilize on a plateau that was
healing after prayer as written by and her classmates, thinking that lower than her last remission.
her doctor, Thomas Marshall, MD she had been drinking, whispered
and quoted from the book, about her behind her back, and In the early 1970s, she had two
Physicians' Untold Stories, sadly, even began to shun her. respiratory arrests because the This is a more recent photo of
Chapter 22, by Scott Kolbaba. muscles of breathing were affec- Barbara - Doctor Harold Adolph
This therefore counts as a When Barbara first consulted her ted, requiring emergency hospita- confirmed to me that the person in
medically documented healing. doctor, she was referred to a local lization. During her remissions, this photo is Barbara.
neurologist. He ordered multiple she was able to return to college But as she matured, and with the
As Barb became progressively tests and scans, but no cause as a handicapped student and love and counselling of her
more disabled by her multiple could be found. This was in the work as a secretary. But her minister, Pastor Bailie, she grew
sclerosis, she elected to enroll in late 1960s when we did not have efforts to be "normal" were stronger in her belief that a loving
hospice. To qualify for this CT scanners, MRIs, and all the always interrupted by the pro- God participates in our lives.
compassionate home nursing sophisticated imaging and diag- gression of her disease. She Everyone in her church and com-
program, her life expectancy nostics we have today. She was could not clear her secretions, munity was praying for her.
needed to be less than six sent to medical centres with the and, with a paralyzed diaphragm,
months. I don't think this was an same baffling conclusions. Multi- was recurrently hospitalized for Despite all the efforts, her con-
exaggeration, since Barb was ple sclerosis was considered, but pneumonia and asthma. dition continued to deteriorate,
confined to bed, her body she seemed too young for that. All and she began to lose her vision
contracted in a permanent fetal the while she continued to Then came one of the most and soon could not read any-
position, with a tracheostomy deteriorate. Her handwriting was humiliating problems for a young more. She became legally blind
tube in her neck to provide the next function she lost. She woman: losing the ability to and could hardly move out of her
oxygen to her compromised became embarrassed to write in control urination and bowels. She bed. A lung collapsed and requi-
lungs, and a feeding tube in her front of others because of her had to have a catheter per- red a large tube to be placed in her
stomach, since she could no trembling hands, and her writing manently placed into her bladder chest to expand the lung. Then in
longer swallow. Her hands were looked like it came from the hand and an ileostomy created in her 1980, to add to her humiliation,
so permanently flexed that her of a ninety-year-old. She went abdomen, with a bag attached for she required the creation of a
fingers nearly touched her wrists. through a period of questioning her bowels. Her breathing tracheostomy, a hole in her neck
I had known Barb for over ten her worth and feeling helpless. became progressively more diffi- for a breathing tube connected to
years, but just recently assumed cult, and she was referred to the oxygen to keep her from being
her care from a colleague who With supreme effort, Barbara Mayo Clinic in 1978 for a second chronically short of breath.
was moving out of the area. It was graduated from high school. opinion. She now needed con-
hard for me to see her so However, when she enrolled in tinuous oxygen, and her muscles At this point, I sat down with Barb
debilitated. She couldn't leave college, she developed double and joints were becoming con- and her family and explained that
her room, so I made periodic vision and had to drop out tracted and deformed because it was just a matter of time before
house calls, but there was really because she could not physically she could not move or exercise she would die, since the next
nothing I could do at this point. keep up. She was devastated. them. Mayo was her last hope, but major infection would likely take
Her parents were incredibly sup- Before her illness, she was they had no recommendations to her. We all agreed not to do any
portive, as were the members of involved with multiple school help stop this progressive heroics, including no CPR and no
her church. Pastor Bailie, her activities, and now she could not wasting disease except to pray for further hospitalization. This
minister, agreed with my dismal even keep up with her basic a miracle. would only prolong the inevi-
prognosis and, when he saw her courses. table. Our meeting ended in a
the week before, told me that he When her MS was first diagnosed, tearful prayer.
thought it would be the last time It was 1970 and by this time her Barbara admitted to losing faith in
he would see her alive. symptoms and her diagnostic a supreme Being. Why would God June 7, 1981, a Sunday, was her
tests, including spinal taps, allow such a devastating disease sister Jan's birthday. Barb was
Continued on p. 6
Barbara's illness started when confirmed the diagnosis of pro- to ravish an innocent young girl? Continued on p. 6