Case S
A ten year old boy, with a malignant bone tumour in his leg, was freed from pain when people from the village gathered for a christian nine day consecutive prayer: a so-called novem (which means nine), a roman catholic prayer. After his pain had disappeared during these prayers, he gradually improved, although it took a year before he could walk again. During his disease, there was impressive care and social support, like daily massages of three quarters of an hour by his mother and everyday visits by schoolfriends. Also, the boy was given whatever he needed to express his creativity and autonomy. For example: when he could not walk yet, he build himself a cart, that he had pulled by the family dog, to move around the village.
Case G
The other patient was a man with extensive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Many years earlier, he had left church, when the church refused his deceased -non catholic- wife to be buried in the church cemetary. This refusal, he said, had been a blow in his face. When he fell ill and layed on his bed, waiting to die, he asked for a priest to give him last unction. The priest came. After the unction the priest kept coming every Sunday. He then prayed with the patient and gave him God's blessing. The patient said that, every time, this gave him 'a kick' and made him calm and satisfied. During the weeks the patient suffered from delusions and was extremely sensitive and expressive, assertive and autonomous. Old and more recent traumatic episodes and fears could be reckognised in the delusions; was he processing them, in between the weekly prayer and blessing? After some months, the patient decided that if he ever might heal, he would not let the break with church occur again. Another 'last' unction was given. Some time later, he had high fevers during two consecutive nights, produced extreme amounts of feces, and felt hungry. He ate a hering and he regained his weight over a period of three months.
He learned to walk again. He kept his inner promise and stated that every week in church, he experiences something that he cannot express in words.
We don't know why some prayers are followed by healing, while many are not. In the second case, a 'religious wound' was healed. This was also a psychological wound, as the patient had been split off from church, not because he wanted to, but because of an offending and traumatic event.
When appropriate, I advise patients to take their faith seriously and to pray to God, the God of Israel, and to ask their priest, reverend or community members to pray with them and to bless them. At our Medical School, we learned about 'emergency baptizing', in case a child will die soon after delivery and the parents ask for baptizing. Similarly and incidentally, if no one else is at hand and the client appreciates me to do, I will pray with my client.
Case W
The third patient is not a patient with cancer and he was not involved in the aforementioned PhD study of spontaneous regression of cancer. He suffered from a hypophyseal tumor and shows an exceptional, experiential account of what happened during prayer. Unfortunately, his account is also illustrative of some of the problems one encounters on the border between medicine and religion. This man suffered from impaired visual fields due to the hypophyseal tumor. He was present during a quite normal, protestant-christian church service, when the reverend suggested that those who would like some personal prayer, might stay seated after the service. This patient did, as did one or two other persons. The reverend laid his hands upon the patient's head and prayed. The patient said about this: At that moment I felt a warm glowing light coming from above, moving slowly and steadily through my body. I knew I was healed. His vision normalised and he remained in good health.
The patient gave written permission to collect his medical data with his endocrinologist. Our request for information, however, was left unaswered. After some months, the patient told that he had paid a visit to his endocrinologist. In front of the patient, this collegue had taken our request for information from the file and had torn it apart, calling: "Quack!". Although legally the endocrinologist could have been forced to provide the medical data (and actually quite easily so), the patient didn't want to go that far. He did not want to disturb his relationship with this doctor, as he felt that he might need him again, should his disease progress. This happened two years after the prayer and the improvement of his visual fields.
© 2008-2011
J.N. Schilder, MD, PhD
Practice for Psychomedical Help
Kerkstraat 7
8521 JV
St. Nicolaasga
The Netherlands
Phone:
0513 434255
Cell phone:
06 53586287
