The Power of Prayer

It's a wonder I was ever born. It's a miracle my parents ever met. Both of my grandmothers contracted fatal diseases at the tender age of three. Today, antibiotics probably would mitigate the emergency, but this happened over one hundred years ago.

My maternal grandmother came down with diphtheria. The disease causes a thick mucous build-up on the back of the throat which can't be expelled by coughing. It sounds gross, but I've heard that the coating will develop a pseudomembrane much like the skin on cold gravy. It can block the airways resulting in death. The doctor came to the house and showed her mother how to use a hollow goose quill to suck the nasty mucous out of her sick daughter's throat. Beyond that, according to the doctor, it was in the hands of God. My Grammy said she found a quiet place, got on her knees, and prayed.

My other grandmother told me she didn't know what she had, but after picking up peaches in an orchard and eating them, she became very ill. I think she had typhoid fever. Before the illness, she had thick, wildly curling hair. Her mother could scarcely get a comb through it. When the child developed a high fever and fell into a coma, her father summoned his sister Laura. In an era when most folks attended church and read the Bible, Laura was known as being an extremely religious lady. At the little girl's bedside, Aunt Laura 'laid on hands' and prayed. 

Obviously, both little girls recovered from the dreadful illnesses. Our family believes God had something to do with it. The high fever caused my paternal grandmother to lose all her hair. The unruly curls grew back as a gentle wave. Also, her new "do" featured a white streak above her forehead. I've looked up the phenomena. The condition, a lack of melanin in the effected area, is called poliosis. I don't see any evidence of the poliosis in old pictures of her, but perhaps it wasn't noticeable in b&w photography.

So, thanks be to God, the lives of two little girls were spared.