In the first year of my marriage I started to experience severe back pain. It began slowly, and within a year I would awake during the early morning hours in excruciating pain, barely able to sit up. Months of pain followed with frequent visits to doctors and chiropractors. But, no one had answers. Finally, my family doctor decided to run some specialized blood tests. A couple of weeks later he sat me down in his office to tell me the hard news. He told me that I had an incurable degenerative disorder called Ankylosing Spondylitis and that I would suffer from this pain all my life—that eventually I would become a disabled old man with a fused spine, unable to stand erect. The doctor prescribed arthritis medication to dull the symptoms. He told me that this medication would eventually not work and that I would likely have to undergo cortisone treatments in the not-to-distant future. Even then, these treatments would not heal the disease. They would only dull the symptoms. This disease would still cripple me. I was dumbfounded. Here I was, at 24 years of age, a hopeless cripple. I prayed for help, for mercy, for relief. My answer came through my feet.
My cousin Susan heard of my plight and suggested that I come get “zoned”, something she had learned to do only a few months previous. I trusted Susan and so I thought I would give it a try. I figured I had nothing to loose. I honestly did not know much about foot zone therapy when she began rubbing my feet. One thing that surprised me was how painful the zone felt as she rubbed, pushed, and dug into the inside of my foot. She told me that those painful spots on my foot correspond to where I was experiencing pain and that is why the foot zone was painful. At that moment, I was not sure if this zoning thing was worth the extra pain. I thought I was going to get a nice foot rub. However, this uncertainty and doubt only lasted until the next morning when I awoke pain free for the first time in over a year! I remember feeling so grateful that morning. To be free of the pain and the frustration, for just one day, was more than I could have asked for.
Unfortunately, the pain began to return within a week. On my second visit, Susan taught my wife (Stephanie) how to “work the back” on my feet and gave me some other things to do. For a couple of months Stephanie rubbed my feet according to Susan’s directions. Within six months I was pain free and can now go months between zone treatments. Today, I rarely think of my back pain. Those days seems like a dream or a story from someone else’s life. Foot zone therapy blessed my life and continues to do so. I love Susan for the gift she gave us. I am grateful for her and forever will be.