My first unusual experience happened when I was an infant. The stroller that I was in got away from my aunt and uncle; it rolled down a large hill into the middle of a busy intersection. Second, I was under my grandmother’s dining room table licking a razor and split my tongue. All I remember was my grandfather praying over me and I was fine. Third, I was about four. My father, sister, or mother didn’t keep a close enough eye on me at the time. I drank kerosene. The incubator that I was in wasn’t working. Just so happened a nurse came by and saw I was blue. Then came the fourth experience.

When I was four and a half I had surgery to remove my tonsils. Something went wrong during the procedure and I hemorrhaged. All I can remember during the surgery was seeing a brilliant warm, white light. I awoke from the anesthesia surrounded by my parents. I could see the worry in their eyes. My Dad said, “We almost lost you.” I remember not understanding what he meant. I received three blood transfusions and stayed in the hospital for two weeks.

My injuries took place on an apple ranch in Washington. I went to the ranch house for help and tried not to fall down. The boss was my half brother. His son was just stepping out of the house door when I had asked him to please get his dad and tell him that I had a farm tractor wreck.

I was at the hospital. I had just been told that I had a blockage in my spinal cord, from the fourth to the seventh cervical vertebrae at the level of the neck, that had been responsible for the symptoms I had been experiencing. My right arm was paralyzed, my legs were spastic, and there were sensations like electric shocks running through my body when I moved my head.