July/August 2004 Venture Inward
Overcoming, Alzheimer’s
A New Life for Wally
By Barbara A. Derrick. Barbara Derrick, pictured above with Wally
Decker, is a psychotherapist and minister who works with the Cayce material in her
Summerville, South Carolina practice. She is working on a book about her study group's
spiritual and psychic experiences.
She will present Wally's case at the
September 17-19 A.R.E. Annual Holistic Health Symposium.
Although I wasn't alive during Edgar
Cayce's lifetime, an 80-year-old man brought me closer to Edgar Cayce than if I had known
him.
It all began when Wally Decker, a
friend, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia, Wally looked upon his diagnosis as
worse than death. For most of his life he had enjoyed perfect health. His Christian
Science faith followed him through many years free of the maladies that plague most of us.
As a matter of fact, he didn't even have a physician until the age of 67. Now, his
diagnosis transformed his good health into a disaster worse than the accumulated illnesses
of a lifetime.
Wally was a widower who had cared
for and survived his wife of 52 years. He attended aerobics class regularly and danced
whenever he could find a partner. The diagnosis hung over him like the threat of hurricane
Hugo, which had snapped pine trees, up-rooted ancient oaks, thrown parts of buildings to
the wind, and destroyed the environment in and around his hometown, Charleston, South
Carolina, in 1989. The storm in his life now was Alzheimer’s dementia.
The tremor in Wally's voice told me
he felt defeated. Medical science offered little hope. The medical world could delay the
process, but nothing had been found to heal the disease.
I turned to Edgar Cayce, just as
thousands had done during his lifetimee. People had come to him when everything else in
their lives failed. Although Edgar Cayce was gone, his readings remained. I knew that many
medical readings, when followed, had resulted in improved health and strength.
One of those meaningful
"accidents" we call synchronicity occurred about this time. My Search for God
study group visited Hopkinsville, Kentucky to celebrate the anniversary of Edgar Cayce's
birthday. In Hopkinsville, I met David McMillin, who is part of Meridian Institute -- an
organization that researches the body-mind-spirit connection and the Cayce readings. I was
impressed. Although Cayce did not live to see his dream become a reality, others were
fulfilling it. Patients using the instructions given in the readings were reporting
amazing results. Protocols had been created for many ailments in today's society. Because
of the Cayce information, those who were crumpling under the oppression of
Alzheimer’s were being offered hope.
I inquired about the work. According
to David, the group had just acquired a grant for an Alzheimer's research project. After
the protocol was formulated, slots would be open for those who qualified. Having a medical
doctor attest that a patient had the disease was one of the primary requirements.
If Wally qualified, he might be
admitted to the program.
The if was contingent on
Wally's neurologist attesting that he had Alzheimer's.
"I don't believe in such
stuff," the neurologist told us frankly. "And I don't want my name associated
with anything like this."
"If you don't fill out these
papers, he cannot take part," I came back, holding the yellow and blue sheets of
paper toward him as if he had agreed to cooperate.
He took the papers and figured out a
way he could satisfy both a despondent patient and an assertive female.
Glancing over his notes from
previous visits, he filled out the report and signed it. His signature was illegible, but
so are the signatures and handwriting of many who have passed through (he golden corridors
of medical school. At least we had the report and his official letterhead. I trusted that
those at Virginia Beach would take my word for the fact that a competent neurologist
completed the report. In our desperation to get him to fill out the report, the
documentation of another doctor, who had made the same Alzheimer's diagnosis from a
battery of tests, lay; unnoticed in Wally's file at home.
More papers. Not only did we need
reports from physicians, but also from family and friends, who were asked to assess the
patient's behaviour. My practice I as a Licensed Professional Counsellor, with a Ph.D. in
Counselling Psychology, qualified me to make certain assessments. My credentials as a
Certified Hypnotherapist also helped. I took the time to complete the reports and sent all
the colour-coded papers back. If we were lucky, Wally might be considered as a candidate
for the program called Suggestive Therapeutics Treatment Plan and Research Protocol.
As we waited, Wally was having
doubts. How could he commit to having a daily massage, which was a part of the program? He
did not have a wife at home to help with the procedure, and there was no way he could find
a massage therapist who could massage him each day.
"You don't know if you are
going to be a part of the program, in the first place, Wally. If you are selected, then
decide if you can commit to the regimen they suggest."
Silence from Wally. I could tell he
had already made up his mind he could not conform.
"Do you want to try to work
with this disease or not?" I pushed a little, reverting to my assertive role again.
He was going to do this, if I had anything to do with it. I laid claim to the "Eve
Principle" -counting on the ability of a woman to influence a man.
"But, I can't...."
"Wait and see, Wally, Just
wait,"
After he had been selected, we
looked at the tape and the program sent back to us as part of the project. He needed to
have someone repeat an affirmation to him daily while he was relaxed. I thought of a way
we could accomplish this.
Just before one goes to sleep, there
is a natural time of relaxation. An affirmation could be repeated to him at this time. I
had used the intervention with clients many times, and it worked well. I was willing to
try it with Wally.
"If I make a tape for you, will
you listen to it before you fall asleep each night?"
Wally didn't have a problem with that.
We prepared an affirmation, stating
exactly what we wanted Wally to Achieve.
My years of studying Ac Edgar Cayce
readings taught me that we should not offer a prayer or a meditation for anyone without
their approval. 1 wanted to be sure he could agree with every word. The affirmation read:
"As you relax, you are
experiencing quiet, peace, happiness, and joy. You can feel God's love surrounding you. This allows you to rest in the knowledge that
God's love is guiding you, helping you in every way to make each day good and purposeful.
You have good, appreciative feelings for those around you, knowing that you wish every
person in your life well and they hold you in high regard.
"Your mind will move toward
functioning well and this will give you great pleasure. Your short-term memory is
improving, your mind more alert, and your recall of names and words improving day by day.
"This time of relaxing will
help to Coordinate your nervous system and improve circulation through your body. The
eliminating systems are removing toxins from your body. The foods that you eat will
provide nourishment to your body.
"You will be calm and
cooperative to those around you at all times. You are self-sufficient. This makes you
happy and proud. You will look forward to each day and enjoy life. Your short-term memory
and your recollection of words and names are serving you well.
"You are being healed - you are
becoming whole at all levels. The divine energy within you is rejuvenating your body,
mind, and spirit."
The voice he heard on the tape was
mine. He trusted what I told him. That was good. 1 also knew if Wally told me he would do
a certain thine, he would do it.
He began playing the tape each
night, just as he prepared for sleep. The meditation repeated for 30 minutes until the
tape ran out. He often fell asleep before the conclusion, but that was okay. He was still
registering the words in his subconscious mind.
In the meantime, we found a massage
school in the area that would give him a massage for a nominal fee. He enrolled. He was
going to use the tape daily, get a massage weekly, and commit to the program.
True to his word, he used this
therapy regularly. As a matter of fact, according to the log sheet, there were only three
days that he missed playing the tape, during which Wally was hospitalised for pneumonia.
To compensate for the lost time, Wally played the tape for at least three days as he
awakened from sleep, in addition to resuming his use of the tape at night.
I noticed one Cayce reading (271-1)
given for a 34-year-old male who was a resident of Pinewood Sanitarium in New York. His
mother had requested the reading and was told his condition was prenatal. There were
inroads of the softening of cell cord and the brain and abrasions to the nervous system.
Besides using p re-sleep
suggestions, Edgar Cayce told the mother that the young man should have only constructive
reading material before retiring - nothing negative, nothing about the underworld, no
animosity, and no excitement.
Up until this time, Wally had been
falling asleep by the TV. He used the timer to turn the set off after he fell asleep. But,
in the meantime, he was opening himself to whatever was on the TV each night.
Wally substituted the tape for the
TV and often fell asleep before the tape cut itself off each night. Now, he was
substituting positive thoughts for negative ones.
"You are dealing with mental
recuperative forces; and conditions act upon the mind, just as would be experienced in the
development of a 6 to 8 to 12-year-old child'" Edgar Cayce said in reading 271-4.
"But the mind is being
rebuilded!" Edgar Cayce added.
In other words, changing the
environment for the 34-year-old man was much like working with the development of a 6, 8,
or 12-vear-old child.
As we added the tape and massage to
Wally's routine, other incidents were occurring. Wally was working on making himself
accept another diagnosis: Macular Degeneration in his left eye. He knew he would
eventually lose the sight in his left eye, his good eye.
There was little the medical world could do, except to forestall the
inevitable. He had the same situation with his eve that he had with the Alzheimer's. He
had long ago reconciled himself to the fact that he could not see well enough to drive at
night. If he went out at night, he depended upon someone else to do the driving.
He had repairs done to his home in
preparation for putting it up for sale.
He assumed he would need to go to an
assisted-living residence soon.
This independent man had been made
dependent on others because of his infirmities.
After he used the tape regularly,
changes became apparent in Wally's behaviour. He was happier. He looked upon others with a
greater degree of compassion. He accepted the viewpoints of others even when he did not
agree with them. He developed an unconditional positive regard for other people. If only
Edgar Cayce were here.
Crazy things began to happen.
Wally’s eyesight began to improve. He was now able to drive-' at night.
When Wally returned to the doctors,
both the neurologist and the ophthalmologist gave him a new diagnosis.
"I really thought you had
Alzheimer’s," the neurologist told Wally. "But now I don't think you have
Alzheimer's after all."
That was surprising since he, along
with a clinical psychologist who does the testing ffor professionals in the area had
agreed on his diagnosis.
"How do you explain that?"
Wally wanted to know.
"I can't explain it," the
physician replied simply.
Soon, there would be more good news.
Wally returned for a regular
check-up to a professor in the Department of
Ophthalmology at a well-respected
medical university. He had made the diagnosis or dry macular degeneration in his left eye
with the concurrence of another ophthalmologist,
Now, there was a different story.
"I see no evidence of macular
degeneration," he said, still peering into Wally’s left eye.
"How can that be?"
"Well, you had a lot of
floaters in your eye. I don't suppose I could get a good look until now."
The two illnesses that had worried
Wally were now non-existent.
If only Edgar Cayce were here.
The affirmation Wally used was broad
and included a wider spectrum than the Alzheimer's. He had been willing lo be open to the
inclusive affirmation of health.
It worked.
Wally was faithful in following the
protocol. He had followed the instructions more precisely, more closely, more faithfully
than many who received readings from Edgar Cayce during his lifetime.
I felt a tingle run the length of my
body. I recognized it as a presence and a truth from the spirit world. Edgar Cayce was
here- He was reaching across the ages.
More than 50 years after his death,
Edgar Cayce was still doing his healing work.
And Wally and I had been a part of that work.