Natalen

by Natalie Ledford

Disclaimer: I am not a medical practitioner, and my views are not medical advice.

Maybe you have never even heard that it could be possible to heal from ALS or you have been cautioned not to entertain that idea. I am about to make the argument that it is possible, and I dare you to consider it. Let’s look at this topic together and you make the choice of what to believe….

First of all, as a Christian I believe the words contained in the Bible. In it Jesus clearly says “all things are possible for those who believe.” When we come up against something so insurmountable as als it is easy to discount those words. Yet, even today miracles happen. After I was diagnosed with ALS I came to a crisis of belief. Could I still trust God? Either I had to abandon what I had believed my whole life or live in authenticity and trust Him. I decided I would believe He would be with me in the fire and live life to fullest without fear no matter what because I know God is still alive and active in the world.…May his kingdom come and will be done in my life!

Faith is severely tested in the midst of a health crisis, but faith, hope and love are keys to healing. Jesus said he could do no miracles in his hometown because of their unbelief. It is hard to keep believing when you don’t want your hopes dashed yet Unbelief only gets in the way and keeps you from possibly finding answers and healing. Negative energy, i.e. unforgiveness, stress, and unbalance (basically unresolved soul issues) are also major contributors to disease and deplete the body of its ability to heal itself. It is vitally important if your aim is to heal to make peace with yourself, God and those around you and choose to live in gratitude and positivity. I do not say this lightly. I know from experience, the daily frustrations and abundant annoyances as well as the deep pain and anguish, anger, humiliation and despair that comes with this disease. Facing complete debilitation, total reliance on others, financial loss, inability to communicate, loss of creative outlet and meaningful work, strained relationships and death are not small hurdles. It takes self-discipline and something bigger than your own grit to keep you going with a positive outlook. No matter your worldview, it is helpful to take the time to work through your issues, questions and feelings and find the will to live for something or someone. Choose gratitude, hope and blessing instead of self-pity and despair and do what you can to be healthy and moving towards healing instead of just letting the diagnosis take you out.

What or who do you put your faith in? If it is medicine or health professionals, als is a devastating disease. There are no answers in modern medicine for ALS. Alternative medicine has some hopeful answers yet there is no guarantee that route will be better. Quackery is a threat but not necessarily what you would encounter. Science can be swayed as well, by people’s biases. And intuition is often overlooked, dismissed or suppressed and people can be easily misguided.

In the midst of all this quagmire, I found myself looking outside the box and desperately trying to find answers. With a strong belief in God, and my hope bolstered by His personal promises to me, I have stepped out of the boat, so to speak and decided to believe and declare my healing. He did not give me a timeline or say I would not have to go through this painful experience. But I believe He promised that I will live and be able to sing, dance and celebrate in the days ahead. Along the way, I am learning and growing and becoming ready to be useful. In this journey that I did not want to embark on, I have learned more than I wanted to know about many things. I feel I have become qualified to speak up and speak out. With that in mind, let me share some of my thoughts.

I respect neurologists for their in-depth knowledge of neurology, but in my experience, this very knowledge and segmentation within the whole scope of medicine and health gives them a disadvantage regarding finding a cure for ALS. I do not have a chip on my shoulder; I have had good experiences with several neurologists. They were very knowledgeable, kind and helpful, yet their frame of reference was very traditional and limited to helping me as my body degraded; they would argue that I don’t know the science, but I would argue that they were not trained to look for the roots of disease or to look at the whole picture of a person’s health. In fact, modern western medicine as a whole is aimed at diagnosing and managing diseases by treating symptoms, instead of finding and fixing the underlying causes. The wonders of modern medicine are indeed wonderful, yet valuable things have been lost along the way.

My current neurologist is very adept at helping people with medications and medical trials and ultimately helps patients as they die to experience less suffering. He is also helpful for working to get durable medical goods via insurance. However, he is not open to the idea that anyone can heal from ALS. He is unwilling to think that things like nutrition, alternative treatments and detox could extend life or function, let alone cause reversal of symptoms. I asked him about the reversals Dr Bedlack, a neurologist that has dedicated his life work to documenting proven ALS reversals, has documented and my doctor said he has been doing this a long time and never seen any reversals. His view is that Dr. Bedlack is misinformed or delusional and the cases must have been misdiagnosed, even though each case is vetted by strict standards to ensure the diagnosis was real. (There are sixty documented reversals with stringent qualifications to prove the original diagnosis and probably forty undocumented reversals.)

To me, whether misdiagnosed or not, to hear of people with the same symptoms that have overcome the odds gives people hope. Hope is a powerful thing, as seen in the positive effect of placebos. Hope extends life. Having something to work towards also gives purpose. People living with ALS or ALS symptoms need something to work towards even if it’s a long shot. As I know from experience, it is very demoralizing to have nothing helpful to do as you see your life slipping away from you. I have found a better outlook and quality of life since I ditched the prognosis and decided to work on my health.

People in the medical system seem have their hands tied. They are bound by rules as well as financial obligations that, in my opinion, are counterproductive to actually helping people. Whether by coercion or choice, most neurologists downplay anything outside their framework of experience and rarely look outside of the box. Some neurologists tip their hat at nutrition and other natural options that could help, but as a whole, they do not. In my opinion, experience and pride in higher education can blind a professional to amazing, hopeful statistics and real-life cases of healing and recovery. Pride, politics and monetary gain are causing people to be exploited. How can people who believe there is no hope still extend hope to people for a silver bullet or eventual miracle drug? That seems rather two-faced, and money driven to me. As a side note, my neurologist admitted that his scope is only neurology, and he barely remembers the other stuff he learned in med school. Therefore, I seriously wonder how he can call himself an authority on a complex problem that is interconnected with several body systems and variable causes and set himself against Dr. Bedlack’s findings. I really appreciate Dr. Bedlack’s willingness to go against the flow and look outside of his own field to help find solutions for people.

In my journey, I have stumbled upon several things outside of mainstream medicine that have helped me. Although controversial, energy/frequency medicine, which I was cautioned against, has been quite effective for emotional cleansing and retraining my cells and retuning my body’s frequencies. In addition to my neurologist and his team, I have also utilized a health coach that has been helpful as well as a functional medical doctor and naturopathic doctor for specific needs. I have found that taking responsibility for my health and educating myself is paramount. Nutrition, emotional healing, positive environment, supportive family, friends and caregivers and time in nature support health and vitality, I would say, even more than depending on doctors, no matter what type.

Early on, I heard about a group called HealingALS.org which is educating people and working very hard to change the landscape of medicine, specifically for ALS. I virtually attended their 2022 conference where I heard numerous speakers and saw eleven real life cases of people who overcame this disease. I got to hear directly from them about their recovery. Through that conference and subsequent research, I have become much more open minded about how disease is caused and how to bring systematic healing. I will try to break down some of what I learned.

First, I will explain what ALS actually is in layman’s terms. It is is also called NMD or neuromuscular disease. Our intricate bodies are daily inundated with factors that bombard our systems and our bodies must fight to maintain health and homeostasis, which they normally do a good job of. In the case of ALS, an overload of neurotoxins* wreak havoc on the electrical system of the body where the neurons and muscles link up. There is no one cause.…heavy metals, mold and mycotoxins, Lyme disease and co-infections, stuck emotions and most likely several of these various illnesses factors contribute to the disease, as well as an inability to release toxins. Communication is impaired and the links die due to short-circuiting of the electrical current. The muscles atrophy because they no longer get the signal to move or fire.

Every case presents differently with the progression of symptoms but, ultimately, all the muscles shut down. Eventually death occurs from one of two causes; either due to starvation because a person can no longer chew or swallow or they die from not being able to breathe because the diaphragm muscles no longer work. A feeding tube and ventilator/trach will prolong life indefinitely, unless a person get pneumonia or some other complication. Along the way, there is also the torture of becoming totally helpless and dependent upon others for care and of no longer being able to speak. A perfectly normal person with cognitive abilities, a full life and good health gets to watch as their freedom and expression slip away, and they literally become trapped inside themselves. Emotionally, it’s a lot to take and it’s humiliating. The will to live in that condition is very challenging.

The group called ‘Healing ALS’ is dedicated to helping people find answers and provide a network of like-minded support. For people struggling with a diagnosis of ALS, I recommend reading the testimonies, listening to the many informative videos and taking the 47 Steps to Healing ALS’ training course. There are other websites and books by people that have successfully beat the disease or been healed miraculously that you can also find and read to bolster your faith and resolve and gain knowledge of what has helped others. Then roll up your sleeves and get to work.

There are various factors and healing modalities that can help.…supplements, nutrition and water intake, bowel cleansing, functional medical tests, homeopathy, energy medicine, and the list goes on …the healings group shares things that have helped other reversals and why. There is so much information, it’s a bit overwhelming but I highly recommend delving into it. It’s up to you to find and choose what works for your unique needs. You get to be in control of something for a change and the pursuit of understanding and impacting your health can become your mission. If nothing else, you will benefit from a better understanding of nutrition and other health topics and feel better in general and more in control of your situation. Ultimately, you might even find healing and normal life are within your grasp. Open your mind and eyes and quit listening to the negative, hopeless voices around you. That is half the battle!

I have included a link for your convenience, but I am in no way compensated for sharing this:

ALS Reversals

You may ask why I haven’t had a reversal of symptoms yet, if know so much. I would say it’s because the systems are complex, and it takes time, hard work and dedication to see something reversed that is so substantial. It took years to become sick and it takes time to regenerate and heal. Time, effort, outlook and money are factors. I am doing what I can while balancing a busy life and I am using my intuition to focus on the things that matter most. I probably could be doing more testing to uncover all the underlying issues and to eliminate them and to provide healing measures for my body, but I am doing what I can. I do know I experience joy, peace and blessing because of the emotional cleansing I have done, I have a very strong immune system and have barely been sick in four years due to nutrition and supplements, and I have a strong desire to participate in life and mental clarity and awareness. I have hardly any pain or muscle cramps or fascillations at this time and my body has maintained a slow decline and plateau instead of rapid decline. I know of others diagnosed when I was that are already dead. Here I am, able to participate in family outings and activities without fatigue and I enjoy life despite my limitations. I have experienced loving support which helps a lot and I focus on staying encouraged in the midst of the struggle. My children are a strong reason for not giving up and my relationship with God has sustained me.

I have learned much on my journey through this apparent illness. I refuse to be a victim and have become stronger and gained more of my voice through losing it. I realize now more than ever; I have things to offer and I am not about to give up. My children get to observe and learn from me how to be brave, resilient contributors to society and that is the legacy I am giving them.

As a side note, mobility and communication devices and smart home technology help a lot for day-to-day life for those fortunate to have insurance or financial means or funding assistance. Tons of money and/or family support or government subsidy is also required for adequate caregiving throughout the ALS journey. Without that, it can be hard to go on, not only for the person with ALS but for those closest to them who deplete their energy and resources every day. It is essential to have support both for the person who has ALS and for those closest to them. The generosity and support of family, friends, groups and strangers has greatly helped during my ALS journey and helped my family to get through the difficulties we have been facing. We are deeply grateful for the support and love!