January 29, 2002
MeningitisGREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS from Arnold's Way!
Sweet November. The passing of May
Bed ridden, lying still. There is no hope
Twinkling of the nose. Feeling in the leg
Doctors aghast. How holy is thy name
Welcome strangers to the new hope express
Fasting may just be the way
It's a Sunday afternoon. It's just like every other day except for the
fact that I, Arnold, am in my third day of fasting at the Tanglewood Wellness
Center in Bethesda, Maryland. That's a story in itself. How I got here,
why I came here. But let's save that for another time. This week's
newsletter is about meningitis, human spirit, and the will to thrive, not merely
survive. I chose this week's topic at around 3:00am on Sunday.
Waking up suddenly it dawned on me that this is it. There could be no
other choice.
This week's newsletter is about Lliam. It's not only about his will to
survive but also his ability to thrive against all odds placed on him by his
limp body, his paralysis, and his inability to talk. He was bed ridden for
one and a half years. His only hope, according to the medical field, was
no hope. Doctors stated that he would be a vegetable for the rest of his
life. These are the words I hear at 3:00am. These were the words that came
exploding out of my mind. These are the words that brought me to anger and
to joy and to feeling an obligation to write Lliam's story.
As taken from the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide, "Meningitis
is inflammation of the meninges, the three membranes that encase and protect the
brain and spinal cord." Sounds serious, and it is. As we read
on it states, "Infection usually originates in another part of the body and
travels via the blood stream to the meninges." I look at the
definition, and I think of the conversation that Lliam and I had. Eight
years later, still recuperating, he explains.
Lliam was born determined to follow his passion, to set a path that was quite
the norm for a young Irishman. Being muscular, tall, strong, and quite
handsome with a passion for adventure he joined the French Foreign Legion.
He served 7 years until he grew tired of that and chose to explore another
passion. Diving. This time he went to school, but somewhere in
between school and the freedom of a new life, life circumstances took a dramatic
turn for him. I was going to say tragic, but as I look at Lliam it seems
impossible to say that. I look at his face, I look at his eyes, and I look
at his teeth. I hear his voice, I hear his determination, and I hear his
path for the future. Lliam, in spite of his severe shortcoming, is a man
at peace, looking forward to each moment of his life.
He continues telling his story of going on a routine visit to the dentist. It is
nothing really out of the ordinary. He gets an anesthesia to deaden the
gums so the dentist could work on them. When the work is done he takes a
bus home. These are all ordinary events that happen over and over in this
country and in the world. They were a series of events that were so simple
that very few people would even hesitate to do it. He was going to the
dentist for an ordinary cleaning. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending
on your perspective, within an hour, Lliam's world, the world he knew, the world
he expected, would change for ever. He had an attack of bacterial
meningitis.
In the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide it states, "Bacterial
meningitis, as opposed to viral meningitis which causes mild symptoms and clears
up on its own within a week, is more severe and can develop within a few
hours." In Lliam's case it was exactly one hour after the dentist's
visit and after the anesthesia. I continue to read the Harvard text.
"Severe neck pain and stiffness particularly when touching the chin to the
chest can be followed quickly by confusion, loss of consciousness, and
death."
Lliam developed all those symptoms including almost death. His landlady
found him unconscious in his room three days later. Needless to say he was
very sick. Lliam spent the next one and a half years in the hospital.
There is no known treatment for bacterial meningitis other than antibiotics,
which did not work. He lost his speech due to the inflammation in his
meninges. Lliam also lost the use of his legs due to the same inflammation
affecting his spinal cord. To Lliam it became the brightest of times not
the darkest. He began the road to transformation. He thought about
the dentist and the anesthesia. He wondered why meningitis, why me,
why such a complete devastation of a man's body in one hour?
Lliam, lying down in the bed, began verbalizing not quite clearly but in an
understandable voice. Listeria was what did him in. I listen
carefully, for listeria was a foreign word to me. He explains. I
listen. Our chat lasted no more than 15 minutes since both he and I were
really focused on our own recovery, which required as much rest as
possible. I was on my third day of water fasting and Lliam was on his
fifth day. We finished our conversation, and I returned to my room, opened
up the Food Revolution by John Robbins. The first headline, the very first
word of the page that I opened to was "listeria." Was it an
accident? Maybe, maybe not. It stated, "Listeria is another of
the food-borne pathogens not to be taken lightly. Ninety-two percent of
people who become infected require hospitalization and 20% die."
I stopped momentarily trying to recall Lliam's theory about how he contracted
meningitis. "The anesthesia shot somehow it awakened the listeria
pathogen, which was lying dormant in my digestive tract. It then proceeded
to enter the bloodstream and caused my brain damage." Just a theory,
but Lliam was in the hospital for one and a half years, lying prone with no
movement and no speech. There was no other option but to look deep within
his soul for answers about why me, why here, and what will tomorrow bring?
The answers came soon enough during his stay at the hospital in which he had no
movement until that one day. While lying prone and unable to make any
audible words other than groans and moans, Lliam discovered nirvana, the highest
of all possibilities. It was the possibility of complete healing. On that
fateful day Lliam's hand slowly inclined forward to his nose. That was
hugely significant. There was feeling and movement there that he hadn't
experienced for a long time. At that moment, he knew that everything in
due time would be OK.
Lliam told the doctor about his theory when his speech got somewhat better, but
no one really listened since it was just too hard to fathom. Listeria,
according to the Food Revolution, "thrives on the inside walls of
refrigerators where it can grow from just a few cells to millions in a matter of
weeks," and can cause meningitis. I close my eyes and wonder if I am
in harm's way. Are my children, is my wife? We delve into what food
creates this deadly pathogen. The Center for Science in the Public
Interest "advises the public to avoid the food most likely to carry it -
soft cheese, rare meat and poultry, foods containing raw eggs, raw shellfish,
ready to eat hot dogs and lunch meats (unless heated to steaming) and
unpasteurized juices."
Looking at the list, looking at the implications, my first question would be way
aren't more people contracting this deadly disease? The second would be
why isn't somebody or some group voicing serious concerns? Well, they are.
In the year 2000 the following public interest groups voiced their concern: The
Center for Science in the Public Interest Safe Tables our Priority, The American
Public Health Association, The Consumer Federation of America, etc. They all
called for regulation in the meat industry that would require warning labels on
all hot dogs and all deli meat stating that they may be contaminated with
listeria. They also called for mandatory testing of these products to see
if indeed they were infected. The American Meat Industry refused to submit
to both requests. A Mean Institute spokeswoman stated, "We don't
agree with end-product testing as a way of measuring food safety." The
American Meat Institute also pledged their resolute opposition for having any
such warning labels on their product.
Where does that leave the American public? If there is no warning there is
no fear. There is only ignorance. There is a belief that prevails in
the American society that the food they eat is of high quality. They
believe that no harm can be done to them by their indulgence. According to
Alternative Medicine, written by 380 leading physicians, "Bacteria
resistance to antibiotics is a rapidly emerging problem with potentially
disastrous consequences." According to Leo Galland, M.D., "It is
no accident that the most allergic generation in history has been raised on
antibiotics." According to Carol Jessop, M.A., Clinical Professor at
the University of California, "80% of (her) patients who suffer from
chronic fatigue syndrome had a history of recurrent antibiotic treatment as a
child, adolescent or adult."
So we think about Lliam, his on going bout with meningitis, his treatment, and
his lack of any physical advance in almost a year and a half of treatment.
We think about reported cases of meningitis among children, among high school
students, among college student, and among adults. We think about the
medical community's reaction. What should we do? We think about the
heightened sense of fright when someone comes down with meningitis. We
think about the public statement of calming for this supposedly deadly and
contagious disease. We hear about the use of antibiotics as a common form
of treatment. We hear about the ideas about mass vaccinations to
successfully contain this supposedly deadly disease. We don't hear the words of
listeria, which is a known pathogen. We don't hear the words of what foods
cause this pathogen - the soft cheese, the rare meats and poultry, the foods
that contain raw eggs, raw shellfish, or the ready to eat hot dogs and lunch
meat that haven't been properly heated. The American Meat Institute has
squashed that possibility. When a person comes down with viral or
bacterial meningitis the medical community blames some obscure virus or bacteria
that miraculously appears in our bodies.
These are the words Lliam heard for years. These are the words that were told to
him while he was lying in bed for a year and a half. According to the
medical experts, the only treatment available to him was antibiotics and bed
rest, which is just what Lliam did for a year and a half without any real
improvement. Lliam, knowing these results, took matters into his own hands
and began his long journey to a sure recovery.
Lliam is on his 49th day of water fasting. He is lying in his bed at the
Tanglewood Center where I am also staying. I am in my fifteenth day.
The fact that I was able to understand him was a miracle. It was a miracle
to him and a miracle to me. It was amazing that he had been able to
enunciate his words let alone talk in sentences. Lliam is telling his
story after leaving the hospital. He reflects on the saga of returning
home, the saga of leaving home, the saga of a proud warrior being reduced to a
bed ridden patient. There is no remorse. There is no regret.
Lliam speaks of only hope, only of a bright future. He remembers the
day-to-day struggles of barely being able to talk and barely being able to
walk. Each step is a struggle. Each step is a victory. Each
step is a closer step to total stardom. Lliam lived 7 years with small
victories and slow enunciation. He learned to use weaknesses as his
strengths. He supported himself by creating friends, by being himself, by
saving money for all, and by investing in a network marketing saving for all
telephone users. So Lliam speaks and I listen. He talks of hearing
about raw food in May of 2001 in Ireland from the keynote speak Loren
Lockman. The speech was so powerful, so true, so positively for Lliam that
Lliam traveled again to hear Loren speak 2 months later. At this time
Lliam makes the push for optimum health, optimum possibilities, and optimum
self-testing. He is completing a 50-day water fast.
So Lliam, ex-foreign legion, ex-special forces, ex-diver, ex-patient, lied
dormant for one and a half years and then spent another 6 years in a
semi-invalid state as seen by him, not me. He comes to American from
Ireland on crutches. Every movement was a victory won by sheer
determination to so called make good in a world that played a cruel trick on
him. It was on this premise that I was awe struck. It was not by his
sentences of slow eloquence, not by his presence of peace in a body that was no
more than 125 pounds in a 6'3" frame, but of his hope. Lliam talked
about his feelings, his future, his past, and his warnings of things he learned,
things he saw. It was a story not so much about him but about the
possibilities. Lliam spoke about the future after fasting 50 days, after
feeding for 3 weeks to gain his strength back. By the way, he should gain
20 pounds of the 40 he lost. Lliam spoke of returning to school, studying
philosophy for the next three years, supporting himself by selling telephone
network marketing, and then beginning to study Natural Hygiene to help people
like himself who want to help themselves to become better people.
So I look at Lliam. I look at his presence, his calmness, and his peace,
and somehow know that all things are possible.
I thank you for your time.
Arnold
References
Food Revolution by John Robbins
Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide
Interviews with:
Loren Lockman, Director of Tanglewood Wellness Center
Lliam Cullinane (www.lliamcullinane.com)
Stay tuned for articles on meningitis and breast cancer and leukemia
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February 23-24: Loren Lockman, director of Tanglewood Wellness Center, will be
leading a course on raw food prep from 5-9pm. Reservations are required.
The cost is will be determined. Please call for registration.
215-483-2266.
Living Food Diet Workshop Series! 4 Saturdays from 10am to 12noon.
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April 12-14: Arnold's Way and Matt Goodman will be sponsoring a Yoga Raw
Food Retreat at the Lodge in Eagle Mere, PA. The beauty of the lodge
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breakfast. Please pre-register.
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course from 8:15 to 9:45 at the store. Learn how to make pizza, chili,
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There's a raw food Pot Luck dinner on the last Wednesday of the month at the
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Greenwood has 2 pot luck dinners each month, on the second and fourth SUNDAYS,
from 2-5 p.m. Call Tom for more info at (610) 623-5656.
Loreta Vainius is sponsoring a Living Food support group. (610) 648-0241