Sid: And you know because I’m in such a world of seeing the reality of the word of God and in contact constantly with people that have miracles that my brain just goes tilt when a real Christian says, miracles are not for today. But unfortunately half the Christians in America probably believe that, and the other half some see miracles some don’t that’s not the way the Bible reads. And I have a friend by the name of Delores Winder who, in my opinion had one of the greatest healing miracles of the twentieth century; one of the greatest healing miracles that I have ever, ever investigated. One of the best documented healing miracles that those skeptics that say healing and miracles are not for today get ready to change your view. Delores back in 1956 you had a diagnosis of pseudoarthrosis which is really the beginning stages of osteoporosis and they finally really diagnosed it for what it was advanced osteoporosis. Which literately caused your bones to get brittle and old before their time. Did you have premonition if you will that you would be hit with such a debilitating disease?
Delores: No, I really didn’t, I was always small and thin and they called me frail, but I had a lot of broken bones when I was a child but I was a tomboy and I did a lot of things to cause broken bones. So we thought nothing of it until my spine broke down.
Sid: And what did they do to temporarily fix your spine?
Delores: Well, they did a spinal fusion and thought that it would be fine but it happened to not hold for too long and they had me on medication to strengthen the bone and then this went on and finally I had another spinal fusion done the second one by the same doctor who did the first one and he said that he was puzzled because he took some of the old bone out and could pulverize it in his hand. He said, “It seems as though it never got the nourishment it needed.” And so they had me in a body cast for a year and then put me in a brace and told me that I would never come out of the brace. And I could live that way, but it was very difficult and then the next thing I knew that fusion broke and I was doctoring all the time because they kept trying to strength everything. But the second fusion broke and they finally sent me to a specialist in Fort Worth and in the meantime until we found him, my medical doctor was giving me shots right into the spine area to stop the pain. And I was having that done every week because of the pain. And the pain medication wasn’t really working that well. Then finally they decided to do the third fusion and they went through the abdomen to do that and put the bone in from the front instead of the back and that held for about two years and then it broke again. And then I had another one done, I had four fusions done in all and was in a body cast from the time of the third fusion when they did it through the abdomen.
Sid: What was the purpose of the body cast?
Delores: My bones weren’t fragile and I couldn’t stand up very long and so they had me in a body cast and brace wouldn’t do it. So I lived in body casts the first seven years; they had me in one that was just like a regular body cast that they put on you and they would split the sides down and would put fasteners on it so they could take me out to wash me. But that was how I lived and then the last seven years the deterioration went up to the neck and the neck broke down and I had to wear a beautiful wonder Queen Anne Collar.
Sid: So you had, let me get this straight you had the body cast and the Queen Anne Collar together.
Delores: For the last seven years.
Sid: That had to be very uncomfortable to live like that.
Delores: Well, it was uncomfortable, but finally when they could not control the pain what they did was the call it percutaneous cordotomy. Instead of a cutting cordotomy where they would cut several nerves they burned out the nerve centers for the right side of my body up to my neck level. So I had no more pain on the right side.
Sid: Now, could this be reversed?
Delores: No, three doctors have to certify that you are terminal before they do it because it can never be reversed.
Sid: So this is a last resort.
Delores: Yes, this is just to make people comfortable. They don’t even do it anymore because it is so traumatic. And then finally less than a year later they did the left side, could come up a little above the waist couldn’t come higher because my heart and lungs were too bad for me to automatic breathe at that time. And so I had no feeling on the right side of my body at all.
Sid: Well, how could you walk?
Delores: Well, that was I was supposed to be in a wheelchair and we were talking about that the other day and they kept saying, “Now Delores you know that you will not be able to walk.” But I would not go into a wheel chair. And I walked with somebody holding me and me holding on to something, I couldn’t use a walker, but I would just hold on to the wall. Then so I was confined to home.
Sid: So, as I understand you kind of shuffled because you couldn’t really lift your feet up.
Delores: You didn’t know where your feet were anymore; then I had no control over body functions because I didn’t feel anything. But at least I was alive and I had the youngest son who was adopted and I just felt like Lord, I can’t die yet, he still needs me. And so finally…
Sid: Well, let me ask you a question now, “What was your belief in reference to God and in reference to healing?”
Delores: I knew nothing about healing, did not believe in it. I knew Jesus, I knew where I was going when I died and I was programmed to die; and it was fine. And I had maybe a strange way of believing, I thought because I loved Jesus and I knew that I was going to Jesus I thought that God must want me this way, or I wouldn’t be this way.
Sid: That’s almost like some people say everything happens for a purpose but they don’t realize that there’s evil in this world as well as good. And the evil does not have a good purpose, but any way.
Delores: And we also weren’t taught anything about authority or taking authority or rejecting this kind of thing, and so I knew nothing, I just went along with what was happening.
Sid: Delores, after these two percutaneous cordotomies which is basically burning out the nerve centers at the base of the brain so that you won’t have feeling and so that you won’t have the pain; and they only do this when someone is terminal. How much time did you have to live after these two operations?
Delores: Well, the doctors told me after the second one, and they did the second one through the throat and sometimes I have a problem with my voice even now at times because they paralyzed my vocal chords. But they said, “That it can’t be long so it really doesn’t matter whether you can speak or not.” So I had a hoarse whisper but they expected within two years that would be it.
Sid: Do you remember when the doctor said to you, this is it?
Delores: Yes, they asked me to go into the hospital one more time, my heart and lungs were failing and then my kidneys were closing off and I had constant kidney infection in one and the other was closed off. So they wanted to take me back in one more time because these doctors had been with me for nine years. And they said that they would like to call in another neurosurgeon and see if there is anything more that we can do. Now by this time the fusion was broken again and one bone was through the skin and stayed that way for seven months and they just had to put a patch on it for me. But we expected that it would soon be over and then the doctors told me years before that or several years before that it would be when the kidney’s close down. My heart was still stable enough to maintain me; I could only eat a little bit of chicken, Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup, toast and tea and a little piece of broiled chicken occasionally because I also had a hiatal hernia. And I finally when they checked and said, “This is it, but we need to see.” And then also they said, “Maybe we can find something out for somebody else.” So I went back in the hospital and they did all the testing and my orthopedic surgeon was a good friend came in and sat down and he started crying and I said, “What’s wrong,” and he said, “There’s nothing more we can do.” And he said. “I would do anything in this world to make you well and there’s nothing we can do.” And I said, “Ben, I’m glad it’s time.” And I said, “Can I go home to die?” And he said, “If Bill will take you.” And Bill took me home to die.
Sid: About how much time did they speculate you would have?
Delores: Just anytime.
Sid: I’ll tell you what, let’s hold that thought right there. And you can understand Mishpochah why I say “This is one of the greatest miracles I have ever heard of, totally provable, there is nothing any doctor could say…”
