and painful as plasma and white blood cells move from the blood into the injured areas to do their healing work. The immune system takes over with a cascade of biochemical events that eventually lead to improved health. The sooner you stop the hurtful behavior, the more quickly and completely you can recover.
AC OLOSSAL E XAMPLE OF S PONTANEOUS H EALING
As a medical doctor I have had the opportunity to observe self-generated, spontaneous healing thousands of times. Yet nothing makes a greater impression than the miraculous recovery that follows massive trauma. During my early years of medical training at The Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii, a young man mangled by a motorcycle accident was pushed through the emergency room doors one evening. A splintered bone poked out through his left thigh. A 12-inch gash across his left forearm streamed bright red blood. The skin on his left cheek and forehead were scraped off from his slide across the pavement. X-rays showed a skull fracture and many broken ribs. I feared he would not survive.
The young man’s bones were straightened and his wounds cleaned and sewn right there in the ER. But it was his body’s ability to repair this massive damage that ultimately allowed him to heal.
The healing processes began almost immediately after the accident. Platelets and blood-clotting proteins coagulated his blood and plugged thousands of leaking vessels. During the hours that followed, his white blood cells migrated into his open wounds to defend them against infection. Fluids collected in his torn flesh and around his broken bones. Swelling in his thigh, shoulder, and face lasted for weeks, helping to hold his bones in place. Pain kept him still, preventing movements that could cause further injury.
Soon, the damaged tissues began to restore themselves. Cells called fibroblasts laid down new structural material in the soft tissue, with osteoblasts doing the same for his broken bones. Over the coming months, replicator cells produced new muscle, skin, bone, and scars, remodeling his wounds so that his body would look and function nearly as it had before the accident.
Within a week of his near-death incident, this brave young man was up and walking on crutches. After 10 days, the stitches came out of his thigh and arm. In about 6 weeks, the scabs fell off his face, revealing delicate pink skin with new hair follicles filling in his beard. His broken ribs were stable and painless after 7 weeks, and after 3 months he was walking on his own without a limp. The pain had mostly passed, but the memories were still raw; he sold the motorcycle to avoid risking a repeat of his massive injury.
The patient’s 3-month journey—from broken, bleeding, and near death to nearly completely restored—was nothing short of miraculous. His injuries were due to a single collision of immense force. With the chronic diseases I treat, the damage is the result of thousands of micro-pinprick-size injuries to the arteries, joints, and other tissues over prolonged periods. However, although acute and chronic conditions differ with regard to the force, frequency, and means of impact, the mechanisms of repair are largely the same.
I reasoned at that time, and I understand now, that if a body can heal from an enormous assault on its systems as I witnessed with this motorcycle rider’s recovery, given the chance, it can heal from most anything—even serious, chronic diseases like heart disease, arthritis, and sometimes even cancer. I’ve seen it over and over again with my patients. Watching the body spontaneously recuperate from these conditions seems like a miracle each and every time.
----
S TAR M C D OUGALLER:
Robert Cross, Attorney, Sacramento, California
I was nervous as the day approached for my follow-up radioactive heart scan. The previous year’s test showed a large area where too little blood was flowing into my heart. I had chest pain while taking
AC OLOSSAL E XAMPLE OF S PONTANEOUS H EALING
As a medical doctor I have had the opportunity to observe self-generated, spontaneous healing thousands of times. Yet nothing makes a greater impression than the miraculous recovery that follows massive trauma. During my early years of medical training at The Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii, a young man mangled by a motorcycle accident was pushed through the emergency room doors one evening. A splintered bone poked out through his left thigh. A 12-inch gash across his left forearm streamed bright red blood. The skin on his left cheek and forehead were scraped off from his slide across the pavement. X-rays showed a skull fracture and many broken ribs. I feared he would not survive.
The young man’s bones were straightened and his wounds cleaned and sewn right there in the ER. But it was his body’s ability to repair this massive damage that ultimately allowed him to heal.
The healing processes began almost immediately after the accident. Platelets and blood-clotting proteins coagulated his blood and plugged thousands of leaking vessels. During the hours that followed, his white blood cells migrated into his open wounds to defend them against infection. Fluids collected in his torn flesh and around his broken bones. Swelling in his thigh, shoulder, and face lasted for weeks, helping to hold his bones in place. Pain kept him still, preventing movements that could cause further injury.
Soon, the damaged tissues began to restore themselves. Cells called fibroblasts laid down new structural material in the soft tissue, with osteoblasts doing the same for his broken bones. Over the coming months, replicator cells produced new muscle, skin, bone, and scars, remodeling his wounds so that his body would look and function nearly as it had before the accident.
Within a week of his near-death incident, this brave young man was up and walking on crutches. After 10 days, the stitches came out of his thigh and arm. In about 6 weeks, the scabs fell off his face, revealing delicate pink skin with new hair follicles filling in his beard. His broken ribs were stable and painless after 7 weeks, and after 3 months he was walking on his own without a limp. The pain had mostly passed, but the memories were still raw; he sold the motorcycle to avoid risking a repeat of his massive injury.
The patient’s 3-month journey—from broken, bleeding, and near death to nearly completely restored—was nothing short of miraculous. His injuries were due to a single collision of immense force. With the chronic diseases I treat, the damage is the result of thousands of micro-pinprick-size injuries to the arteries, joints, and other tissues over prolonged periods. However, although acute and chronic conditions differ with regard to the force, frequency, and means of impact, the mechanisms of repair are largely the same.
I reasoned at that time, and I understand now, that if a body can heal from an enormous assault on its systems as I witnessed with this motorcycle rider’s recovery, given the chance, it can heal from most anything—even serious, chronic diseases like heart disease, arthritis, and sometimes even cancer. I’ve seen it over and over again with my patients. Watching the body spontaneously recuperate from these conditions seems like a miracle each and every time.
----
S TAR M C D OUGALLER:
Robert Cross, Attorney, Sacramento, California
I was nervous as the day approached for my follow-up radioactive heart scan. The previous year’s test showed a large area where too little blood was flowing into my heart. I had chest pain while taking
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