Story by Dennis Erekson
Painting by Dennis Erekson
In the late 1950s I was five years old living in Provo, Utah, with my family, and attending kindergarten.
I was a robust, healthy boy, and enjoyed doing all sorts of little boy activities outside. Then one Sunday morning all that changed. When I awoke and got out of bed, I wondered what happened to my legs. My father had already gone to Priesthood meeting, so I called “Mommy! Mommy! I can’t walk.” My mother hurried into the bedroom to see what was the matter, and I showed her that I could stand on one leg and hop, but I couldn’t put any weight on my right leg. But with this I didn’t have any fever and I wasn’t in any pain. I simply couldn’t stand up and walk.
(Stating that I had no fever nor pain is pointing out that polio, and other diseases, that were a problem at that time, were not a probable cause.)
My mother and I didn’t go to any of the church meetings that day, and my mom either carried me or I crawled on the floor. A skillful orthopedic surgeon named Dr. Kezarian lived in our ward and was a good friend of my parents. My dad phoned him that evening, explained my problem, and asked his advice. He suggested that my mother take me in to see him for an examination. So the next morning at 9:00 A. M. we went to the doctor’s office where he examined me and x-rayed my hips. After the x-ray film was developed, the doctor had my mother look at the x-rays, and he pointed out to her where the hip ball on my right hip had cracks and was disintegrating. He then told her that I had a rare hip disease that most often occurs in boys, but the cause was unknown and there was no known cure. He suggested that my mother take me to a medical supply facility and have me measured for a special kind of brace and some special shoes. (The brace was a bar that attached to the inside of the shoes and splits the legs apart.) He thought that because of finding this disease in its early stages and with the brace and special shoes, along with proper therapy, I most likely could get over this disease by the time I was seventeen or eighteen years old. So my parents signed me up for the therapy sessions three times a week and ordered the brace and shoes. Doing all this took over a week.
To compound the problem my mother was experiencing poor health, and she realized that giving me the necessary special attention, plus caring for the rest of the family, would be almost more than she could do. Also, my parents realized this would be a very costly, long ordeal (getting health insurance through an employer was several years away). My parents prayed fervently night and day. Then my father thought it would be a good idea to call upon the power of the Priesthood and have me administered to. My parents thought it would be best for them to fast before having the blessing. My father phoned Brother Clark, the Stake Patriarch, and asked if he would administer to me. He agreed to do so, and an appointment time was arranged which was over two days away. My father fasted those two days, and my mother fasted one day. At Brother Clark’s home Dad anointed me with oil and Brother Clark gave me a blessing, but in the blessing nothing was said about me being healed.
I was quite a happy little boy and laughed and giggled easily, so during the blessing I giggled the whole time. This concerned my mother quite a bit because she thought we weren’t in the proper frame of mind to receive a blessing. I told her that while my Dad and Brother Clark had their hands on my head it felt like my head was being tickled, and I couldn’t help giggling. Dad carried me out to the car; we drove home, and I went to bed.
The next day was Friday and Dad went to work early as usual. When I awoke and got up, I called, “Mommy! Mommy! I can walk”, so she hurried into the bedroom to see me. The time when I first became ill until this day was about two weeks. I had not received any medication, not even an aspirin, and had not experienced any pain; it was just that I couldn’t walk. But now here I was standing on both legs able to walk. I was so excited. I said, “I’ve got legs, I can walk! I’ve got legs, I can walk!” My mother hugged me and cried and cried, she was so happy. She hurried to the phone and called my father at work with the good news.
I got dressed to go to kindergarten and while I waited for the bus, with the other children, I kept jumping up and down moving my legs and telling them, “I’ve got legs! I’ve got legs!” I was bursting with happiness. My kindergarten teacher was a good friend of my mother’s and asked what happened. I replied, “I had a blessing and Heavenly Father made me better.”
The following Sunday my Dad saw Dr. Kezarian at church and told him what had happened. He said that probably I was healed and that if so, it was a miracle. He also said that if I could lift my leg high, as though I was going to step up on a chair, and while in that position, turn it out and set my foot down, I was probably all better. When we got home, my Dad asked me to try that and after doing it once, without any problem, I went around the house most of the afternoon doing that movement. The doctor also suggested that my mother take me back to his office so he could x-ray my hip. The next morning, exactly two weeks after the first x-rays, the doctor x-rayed my hip again. When the x-ray film was developed, he showed my mother the two x-rays side by side. In the first x-ray she could see the cracks in the hip ball, but in the new x-ray it showed a perfectly healthy hip socket and ball.
In the following years I’ve participated in many sports and other activities, and I’m very grateful to our Father in Heaven for this wonderful blessing.
Most of this account was written by my father when I asked him, a couple years before his death, to give me an account of the blessing, since I remembered very little, only not being able to walk, being carried out of the Patriarch’s home, and seeing my mother and the doctor comparing the x-rays after I was healed.
Penny Creek Ward Friends 