“I had come back from holiday in America and started to get strange feelings. My vision was getting blurred and I couldn’t explain what was happening. I was admitted for tests at Sandwell Hospital for over a week.
“While I lay in bed on the ward, I was worried and started to pray, asking the Lord to heal me. I must have been praying very loudly but I didn’t care; I wanted to get better.
“The doctors confirmed that I had picked up an infection while I was away but they didn’t know what to do to. Only two hospitals in the UK could treat me. I was transferred to Charing Cross Hospital in London. I was there for eight weeks and thought that everything had come to an end for me. My vision was still blurred and I was suffering from fatigue, feeling sick, losing weight and having nosebleeds.
“I kept praying and sent a message back to St Phillips to ask them to pray for me. I was at Charing Cross for eight weeks and prayed every day for my healing and gradually things started to change. I was getting my strength back and the symptoms were subsiding.
“The doctors eventually found out what was wrong – my body was over-producing red blood cells as a result of an infection, a random thing that happens to one in thousands of people. When I was well enough, I was discharged and continued to improve with outpatient treatment in West Bromwich.
“Ten years later, I can still do what and go where I like and my eyes are great! I only wear glasses for close reading but I don’t need them otherwise, which is a blessing because I am in my late 50s! I know that the way my eyes are and the way I feel now has to be down to the healing power of God.”
Born in Kingston, Jamaica and brought here with her parents aged 3, Louise has attended St Phillips Church of England in Beeches Road, for over 40 years. She is certain that her upbringing has a role in her healing.
“I was brought up to believe in God; I know that some people will have a lot of doubts about faith and see it as something like superstition, but it’s nothing like that. God has made Himself real to me. I believe in the power of prayer.”
