by V. Virginia Vetrano, D.C., hM.D.
Living Nutrition Magazine vol. 9
Shea Noble was six years old and in kindergarten when she began having earaches and infections in both of her ears.They were not bad at that time; and her mom, Sheri, would put a warm wash rag on the afflicted ear to relieve the discomfort. With extra rest and sleep the child would soon feel better. Later on that same year the trouble grew worse; the doctor put tubes in both of Shea's ears. They were kept in her ears for a full year. Still, the problem persisted. Sheri, Shea's mother, thinks the tubes may have made her hearing worse because her ears drained constantly and there was no improvement in her condition. Shea despised having the tubes in her ears.
Shea's family were not strict Hygienists, but they always had raw fresh fruits and vegetables to eat; and they lived in a rural area in Oklahoma. The air was clean, and the three children had plenty of sunshine and space in which to grow and play. Terry, Shea's father said they tried to eat pretty well, but, "It's a tough route to go." Shea's mother, Sheri, always prepared lunches for her children to take to school. Every school lunch included a lot of raw vegetables; and at home they all ate an abundance of raw vegetables. Eating a salad every day is still a habit, even now that they are grown. " Yet," confided Sheri, " with the salads, I included a sandwich -- a hot dog, or a ham or bacon sandwich."
Even with the compromises, Shea Noble was lucky to have been born into a family that already knew about Hygiene and fasting. Her father, Terry, had fasted under my care for asthma at the age of 17, and his mother, Vera, was fasting at the same time. Terry said that his mom was always looking for a way to improve the health of her family. In an effort to keep her children and her husband healthy, she provided them with more fruits and vegetables, baked homemade bread, and sought to improve their diet in other ways as well. Shea's grandmother, Vera, and grandfather, Boyd had both fasted under my care, and Sheri had fasted at home before she became pregnant with her first child, Shea. Sheri said that after she fasted she became very fertile and got pregnant right away. After this first fast, Sheri made it a practice to fast once a year. "I realized it was good for me, so I kept it up. It helped keep me in good health." As a consequence of having a "fasting family", including her grandmother, Vera, who frequently talked about Hygiene, Shea was familiar with fasting.
Unfortunately, when Shea was about 8, after she had been through many bouts with earaches, her family observed that she did not seem to be hearing conversations at home or at school, and they began to suspect that Shea's hearing was impaired. Her second grade teacher mentioned that she thought Shea could not hear well. Her hearing problem resulted from persistent acute ear infections, which had now become chronic. During an acute crisis, they took her to the doctor again. After checking her over, the doctor said that tubes would not help her this time because the pus and matter in her ears had hardened. Hardened matter cannot drain out of the ear, he explained. Then he gave them the catastrophic news: the only thing that would save her hearing was surgery!
Shortly after receiving that news Sheri called me. She told me what the doctor had said and asked me if Shea's hearing impairment could be permanent if they did not operate on her, and whether or not I thought that fasting could help Shea. I asked a few questions about the little girl. I learned that the doctor had told them that Shea would be deaf the rest of her life if they did not permit an operation. The matter had hardened and the only way to get it out was to operate. This is also when I learned that she had already lost all hearing in one ear and that she had only 30 percent hearing in the other. They told the doctor about fasting and he said, " There is no way the body can absorb it. It is too thick."
I thought about the situation very carefully. I did not promise that Shea could recover her hearing, although I knew that many people had recovered their hearing while fasting. There was no way of knowing for sure how severe was the pathology in her middle ear. I told Sheri there was a good chance that Shea would regain her hearing by fasting. The body could probably absorb the hardened matter; and at the same time get rid of the of the chronic inflammation that is causing the continuous seepage of the ears. They wanted to know how long they would have to fast Shea and how long before they would begin noticing results. I told them that they should notice a difference in her hearing in eleven to thirteen days. The entire family was really afraid that Shea would be deaf the rest of her life. She was so young! Sheri said, "It's so hard to make decisions like that." One doctor says one thing and another one says the opposite. What do you do? I told Sheri: " At least try fasting first. You can operate later if you have to. The matter has already hardened."
Not wanting to force their daughter to fast, Terry and Sheri sat down with her and told her the problem. They let her choose which she wanted to do; to fast or to have an operation. Shea never liked the painful process of putting tubes in her ears anyway, and she did not know how much worse the operation would be; so, she chose to fast.
Sheri's children are all anti-doctor; and they would fast for any reason rather than go to the doctor. They don't like to fast either but when they realize that they have to, they do it.
So Shea, at the age of eight took the fast that saved her hearing. The family called me frequently while she was fasting. Since Shea's Grandma Vera had been studying Hygiene and fasting for years, (at one time she wanted to be a Hygienic Doctor), and since Sheri had fasted herself many times, they carefully watched over Shea and called me if there was some reaction or symptom they did not understand.
Shea fasted for six to seven days at home with her mother looking after her. But, when Sheri saw how thin her baby girl was getting she could not take it any longer. She took Shea over to Grandma Vera's house where she continued fasting. Sheri went to see her daily, but she just could not take being with her and seeing her all day long. She kept her visits short because she had a tendency to become emotional. If she showed too much concern and empathy, then Shea would have fussed more than she did. She had gotten a little fussy after the first week of fasting. Grandma Vera encouraged her, however and kept Shea fasting through 11 complete days, which was what I had estimated would be sufficient to see some improvement. I had really hoped they would fast her longer, especially since the child was not suffering. She did not vomit as most children do. She had no other symptoms at all, not even pain in her ears.
Her fast was broken at Grandma Vera's house. "You should have seen her eyes light up when she took her first sip of orange juice!" Sheri exclaimed. It was an emotion packed moment. Shea stayed at Grandma Vera's for another four or five days and then went home to Mom and Dad. Sheri said that they would have liked to be able to check on her hearing daily, but they did not have an apparatus to do so. I told them that she would continue making progress after the fast and to refrain from testing her immediately after fasting. Consequently, they scheduled an appointment to see the doctor, after the third week of feeding.
Since Shea did not fast as long as I had hoped, I gave them a very strict "break-fast" schedule and I told them to keep her resting and to feed her only raw fruits and vegetables for a full two weeks or even longer. Better hearing was noticeable before the eleventh day of her fast. But undoubtedly her hearing continued to improve while feasting on fruits and vegetables only.
Finally the day came when she was to have her ears checked. Sheri said that when the doctor tested Shea's hearing, he sat still a moment, thinking. Suddenly, he began testing her again. "It was kind of like he did not trust the results," Sheri said. Then he looked into Shea's ears and discovered that the matter had indeed been absorbed. The doctor was amazed that she had regained her hearing and that the hardened inflammatory material had been absorbed. The doctor was always nice, but from that moment on he treated their family with great respect. Shea's body had absorbed all the debris in both middle ears. The inflammation and infection had completely subsided. Since her fast, Shea has never again suffered with middle ear infections.
Shea is now 22 years old and is doing fine. Shea began singing and playing music with the family band after her fast when she was just eight years old. They are professionally called "The Nobles" and have a beautiful CD album out called "Slow Glowin' Dream." They play bluegrass, country western, and gospel music.
When speaking of fasting, with conviction like a preacher, Terry, Shea's father tells doubting people, "Once you do it and see that it actually works, you cannot say that it does not work!"
http://www.livingnutrition.com/rawfoodarticles/hearing-restored.html
