The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1907-02-15
She wrenched Neck Into Place.

ALLENTOWN, Pa, February 3.-To
be stretched upon bed of sickness for
nearly 10 years, practically helpless, often
suffering great and 'incurable" pain, only
to be cured of it all by accident, is an ex-
perience unique. Suddenly, with snap
and shock, with intense agony wrench
ing her frame like powerful electric shocks,
followed by Inconsistencies, from which
she emerged to find the grasp of supposed
paralysis loosened, Miss Alice Young real
lied that her cure was wonderful one
Slow and steady convalescence until health
practically restored completed this strange
page from the history of patient suffering
endured by her-an experience which,
fortunately, has few parallels in the annals
of human afliction. Great as have been
her sufferings, the victory of mind over
matter, the potentiality of the will, are no
less manifest now.
"The greatest test to which my moral
and physical courage was subjected was
when my physicians for the first time COM
manded me to walk. Only those who
have not touched the floor in 10 years
know what that MEANS" said Miss Young
in an interview.
In 1894 Miss Young, while standing on
a stepladder tying up honeysuckles slipped
and fell. Stoutly built, she landed so
heavily that her left arm was torn out of
its socket and hung by the muscles. Then
began period of suffering for Miss Young,
who is the daughter of the late E. j.
Young, for many years superintendent of
schools for. .Lehigh county.
The doctors succeeded in reducing the
fracture, but IA clot of blood pressed some
where upon nerve center, and slowly,
but surely, creeping paralysis set in, until,
on New Year morning, 1896, she found
herself unable to rise when she attempted
to get out of bed she was destined to Oc-
cupy until nine and half years later.
For four years and half she was per-
fectly helpless, except that she could move
her right hand and arm and her head.
One day she discovered that she could
move the fingers of her left hand Her
joy was so great that she tainted. Shortly
afterwards her nurse, as if the cup of the
patients suffering was not yet full, in
moving her out of bed let her drop on the
floor. When she was picked up she
found her neck and head helpless, and at
the base of the neck big lump appeared.
Unless propped up by pillows her head
rolled helplessly from side to side.
In this pitiable condition she lay for
four years, cheerful, patient and resigned.
She delighted to see visitors, and kept
count of them all One week she had
120, and in one year she entertained 1900
callers The word entertained is used
advisedly, for that is what she did. A
woman who herself had gone through a
severe affliction once said 81 went to
comfort and cheer her, but [ soon found
that it was Miss Young who was comfort
ing me, though my affliction was light
compared to hers.
When Miss Young found that she had
partial control of the fingers of her left
hand she took up the study of the manu-
facture of laces, embroidery and other fine
needlework, and it was not long before she
became an expert, with this as her chief
means of support, and today she has all
the work she can attend to.
Que day, suffering as usual from intense
headache, she grasped her head in her
arms and in her pain gave it peculiar
twist and wrench There was a sudden
shock, snap like man swapping his fin
gers; wrenching pains shot through her
entire frame, and she became unconscious.
When she recovered her senses her first
thought was of that lump, and on reach
ing back she found it was gone, and from
that moment on she had complete control
of her head and the beginning of her res
toration to health had set in.
An osteopathic physician was then call
ed in and he placed her under treatment.
So sensitive were the nerves and muscles
of her legs that at first even the slightest
manipulation caused her such agony that
she tainted Only her unconquerable de-
termination and invincible will enabled
her to undergo the ordeal, and slowly but
surely strength returned, until the never
to-be forgotten day arrived when, with
Cuc dlu VI h0i puySiSioh, Dho "oo ooiO ~
walk outdoors. She was taken a short
distance from her house to an elevation
from which she could see a magnificent
stretch of landscape, with the Blue Noun
tains lifting their green SUBMITS into the
deeper blue of the horizon.
"Never did the Garden of Eden present
fairer vision to Adam and Eve than the
view which greeted my eyes on that day
over year ago, after all those years and
years of weary pain and suffering r she
said.
She had never seen an electric car, and
when, in the morning, she saw car ap.
preaching she screamed with terror at the
monstrous sight.
Today she needs only the use of crutch
in walking, and the years of her imprison
ment are forgotten in the joys of her re-
covery The neat little fat which she
occupies is daintily furnished and sur
rounded by specimens of her extraordinary
skill and talent with the needle.