(Minghui.org) Li Guizhen, an elderly Falun Gong practitioner from my village, used to suffer from the after-effects of inflammation of the brain. She miraculously recovered after practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Li is illiterate because she didn't get to attend school as a youngster. She asked me to write this article for her, crying as she recounted her experiences.

My name is Li Guizhen, and I'm 60 years old. I'm grateful that Teacher gave me a new life. I'd like to tell my story from the very beginning:

Forty-two years ago when I was 18, I was working in the cornfield during one of the hottest days of summer. I was covered in sweat because of the extreme heat. I couldn't wait to wash myself from head to toe with the well water after I returned home. I came down with a headache later in the afternoon. My grandmother suggested I try a folk remedy a neighbor had given her. She boiled some garlic and asked me to hold my head over the steam. I was already hot and couldn't stand the headache. I thought it was torture and shouted angrily at my neighbor. My father didn't want me to suffer, so he took me to a town hospital 20 miles away. The doctor said I had come down with a brain inflammation and told us to rush me to the county hospital. My father asked someone to take me to the county hospital, which was 40 miles from the town hospital. I can't remember when we arrived at the hospital or the tests I took, including a bone marrow test that was supposed to be very painful.

My father took care of me while I was hospitalized. I had developed some sort of mental disorder, because I would walk around the hospital in my underwear in broad daylight. Unlike today, where women casually expose their chests in public, on television, and in the movies, back then it was unusual to see a woman in a skirt, let alone in her underwear.

I didn't fully recover after three months of hospital treatment and suffered from the after-effects of the brain inflammation. My father and my future father-in-law picked me up from the hospital. I held onto my future father-in-law as we walked, swinging my hips from left to right. If he didn't know about my situation, he would have thought I was an indecent young lady. My father walked behind us and was very sad to see me behaving like that. My parents were worried that my future in-laws would cancel the engagement and that no one else would marry me. My future husband, in-laws, and relatives thought about backing out of the engagement. My future mother-in-law was afraid that I would never be normal again, and her son would be better off not marrying me to avoid problems in the future.

In those days, it was not easy to back out of an engagement. People had a sense of responsibility. My future husband was an honest man. Although he didn't talk much, he was a good person. After weighing the pros and cons, he just couldn't make up his mind. He said, "She was a nice girl and I wanted to marry her and show her off. Now that she is ill, I don't want to be with her. Who would ever want to marry her?" He decided to marry me against his family's wishes.

Life was awful after we married. Every day my brain buzzed with loud noises, and I thought my head was going to shrink into a ball. I took different types of medication on a daily basis, including something for insomnia and anxiety and some other pills. I wasn't able to sleep after taking four anxiety pills at once, and no amount of medication could help me. Sometimes when I was out of my mind, I would hit the wall as I ran outside, thinking the white wall was the door.

Do you think my husband could live like that? He gambled and often yelled at people after getting drunk. We fought constantly and were miserable.

I gave birth to our daughter in 1975. A month later, I suffered a frozen shoulder and arthritis in my left knee. Every day after work, I thought my body was going to fall apart. I went to the hospital, and the doctor said I had lumbar bone spurs and advised me to walk backwards to reduce the pain. I followed his instructions and walked backwards in my backyard even during snowy days. I wanted the pain to go away and would try anything to feel better, even if I had to drink poison. I heard that the patient that had shared the room with me in the hospital had died from brain inflammation. Although I survived, I would have preferred to die rather than suffer from the unbearable pain. No words could describe how I felt.

I was harvesting peanuts during the autumn of 1998. My back and legs hurt much that I had to sit down. I cried as I picked the peanuts. I thought, "Why do human beings suffer so much? When is the pain going to be over? I'd rather die." The auntie that was helping me noticed that I had slowed down and was in pain. She said, "Why don't you learn Falun Dafa?” She practiced Falun Dafa and had suggested several times that I practice it, too.

In the winter of 1998, after the harvest was over, I went to that auntie's place to learn Falun Dafa. Two weeks later, after we finished eating dinner, I noticed my back was not hurting anymore and I was able to sleep. I was very excited and told my husband, "I'm fine now. My back doesn't hurt and I can sleep now."

After practicing Falun Dafa, I became healthy again. It's very hard to describe my 28 years of suffering, because of a brain inflammation. And no words can express my gratitude toward Teacher.

My husband was happy that I was healthy. He said, "It looks like we don't have to suffer anymore. We should burn some incense in gratitude." He was very supportive and often shared my story with his friends, relatives, and neighbors. From that time on, he quit gambling, drinking, and being nasty. Our family became peaceful, and our children were good to us. My daughter also recited, "Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." Several people in my village saw my changes and began to practice Falun Gong.

In the fall of 2005, I helped my neighbor harvest corn. He loaded the cart with corn and I sat on top of the pile. He was trying to push the cart to the main road, but instead it went into the ditch next to the road. I was nervous and instinctively shouted, "Please help us, Teacher!" The cart slowly slid into the ditch, as if someone was supporting it from behind. The ditch was quite deep and it would have been a harsh landing, but only a few ears fell off the cart. I got off the cart and noticed my neighbor was still in shock and out of breath. I said to him, "Whenever you are in danger, just remember to say, 'Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.' You will be safe when you sincerely repeat these words." And he concurred, as most of my neighbors knew my story.

After the persecution of Falun Dafa had begun, in May 12, 2007, my husband helped me hang banners that said, "Falun Dafa is good," and we were both illegally arrested. I was sentenced to one year of forced labor, and he was detained for two weeks. After he was released, he told others, "There is nothing shameful about it. We weren't stealing or robbing. We were telling the facts about Falun Gong. What could they do to us?" In recent years, my husband's health has improved greatly. He said to me, "I have benefited from being with you." I replied, "We have both benefited from Falun Dafa."

I truly sense that Teacher has been protecting me ever since I began to cultivate in Dafa. Even my family noticed that Teacher has been watching over us on many occasions. My daughter's young son knows that reciting, "Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good" keeps him healthy.

Teacher saved my family and gave me a happy family life. I'm happy and in good health. My body feels light when I walk. What a great feeling to be free of illness!

From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa’s Introduction