Boy Who Dropped Out of School Due to Tourette Syndrome Recovers by Practicing Falun Dafa

(Minghui.org) My second-grade son went to his grandmother’s house one day in the winter of 2006 after his final exam. He watched cartoon videos all afternoon and evening and even after his grandmother went to bed. When he came home the next morning, I noticed that his eyes were red and he could not stop shaking his head. He’d twitch and nod his head, shrug his shoulders, and stick his belly out every now and then. I couldn’t stop him even if I held his head with both hands.

I took him to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, a tic disorder. The doctor told me that there was no cure, but he would try some medications and acupuncture. When I asked what caused it, he said, “Nobody knows.”

I was in despair and went along with the treatment. Six months went by and nothing seemed to change, so I transferred my son to a provincial hospital and put him under the care of an expert. The expert advised more intensive treatment and higher doses of medicine. A year later, he still showed no signs of improvement. We decided to go to Beijing to seek the most authoritative doctor and rented an apartment there. After a while, we returned home but still went to Beijing once a month to get the medicine. Every day my son had to drink three large bowls of liquid medicine and take a handful of pills. He had no appetite after that. Watching him gradually lose weight, I felt terrible. This went on for a year and his symptoms worsened.

He shook his head more frequently and he peed on himself every time he stuck his belly out. Although he was in the fifth grade, he had to wear a diaper. When he wrote, his hand jerked, and he often missed a word here and there. He missed quite a few classes and did not have time to do his homework because we had to go to the doctor so often. I felt sad about what had happened to this smart child. Despite his condition, when he was in the fourth grade, he was a top student and even placed third in a national math competition.

But his condition quickly declined and his grades fell to the bottom half of his class in the fifth grade. To make matters worse, he started to utter sounds during the class uncontrollably, which disrupted the teacher. His teachers and classmates distanced themselves from him because of his condition. His father couldn’t accept the fact that his clever boy whom everyone adored had turned into a problem child, and he shouted at him every day.

My son cried helplessly, “Mom, will I ever get better? All my friends stay away from me. It breaks my heart!” I hugged him and could not stop crying. I had tried every treatment possible and spent all the money I had, yet nothing helped. My hair turned gray in two weeks, and I cried all the time. I took him out of school and rented a place by the beach so that he could relax and possibly get better.

After we came home, he still wasn’t any better. I didn’t think it would work if I sent him to school again, so I told him, “Why don’t we go live in a temple? It’s quieter there.” He cried, “Mom, I wouldn’t be able to go to school there. I want to go to school and learn.” Tears poured down my face. The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt his feelings, but he was in no condition to go to school.

When I was at my wits’ end, my neighbor asked me what had happened because I looked miserable. When I told her, she said, “There is a way for him to be cured.” I couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say! She said, “He will be well if he practices Falun Dafa.” She told me that Falun Dafa has amazing healing and fitness benefits and that it healed many of her ailments.

“Doesn’t the news say that it’s bad?” I asked. She told me that the news was fake and the so-called self-immolation on Tiananmen Square was staged to defame Falun Dafa. I sensed that my neighbor was very kind and I was very touched. I asked if I could borrow her copy of Zhuan Falun, the main teaching of Falun Dafa, and she quickly brought it over to me. As I read the book, I knew for sure that there was hope for my son and that it wasn’t the hospital. “This book can help my son,” I thought.

I finished reading the book in three evenings and had my husband read it, too. After reading it once, he agreed to let our son practice Falun Dafa. When we asked him if he wanted to practice, he said, “But we aren’t allowed to practice it [because of the suppression], and I won’t be able to go to school if I do.” I told him that the book was nothing like what was said on TV, that it teaches people to be kind and follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in their everyday lives. “There is nothing bad in it,” I said. “Would you give it a try?” He agreed.

As my husband and I watched our son read the book for half an hour, we saw that he did not twitch or make a sound. “He wasn’t able to control his movements for even a minute. Now he stayed still and quiet for half an hour. The book works,” my husband said. When my son read other books, he still fidgeted a lot. He decided he would practice it.

The three of us studied Zhuan Falun every day. My son did the exercises when he had time. Within a week, his symptoms improved significantly. I asked him if he still wanted to take his medicine, and he said no. He threw the expensive medicine in the trash can outside.

My mother-in-law bought two bottles of medicine online for my son, saying that it was effective in treating tic disorders. My son did not want to hurt his grandmother’s feelings by turning her down. He told me, “Please tell Grandma that I took her medicine. I will continue to practice. When I am cured, I will tell Grandma and Grandpa the truth and have them practice Falun Dafa, too.” Indeed, both of my in-laws later became practitioners.

One month after my son began the practice, he took his middle school entrance exam. He got into the best class with the highest math score in the school. Four years later, he got into the high school he chose.

When he was in high school, he got very busy with his schoolwork, and often came home after 10 p.m. and did not have time to study the Falun Dafa teachings. I did not want him to stop practicing, so I sent him to complete his education outside of China. His English was not good at the time, but he continued to study the teachings, and in three months he graduated from the language school and was admitted to a college. He often studied the teachings and shared his experiences with the local Falun Dafa group. He was able to look for his own shortcomings and be considerate of others when he encountered problems.

His outstanding performance in college got him a scholarship every year. After finishing college with top grades, five universities accepted him to their graduate programs, and he went to the one he’d always dreamed of.

Tears cover my face as I write. My son is who he is today because of Falun Dafa. Master Li, the founder of the practice, eliminated his karma and gave him wisdom. Master saved my son and this family, and there is no way to adequately express my gratitude. I wish everyone could give himself a chance and come to understand what Falun Dafa is. It is a righteous practice that Master uses to save people.