Being a physician, and dealing with that most sacred and miraculous thing we call life, I often see the power of God made manifest through his authorized servants, and I have personally taken part in this holy ordinance of the administration with oil, where healing, and other blessings have occurred.
Young people sometimes fail to appreciate the priesthood of God. They little realize the power and blessing that may come through this channel. It is with a heart full of gratitude for His Priesthood and the blessings that have come to me and mine from this channel, and with a prayer in my heart that faith may be kindled in the heart of some reader, that I write the following narrative of what I consider a modern miracle.
Mrs. Gledhill, my wife, had been ill for one and a half years; had been to two hospitals including the L. D. S. Hospital of Salt Lake City, and had been examined by five of the best doctors in the State of Utah and their advice and treatment faithfully followed, but her symptoms gradually grew worse. Three times a slight operation had been performed with no improvement, and it was decided that a major operation would be necessary.
Just prior to this time President William H. Seegmiller had just been released from his duties as Stake President of Sevier Stake, an office which he held with honor and credit for thirty years, and had just been appointed a patriarch in the Church. Mrs. Gledhilll requested him to give her a patriarchal blessing, and among other things he promised her, first, that she should become a well woman, and second, that she should become a mother in Israel of additional children.
She was operated upon by two of the best known doctors in the State. On opening the abdomen they found a large tumor of the uterus that was also attached to the bowel. The doctors consulted each other and told me that the growth was probably the most fatal of all growths known in surgery to-day, and that the only hope of her life would be by the removal of the uterus and surrounding tissue, and even then her prospects for recovery would be very small. Then it was that the faith my parents and teachers had tried so hard to instill within me came to my rescue, and I told the doctors that she would live and that I would under no circumstances consent to have her uterus removed and thus prevent the fulfillment of a prophecy uttered by the servant of God in a patriarchal blessing to my wife. I was told that it would recur, and that she would lose her life if I refused, and that according to all the teachings of science and their own extended experience it would be very unwise to leave any part of the uterus. I told them that I would trust the Lord, and in this I was not alone, for Mrs. Gledhill had made a special request, before being operated on, that whatever else was done, not to allow anything that would make impossible the blessing that she had received, and to which she clung with great faith.
The result was that about one-third of the uterus was removed in order to get the tumor. The doctors gave us very little hope even of her recovering from the operation. She slowly and gradually improved, it seemed for five months, when I discovered that the growth was recurring. Just prior to this I had received the following heart-rending news. The pathologist of the L. D. S. Hospital, who made the microscopical examination of the tumor which was removed, wrote me in effect as follows:—That he was "sorry the whole uterus had not been removed, and it was a question in his mind if it wouldn't be best even yet to have the complete removal of the uterus undertaken, as this would give the only hope of recovery."
Another doctor wrote me, saying that all the authorities he had consulted said that these tumors are fatal, no matter what is done.
I then turned to my text book on this subject and read as follows: "Seventy-five per cent of all cases terminate fatally within six months." Then in italicized words it said "Cyncisiomia Malignant is the most fatal of all known tumors, that by an early and complete removal of the uterus before metastasis has taken place, some cases, it has been reported, have been cured."
At times in the past I have felt that my troubles were great, but now it seemed that all the powers of evil were arrayed against me. I thought of how willingly my wife had undergone the hardships incident to going to school in the east with very limited means, and of the many tender circumstances connected with our courtship and newly married life, etc., and now to think of her being taken from me, was more than my failing heart could stand. So that I humbled myself before God as I never had done before, although all my life I had been a praying man.
But yet there was seen during all this time, dimly and at the close of this trouble more clearly, a silver lining to this great dark cloud. It was the promise of President Seegmiller. I took these letters above quoted from with my text book and read them to President Seegmiller and then asked him point blank if it was he who had made the promise, or if it was from God. I told him I must know immediately, Yes or No. President Seegmiller, in his calm but positive way, told me that when his hands were upon my wife's head with his eyes closed, he saw her a well and perfect woman and said he, "I cannot take back what I have said, for it is from God." From this moment on there never was a moment that we have ever doubted or lost faith in this promise.