My 25 year old son Raymond was in a motor vehicle accident 5 years ago and sustained a serious brain injury. The left side of his skull was fractured in several pieces and he had hemorrhaging and swelling throughout his brain. Every effort was made by the surgical staff to reduce the swelling. An intracranial pressure monitor was surgically inserted into Raymond's head to monitor the pressure surrounding his brain. He was not expected to survive. My family and I watched helplessly in the intensive care unit at St. Vincent 's Hospital as the monitor recorded the rising pressure numbers. Under the number ten is normal and Raymond's pressure was rising into the fifties.
It was during this horribly emotional time that Sister Joanne, a nun at the hospital asked if we would be interested in Reiki for our son. It was available through the hospital's foundation, she added. I had heard of Reiki but had not personally experienced it. We were desperate and open to anything and everything that could possibly help our son. He was in a coma. He was dying. "Yes", I said and within minutes of Sister Joanne calling the Reiki therapist, a young woman stepped off the hospital floor elevator and into the intensive care waiting room. She had an ethereal quality about her and radiated such peace that I knew she must be the Reiki therapist. Her name was Vera and as soon as she placed her hands on our son, the number on the intracranial pressure monitor started to decrease. We watched with awe and reverence. We thought a miracle was happening.
That experience was our first exposure to the healing power of Reiki. Those of us who stood by my son's bedside that afternoon saw with our own eyes the power of Reiki energy. We all saw the reduction of intracranial pressure being reflected and quantified by the decreasing numbers on a medical instrument as the Reiki therapist placed her healing hands over my son. Fortunately my son did survive. After that powerful and emotional initiation to Reiki, I then also became a Reiki therapist to assist my son in his long, rehabilitative path to wellness. Reiki is a part of my every day now. It is a touch from the Divine that came at a sorrowful and desperate time and became a blessing in the lives of my whole family.
