Two weeks ago, Aaron Bell, aged 17, from Islington in North London came on stage to tell us what had happened to him on ‘the Newday healing night’ exactly a year before.
Just to give you the context . . . we make a habit of sharing healing reports that have stood the test of time and been medically tested. And bear in mind that after I interviewed Aaron and others, 264 people came forward to say that they had been healed following a healing prayer in the name of Jesus!
When I spoke to Aaron at Newday, he began by describing the unusual condition he’d had for many years previously . . .
“I used to walk on my toes from the time I began walking. It’s called Idiopathic toe walking. From the age of 7 or 8 onwards, I wouldn’t walk flat-footed at all.
“I got so used to walking on my toes that it shortened my calf muscles, shortened my ligaments and it tightened everything up, and it made my hips push forward. Idiopathic toe walking is something that happens mainly in Africa, with young kids.
“I went to lots of appointments. Two or three years’ worth of hospital appointments, doctors appointments. Until eventually it was diagnosed in 2013, when I was about 10. They told me what was wrong and then I had a treatment plan that they put in place. I’ve got a document from the doctors from 2013 and it shows the assessment and the treatment plan.
“So we put the plan into practice, at first I adjusted my footwear. I just put something in my shoe. But that didn’t work. Then I had a stretching plan, I had a you know . . . yellow pages book, and I would halve it. And I’d put my toes on the book and try and put my heels on the ground. But that didn’t work. Then I’d stretch my knee against the wall, but that didn’t work. Then they added a night splint, like a boot, which I had to wear every night, but it was a stretching one with straps, so gradually they’d put the straps higher and higher, but that didn’t work. Then they went to casting, so they put my foot in the position they’d like it, so that it wouldn’t move at all. So I’d be in plaster for about 6 to 8 weeks. But we swapped it every 2 weeks. It never worked. None of it worked. So we kind of gave up.”
I asked Aaron: “Can you give us an example of how this idiopathic toe walking impacted your life?”
“Yes, when I went on school trips, I’d walk 100 metres and then I’d have to stop. They had to stop everyone else in the group because I physically couldn’t walk any further, I’d have to have a rest. I remember one trip to Southend. I had to stop about 5 times. My calves were so short that all the muscles in my legs were accommodating for me walking on my toes. I could not walk far at all without being in extreme pain. I had to stop things like trying to play football because they told me that if I tried to run my Achilles might snap. All this time, my hips would hurt. My left hip especially.
I asked: “So can you tell us what happened at Newday when we prayed for healing last year?”
He replied: “You said you wanted to pray for healing. I decided to hold both my calf muscles with both hands and I just closed my eyes. Then you asked us to: ‘See if anything is different?’
“So my pastor, Clive, was telling me to run. Bear in mind that before this, even walking from the tent to the big top, my legs would be gone. In fact even standing up during worship was painful.
“I kept testing it by running, walking fast, walking flat footed, until eventually I realised it was easier to walk flat-footed. It was literally from that moment onwards that I’ve been healed. It was only about 2 minutes after you prayed that I was healed. I can run and there’s no risk of my Achilles snapping because I’m running flat-footed.
As Aaron continued to describe what happened on the night he was healed, I asked him about the story since. I asked: “What’s been the situation over the past year? How is your life different from previously?”
He replied: “Well it’s made a massive difference. Because before I was healed there were fewer options open to me in terms of what I want to do with the rest of my life. So I was wondering what to do, you know what college to go to, and then I thought “you know what, I’ve been healed” so my mates were saying, ‘well, what about playing football? I didn’t know if I could play, because I’d given up football completely aged 11. But I went to a trial with West Ham United. And now I’ve now been offered a 2 year professional contract to play under 19, on the Under 19’s A team.”
The huge Newday crowd were completely taken aback by this, it was something they were not expecting to hear, and I immediately asked, ‘have you been back for any medical assessment since you’ve been healed?’
Aaron replied: “Yes, I’ve been back since I was healed, and they held the bottom of my foot, and they did a test with me to see how far I could move. And when I showed them what I could do now, they were amazed. This is something they measure. And they had the before and after. This was the same people who had done the casting at Homerton University Hospital in North London. The same people who’d put me in plaster. They were surprised. They said there was no explanation for something like this. I told them how it had happened at Newday.
“It’s a life-changer. I thank God. God gets all the credit. Your one prayer has put me into professional football. And it’s made me really want to serve in my church too.”