Last week at Newday, Barry Theakston, 37, for Darlington, told me about his healing, which happened at last year’s event. He began by describing an accident two years ago . . .
“I fell off a ladder at work in May 2012 damaging my left knee. It was painful but I was able to work for a couple of weeks. However being on my feet all day every day, really aggravated it, and I ended up being signed off work because of the accident. I was finally (and it turned out permanently) signed off work in August 2012, and I lost my job as a result.
“Eventually I had an MRI scan in January 2013 which confirmed that I had torn the cartilage in my left knee.
“So looking back, in total I was on crutches for 9 months from October 2012 until Newday in August 2013. I couldn’t manage more than 50-75 yards without crutches. So the crutches enabled me to get around easier with less pain.”
Barry then went on to tell us what happened at Newday 2013 . . .
“I was not expecting to be healed. But I tested it out. I started moving my legs around and jumping up and down. There was no pain at all! I’d come to the event as a leader in our church youth group. But when I was healed, I wasn’t with the youth group. When I realised what had happened I ran across the big top towards them with my crutches in my hand.
“After Newday, I had a second MRI scan a month later, at the beginning of September 2013. And they found there was no damage at all to my knee.
“My GP was surprised when I walked in. The official who looked at my MRI was quite surprised as well with the result.
“The pain was there one minute and next it had gone so that I could walk normally for the first time in 9 months
“I am now back in work, and in the process of training and studying to become an electrical engineer.”