Adults Within The Family

6. Adults Within The Family

6.1 Case Study — Mark, Alice and Their Three Children

Sometimes one or both parents have problems which affect the entire family. Mark and Alice and their children, two girls and a boy, were faced with a problem which involved not only this family unit but Mark’s parents, his two brothers, their wives and children. It is interesting to observe to what extent the illness of a single member of a family can affect the members of the immediate family and even the other members of the related extended family.

Mark worked with his father and two brothers in a family-owned business. The business was fairly successful but not brilliantly so. Father and the boys worked long hours and had done so, under considerable pressure, especially Mark, who had the responsibility of providing for his wife and three children.

It was only when Mark developed a duodenal ulcer that we entered the picture. It seemed that Mark had apparently had this ulcer for some time and had been under a physician’s care. He had dutifully followed the physician’s instructions and swallowed his pills but he had not been “cured.” At the time they were referred to us, Mark was in so much pain that he often lay on the floor and writhed with pain. The doctor had suggested surgery but neither Mark nor Alice wanted that.

We suggested a ten-day fast which was faithfully carried out over the screaming protestations of the extended family members. The shouting of the protesting relatives became so belligerent and even threatening that Mark resigned his position in the family business. The fast had worked, Mark’s pain had left, he was feeling great. Even though he had lost considerable weight, Mark was “sold” on Natural Hygiene.

The family decided to have a garden. Mark, in his newly-found leisure time and with his feeling of euphoria, brought the whole family into the act. Alice gave full cooperation and so did the children. They planted fruit trees and all kinds of produce. Mark began to put on weight, while Alice lost a few pounds The children bloomed. The last report we had was that they had adopted another child and that the whole family was doing well. Mark had rejoined the family business. The extended family forgave his former strange ways and welcomed him back. They even get together now for family parties but everyone present understands now that his family, the one of which Mark is the head, is a Hygienic family, one that is doing quite well, thank you! Indeed, they are all closer together now than they had ever been. Mark tells me that he thinks his brothers are beginning to understand a little now what Natural Hygiene is all about.