My son Sam was born blind. No reason why, so we never knew why he could suddenly see. At age nine, every school day is a struggle. He’s dyslexic, so is Steve Jobs, so was Walt Disney, I figure he’s in good company. But, kids his age are cruel. Sam is different, and so he is bullied daily.
So, when I heard about this eye doctor who takes a holistic approach to the seeing, I got interested quick. The doctor is in Santa Fe, five hours north of El Paso.
We drove up to Dr. Berne’s office which is past Tesuque Market, a little ways beyond the dog with the joker face, to the left of the yellow chicken and three turquoise mail boxes to the right. The office looks like a space ship, but when you get inside it feels like the bottom of a jar of chocolate, a place where you want to stay, and a place where you wish you could live. Dr. Berne himself is sort of a Robert Redford looking man, minus the wrinkles, same intense blue eyes. I have chanted with Tibetan monks who don’t have the peace that surrounds this man.
The first thing Dr. Berne did was take off Sam’s VERY thick glasses and asked him to read the eye chart. I don’t know why this place or chart was different, but Sam read every letter of every line. Dr. Berne announced he has 20/20 vision! His current glasses were about 10 times too strong, but this was the solution to Sam’s wandering eye using conventional western ways. The next thing Dr. Berne did was test where Sam is “energetically.” He hooked Sam up to a machine and was able to see where Sam is leaking his energy. Because Sam never crawled his right and left hemisphere of his brain never hooked up like it should. Sam has a strong right side, weak left side. We will be sent home with simple exercises that Sam will perform daily for six weeks. Some simple like walking like a bear, some a bit more complicated like putting together puzzles.
For the first time in nine years I am hopeful that Sam will be able to tie his own shoes, skip, jump rope, catch a ball and read a book because he enjoys it, not because a teacher is making him.
Sam’s life will forever be different, enhanced, better because of Dr. Berne. I am excited that medicine is headed in a holistic direction, treating us a whole unit instead of dividing up our parts and treating those as stand-alone separates.
As I type this, I am not using my bi focal glasses. Dr. Berne explained that each time I use my glasses I am telling my eyes they actually need the glasses. I can actually strengthen my eyes by not using them! Now, what to do with my 26 pairs of fashion statement glasses??
If you have illness that is chronic or you just can’t heal, search for a holistic approach, I bet you will find a solution, and if you do, let me know!
Thanks for sharing your inspiring story.