The Argument From Miracles Pt. 2: Clubbed and Twisted Limbs Instantly Healed

 Part 2 of my series of evidential miracle claims (see here for Part 1) will focus on the instantaneous healing of clubbed or crooked feet succeeding divine invocation. I have selected these kinds of cases in particular primarily due to its visual stringency; clubbed feet are notable for: 

1) Not remitting naturally, only being able to be corrected through surgery or long-term casting.

 

2) Being visually obvious and not easily subject to misdiagnosis. Extensive medical credentials and equipment are not required to diagnose someone with an obviously twisted limb. 

3) Being organic rather than psychological; placebo effects and wishful thinking will not be able to fix bone deformity and muscle atrophy. 

 This is the ascendancy of these kinds of cases in relation to the investigation of miracle claims. A twisted limb requires no X-Rays or medical expertise to discern. The threat of potential misdiagnosis, pertinent in so many alleged miracle healings, will do little in explanation here. For a clubbed foot to instantaneously correct itself in a matter of minutes, with muscle atrophy and the subsequent neurological deformities also immediately vanishing, is naturally impossible given our current medical knowledge. 

 Around 150,000-200,000 children a year are born with twisted feet and legs that inhibit proper mobility. [1] Clubbed feet occur due to malformation of the knee joint in a child, or due to poor joint or muscle structure in the leg. This results in the limb being twisted in an unnatural and painful position, and is readily identifiable even to laymen. Disfigurement of this kind cannot be healed naturally, but medical treatments like surgery or casting can be used to straighten the leg. It is therein surprising to find accounts of clubbed feet instantly straightening seconds after prayer. These are attested by both missionaries and professional physicians, usually in religious contexts. [2] 

Missionaries Witnessing Clubbed Feet Healed 

Around 80% of cases of clubfoot come from poor and developing countries, where medical care is not as widely available. [3] Considering that surgical treatment for clubfoot can cost $30,000 per leg, [4] and that the rate of the disease is fairly common, many in these areas cannot afford the operation. It is perhaps then less surprising then that many of these cases are reported by missionaries in these nations. 

Accounts of eyewitnesses seeing clubbed feet straighten during prayer are fairly common. Marc Dupont, a pastor and evangelist, recounted the following miracle as a firsthand witness, [5]

 
“A woman brought her young son, who had a clubfoot, to me for prayer at the end of a meeting….As I knelt down and began to pray for his foot, almost immediately right in front of my eyes it began to change shape. What had, more or less, appeared as a block of wood covered by skin began to change into a normal foot with toes, an arch etc, all in normal size and shape. It had taken place so quickly that I was a bit dizzy. I wasn’t sure whether I was actually seeing a miracle happen, or was imagining it. It took all about five seconds for the transition to take place. The young boy immediately began running around in the room. He was running perfectly for the first time in his life. His mother was jumping up and down and yelling out. I was still kneeling down on the floor, trying to lay hands on this foot that was no longer there. I was in a bit of shock." 

Some reports oversees have the luxury of including X-Rays and other medical documentation. A pastor in Cuba named Eliseo Navarro Jordan witnessed a young boy named Onel instantly healed of severe bone malformation of the legs and feet. Onel's lower leg bones were described as being "like sand" and prohibited the child from walking properly, but after being prayed for by a healing evangelist, Onel instantly walked with no pain. X-Rays taken later that week showed that the leg bone had instantly formed, to the point where doctors originally thought to have mixed up the boy's X-Rays; after double-checking that the photos were legitimate, they were awestruck to explain the immediate healing. The pastor claims to both know Onel and his family personally, and he has had seen the X-Rays both before and after the healing. [6]

 Medically Documented Cases of Clubbed and Damaged Limbs Healed 

Many doctors and medical professionals testify to witnessing first-hand instant healings of clubbed feet via prayer. On more fortunate occasions these are preserved in photographs and/or X-Rays.

 Kathryn Kuhlman Straightening Legs 

Kathryn Kuhlman, one of the most well-known faith healers of the mid-twentieth century, is commended for her emphasis on medical documentation regarding testimonials of healing during her service. Though she was not without her critics, [7] her supporters within the medical community seemed to eclipse her retractors.[8] For example, in 1974 Dr. Richard Casodorph MD published 10 cases of individuals “healed” after attending one of Kuhlman’s crusades, accompanying such cases with medical reports and X-Ray scans. Casodorph consulted several other physicians prior to publishing the work for assurance that 1) the diagnoses were correct and 2) that the healing had no natural explanation given current understanding of medicine. [9] Though Casodorph does not mention any cases of instantaneous recovery from clubfoot, plenty of other medical doctors have claimed to have witnessed Kuhlman perform this very miracle. Dr. Ceceil Titus, a physician working at St. Luke's Hospital in Cleveland, OH, claimed that he cared for a 10-year old girl with a twisted and clubbed foot. When Kuhlman prayed over the girl, the foot instantly repaired and straightened itself before the doctor's eyes.[10] A cancer research specialist from John Hopkins University named Dr. Richard Owellen also claimed that Kuhlman instantly healed his infant son's dislocated hip through the Holy Spirit, seeing the leg straighten and the bone reconnect instantly. He suggested that while he used to believe cures of that kind were purely psychosomatic, this cannot be the case for a four-month year old child who cannot be influenced through the power of suggestion. [11] 

X-Rays of Healing

 Patricia Kanyelma In September of 2019, a pregnant African woman by the name of Patricia Kanyemla began to suffer complications during her delivery. [12]She attributed the successful delivery to her prayers, yet her sense of optimism quickly diminished when she discovered that her daughter was suffering from a severely clubbed leg, being quickly diagnosed with genu recurvatum. The baby lacked a properly developed knee joint, and the muscles were contorted to bend upwards in a damaging angle. Patricia, distressed by her infant's deformity, sought help online to find a treatment; typically contorted limbs are put into a cast for several months or years, or in more serious cases are subjected to surgery. Unable to afford extensive treatments, the woman feared that her child would live with her crippling disability for the rest of her life. Her sister-in-law, Beauty, began to contact various pastors and individuals in the community to pray for her fraternal niece. On September 11, 2019, less than 48 hours after the child's diagnosis, Patricia awoke at 6 am to find her child with a completely straightened leg. She noticed that the knee joint was now present, whereas prior to the healing it had just been flesh. The leg has reportedly remained normal since the healing incident, with the muscles and bone functioning properly. 

Left: Sep. 9, 2019; Child born with a severely twisted leg. Right: Sep. 11, 2019; the infant's leg straightened overnight after prayer meetings, with no medical assistance. Photo credit to Christ TV, 'Supernatural Bone Placement'

The infant's initial diagnosis is photographed and x-rayed, with the scan of the child's leg showing the lack of a properly formed knee cap.[13] The healing is discussed by Dr. Wilfred Muteweye, a Zimbabwean surgeon, who noted the sudden straightening of the leg and its muscles without medical intervention, surgery, or casting. Reportedly the other nurses and orthopedic specialists at the hospital were intrigued when they found out that this healing occurred after prayer, and began to attend Patricia's church as a result. 

Initial X-Ray taken on September 9, 2019; the child's knee cap had not properly developed. Photo credit to Christ TV, 'Supernatural Bone Placement'

 Clubbed Hand Healed

 Feet are not the only disformed limbs reported to heal within religious context. A 2006 case study published in the Journal for Near Death Studies discusses the radical healing of a 60 year-old patient who had suffered from cerebral palsy his entire life.[14] Along with having difficulty in walking, the patient suffered from a withered and crooked hand due to decades of spastic hemiplegia that left the limb atrophied and with shortened tendons. Undergoing surgery to remove tumors from his body, the senior slipped out of consciousness and was put on a ventilator; upon regaining consciousness he stated that he had undergone a near-death experience, floating above his body and watching the doctors attempting to resuscitate him. While dead he also saw his deceased father dressed in his standard work attire, accompanied by a bearded man wearing a white shirt who, in the patient's words, was "probably Jesus".[15] Jesus told the man and his father that he "wasn't ready yet" and "needed to go back" to earthly life. After waking up, the patient was able to open his clawed hand for the first time in decades, something that his physicians noted should not be possible given that the tendons in his hand were damaged and shortened. The healed man likewise regained fuller control of his mobility, being able to move and walk with a straightened back, a feat he could not do well during his years of suffering from cerebral palsy. The man also reported that his kidneys, which originally were damaged and dysfunctional prior to the vision, now operated perfectly. 

Though there is no direct medical attestation of the man's spastic hemiplegia immediately prior to the experience,[16] medical documents do confirm that the patient's hand had been curled and unopened since birth, requiring a splint (which the subject stated was ineffective). He stated that his hand had been immobile and curled up until he regained consciousness, a claim supported by testimonies of family members and physicians of the man in question. The reports also point out that the senior had not undergone physiotherapy for his hand nor received surgery to treat it. Notes from his therapist noted that the muscle tone on his hand appeared normal as he was discharged from the hospital, despite having decades of atrophied muscle and shortened tendons prior to his NDE. His physical therapist stated that "the hand should not have been able to open without an operation to release the tendons that had been in a contracted position for 60 years. No such operation had been performed." The authors of the study seemed equally impressed, [17] 

"The fact that he was able to open his previously contracted hand defies explanation...The healed hand remains inexplicable as there is no known mechanism for how a hand that had permanently shortened tendons due to a spastic hemiparesis from birth has been able to open fully....This study confirms that cases of interest that cannot be dismissed or ignored can be captured during a prospective study."

 Documented Catholic Healings 

Lourdes, France is quite well-known for its claims of miracle healings. The site has become a place of pilgrimage for pious Catholics, who believe that the Virgin Mary appeared there in the 19th century and produced a spring of miracle healing water. Thousands attend each year to drink the water or swim in the grotto to obtain healing from the Blessed Virgin. Claims of healing are so common that a medical bureau was set up early on to investigate, scrutinize, document, and eventually confirm whether or not the recovered were medically inexplicable. Since its inception in the late 19th century, 70 cures have been deemed “miraculous” to date by the physicians of the bureau. [18] 

 Jeanne Tulasne, a 20 year old woman suffering from tuberculosis and Lumbar Pott's disease that left her with a neuropathic clubbed foot, visited Lourdes in early September in very poor condition. Her doctor verified her diagnosis a month prior on August 7, 1897. During the Blessed Sacraments Procession, Jeanne reported that she was instantly healed on September 8, 1897; her twisted foot immediately straightened and she felt all pain leave her body. Doctors examined her the following day to verify that she was completely and instantly cured, then checked up on her recovery the following year in 1898. A decade later the cure was certified as "complete, sudden and lasting " by the Bureau and declared to be an official miracle by the Bishop of Lourdes. [19] One publication found in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, in looking at the alleged healings at Lourdes, note that this case in particular stands out as among the most naturally impossible, "Lourdes spontaneous (nonsurgical) corrections of club-feet... would be contra-naturam cures. As far as we know, these cases are the only ones of their kind in the Lourdes medical history." [20]

 Lastly, I will rear a case which does not technically involve a twisted leg, but rather the overnight healing of a severely damaged one. During a childhood prank that involved climbing up the roof of a building under construction, six-year old Antonio fell violently to the floor when the top of the structure gave way.[21]Not only did he crash several feet below, but a 60-lb block of cement collapsed on top of his leg. Gangrene set in, darkening the leg to an oozing black shade. Treatments did not improve the child's condition, and rotting flesh had to be peeled from the foot. The consensus of the physicians was that the leg would need to be amputated due to the lack of blood circulation and potential blood poisoning. On September 1, 1956 Antonio's mother placed a holy relic on her son's blackened leg and prayed the entire night on behalf of the intercession of Martin de Porress, a Peruvian Catholic who had a ministry in the region centuries earlier. The next morning, amputation was about to commence, but was deterred when Dr. Miguel Lopez reported an immediate and drastic improvement of the foot. On September 7 Antonio was able to leave the hospital with a completely normal foot, remaining healed over 50 years later and able to participate in sports like soccer. 

 Inquisitors from Rome were sent to investigate the case on behalf of de Porress's canonization. Antonio's parents and doctors were interviewed for hours, with the boy comparing the process to a "police interrogation." Multiple surgeons, including Dr. Lopez, were interviewed and grilled by the Church's investigators; Dr. Angel Copote, who was an atheist at the time, testified that the healing could not be explained from a medical perspective. He converted to Christianity shortly afterwards precisely as a result of witnessing a miracle. Two more doctors then reviewed the current status of Antonio's leg and typed up their report in a document assigned to the Vatican. Martin de Porress was canonized six years later in 1962 due to the miracle under his intercession. [22] 

Photograph of Antonio Cabrera Pérez-Camacho, decades after his healing

 Conclusion 

Miracles, by their very nature, are destitute to be quite irregular. God’s upheaval of our attention is only suitable if an event stands out of particular interest. Yet granting this rarity, miracles are still reported by a great deal of people; healings of clubbed limbs are among the more interesting out of these claims. One may be free to deny that God agentially works in the world today, a sentiment expressed by theists, deists, and some more hyper sects of cessationists. Yet the evidence suggests that crooked limbs can quickly straighten; as far as I am aware this has only been documented immediately following religious contexts such as prayer or visions of Christ. The lenses of our worldview may cloud our judgment either way; the faithful wish to accept these as miracles as “proof” that their belief in the supernatural is justified. The more incredulous may find such claims to be either wholly fictitious or mistaken. Maybe we will someday find an answer to the questions these events raise. Though miracles of this kind may not lead to conversion, they (like the feet of those healed) may turn their heads in curious attention.

 References

[1] As reported by the Global Clubfoot Initiative in the article “Clubfoot in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC)”. https://globalclubfoot.com/clubfoot/low-middle-income-countries/   

[2]  See for instance Increase Testimonies, "Little Boy's Club Feet Healed" https://www.increase.global/little-boys-club-feet-healed/,  and Mellor, "Baby's Club Feet Healed in Womb." http://www.thegreaternews.com/blog/1/26/2014/babys-club-feet-healed-in-womb-doctors-originally-wanted-her-to-abort-john-mellor  Photographs of an alleged healing of clubbed feet are shown in Lindstrom, Len. "7 Amazing Miracles" https://www.lenlindstromglobal.com/7-amazing-miracles/ 

[3]  Global Clubfoot Initiative, “Clubfoot in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC)”. 

[4] Lloyd, Scott “Exporting a Healing Method”. Church News https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/2006-06-24/exporting-a-healing-method-85812 

 [5] Dupont Marc A. and Mark Stibbe. Healing Today: When the Blind See and the Lame Walk Authentic Media, 2006: pg 130.

[6] Keener, Craig S. Miracles: 2 Volumes: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. Baker Books, 2011.

[7] William Nolen investigated participants during a particular healing crusade hosted by Khulman, in which none of the subjects were healed upon investigation. He was later criticized for using to small of a sample size and for not investigating particular cases that Khulman and her supporters put forward as legitimate. See Nolen, William A. Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle. (New York: Random House) 1975.

[8] Quite a few medical doctors have claimed to witness Khulman healing individuals in ways they deem inexplicable. All of the following are cited in Granholm, Micael. Dockmenterade Mirakler. Sjöbergs Förlag, 2019, pg. 53-54: Dr. Kitman Au (Burbank, CA)- stated that "[I have] seen recovery at Kathryn Kuhlman's meetings as I, a doctor, can only describe it as beyond human ability. “ Dr. EB Henry- claimed Kuhlman healed him of both healing impairment and a fracture of the bone. Dr. Larry Hirsch, (orthopedic specialist and chiropractor, Los Angeles, CA)- stated that, “During my entire twenty-year internship, I have never before noted a development like this without prior long treatment. A miraculous change in bone structure has entered, which is hereby respectfully certified. ". Dr. Cecil Titus (St. Luke’s Hospital, Cleveland, OH): Witnessed a child’s clubbed foot instantly straighten when Kuhlman prayed over it. Dr. Robert Hoyt- Claimed to see many healings by Kuhlman deemed impossible. Dr. Richard Owellen (cancer specialist, John Hopkins Hospital)- Investigated many healing claims of Kuhlman, determined many to be genuinely miraculous. Dr. Richard Steiner (American Board of Pathology) and Dr. William Olson (American Board of Internal Medicine)- both physicians were employed at Long Beach Community Hospital and reviewed the cases of healings produced in Casodorph’s book.

[9] Casdorph, H. Richard. The Miracles. Bridge-Logos Publishers, 1976.

[10] Keener, Miracles. 463.

[11] Ibid.

 [12]The following is presented in a testimonial video produced by the African ministry ChristTV. The witnesses, including Patricia her relatives, are interviewed. Photographs and X-Rays are also shown (as presented here), including the testimony of Dr. Mutewey. See ChristTV, 'Supernatural Bone Placement'. 2019: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=2394411370847567. 

[13] Ibid.

[14] Sartori, Penny, Paul Badham, and Peter Fenwick. "A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing." Journal of Near-Death Studies 25 (2006): 69-84.

[15]Ibid, pg. 73. On page 75 the patient seemed less sure of the man's identity, "I could say it was Jesus, I could say it was God, but who am I to know that?" On the man's description, he stated that he "sort of" looked like traditional depictions of Christ and had a beard, though it seemed that the figure wore a shirt instead of robe (though he couldn't see the figure below the waist, so the exact length is unclear) that was "mostly white" in color. 

[16] A point emphasized in Rush, Michael J., and P. G. Dip. "Critique of “A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing”." Journal of Near-Death Studies 32, no. 1 (2013): 3-14. Sartori counteracts many of their objections to this case in a 2013 article, see Sartori, Penny. "Response to 'Critique of' A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing'"." Journal of Near-Death Studies 32, no. 1 (2013): 15-36.

[17]  Sartori, et al. “ Prospectively Studied”,  pg. 83.

[18]This is admittedly quite a small sample given the hundreds of thousands of claimed cures spanning over a century. The bureau claims this is because they are extremely strict with the cases they look into, and most are thrown out for not being compelling. A cure must be instantaneous, complete, permanent, and untreatable for the bureau to look into it.

[19] Details of the Lourdes miracles, including Jeanne’s, are discussed in Miracle Hunter, "List of Approved Lourdes Miracles" http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/lourdes/miracles2.html#brachman 

[20] François, Bernard, Esther M. Sternberg, and Elizabeth Fee. "The Lourdes Medical Cures Revisited." Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 69, no. 1 (2014): 135-162. See fn. 39 for the quote. 

 [21] Antonio was interviewed by the Peruvian newspaper El Comerico in 2012, citing most of the following information. The interview is summarized in English by the Catholic News Agency, in "Man Recounts Miraculous Healing  Through St. Martin de Porress Intercession." May 8, 2012. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/24875/man-recounts-miraculous-healing-through-st-martin-de-porres-intercession 

 [22] Ibid