Medical miracles are rare, but those involving divine interventions are rarer. Paul Wood, a resident of Lodi, California, is convinced that the spontaneous disappearance of his brain tumour has something to do with God. The community volunteer who was diagnosed with a brain tumour surrendered himself to God and spiritual practices. To his and everybody’s surprise, he has seemingly cured of his medical condition all thanks to his prayers and faith in God.

Wood was diagnosed with the serious medical condition after suffering from recurrent headaches. He told CBS Sacramento that the pain was so horrible that it was impossible for him to walk down the hallway without holding on to walls. Doctors initially suspected a brain bleed, but eventually, a neurosurgeon found out that he had a brain tumour and one that was malignant. Little Girl Kissed By Pope Francis Miraculously Recovers From Brain Tumour.

In his darkest hours, Wood completely immersed himself in prayers. The local community also rallied behind him in support when he was in need. Call it a medical miracle or faith healing, a day before his surgery, surgeons found out that his tumour had disappeared! What is Glioblastoma, The Deadliest and The Most Untreatable Form of Brain Cancer.

Dr Richard Yee, the specialist who has been treating Wood, is still in shock and said that his miracle cure couldn’t be explained. But the priests at Wood’s church, like Wood himself, are convinced that it was his constant prayers that helped him. According to a Pastor at Gravity Church, Paul kept saying, “No matter what happens to me, I’m going to be okay. I trust God.” That not only inspired him, but also a lot of people around him.

Wood will now partake in a new research to understand how he recovered miraculously.

Although his story seems too good to be true, there have been instances in the past where people were cured of deadly medical conditions in inexplicable ways. The phenomenon is called “faith healing” and it has its equal share of believers and sceptics.

Belief in faith healing is gaining popularity as part of the holistic health movement, but such instances in themselves are uncommon. According to an article in Psychology.com by Dr Nigel Barber, faith healing is “unexplained, incomprehensible and should not work” from a scientific perspective. But surprisingly, it does.

He concludes that “faith healing is evidently capable of boosting immune functions.”

Sceptics scoff at these cases of unanticipated remissions, attributing them to placebo effects and misdiagnoses. When patients are sick, they are more likely to pray and turn themselves into spiritual practices. Scientific evidence suggests that those who regularly pray to a higher power, feel empowered and comforted, which results in positive health outcomes.

Before Paul Wood, there was Anita Moorjani, a woman who returned from the “dead” after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. While she was in a coma, she claims to have been visited by her deceased father and friend. And within hours of reviving, Moorjani experienced spontaneous healing. Seventy percent of her cancer disappeared within four days. And in within five weeks, she was completely cancer-free. Medical science has not found any explanation about her healing despite hers being a well-documented case.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 14, 2018 01:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).