Sid: I think that’s a very apt description of my next guest her name is Joan Gieson. I’m speaking to her at her home in St. Louis, Missouri. And you’ve probably seen Joan on television if you’ve ever watched the Benny Hinn show; she’s the woman that says “Pastor Benny” this person has just been healed of this disease or that disease” and now she’s in her own ministry. And the thing that I found so intriguing is that for years she also worked with one of my favorite ministries the Kathryn Kuhlman Ministry doing similar things and she has pretty much picked up strong anointings of healing from both of those wonderful ministries. But actually I want to take you back to the beginning you just had your first child and something happened to you and it only happens in the movies it’s not supposed to happen in real life what happened to you?
Joan: I just want to say hello to you this morning and thank you so much for allowing me to be with you today. You know I felt as though when the first call came in to be with you on your television program that it was one of the top 3 important things that ever happened in my life. And that saying something because I’m an old woman and I’ve done a lot but it was from the Holy Spirit that He allowed me to know that and I feel the same way about being with you today and tomorrow and the following days. In saying all of that thanks a million for allowing this to happen. But yes…
Sid: Well Joan that’s as a nice a compliment that I’ve ever had on the air so thank you but what happened after your first child?
Joan: Honey it was devastating I’m Italian and my name my maiden name is Palermo and my mom and dad they had 3 kids and all of us were strong as anybody could be there was no sickness other than measles and mumps and colds and just the general thing you know. And in the…with the Catholic people I don’t know if it’s with all of the Catholics, I mean Italians I didn’t mean Catholic Italian a pedigree is given to the intended husband. Before the marriage my mother and father took me to the regular doctor and the gynecologist and check all over and I had all of the reproductive organs in good condition. My teeth were good and my hearing was good and it sounded like selling a poodle (Laughing). And so my mom and dad that and said that “She’s healthy and she’s strong” and it was like part of dowry. And I got married and a wonderful wedding went on a honeymoon and now sometime later our first child was born and when he was just a little more than 2 years old I stooped over one day to pick something up off of the floor and my husband at that time was working from 12 noon until 10 at night and so he had already gone to work. And Michael was, that’s the little boy’s name, he was playing and when I stooped over to get this whatever it was that ever had fallen on the floor I got up and Sid I was completely blind.
Sid: Hm.
Joan: Well it’s not something that you can practice for or you can prepare for it’s like oh there was a fear that gripped my body that was so inclusive that I mean I could literally feel it’s clutches around me. And I yelled for Michael to come and he brought the telephone to me and I called the operator and had her dial my mother. And I said “Mom you’ve got to come quick I can’t see.” Well her and my grandfather came in a minute it seemed like and I was sitting in the living room and I would see bits and pieces of my sight coming back and then it would go again. Well within a couple of hours it had come back but the fear had not left. And my mom said “Okay now what happened here there’s something wrong we’re going to go out and buy a new hat and we’ll divert your attention to something else,” but she said “When I gave your hand to Frank that’s my husband you were perfectly sound and good and she said I want to know what happened.” That’s a good Italian mom.
Sid: It sounds like a Jewish mom but go ahead.
Joan: I think it came from the same pod you know I really do.
Sid: Well we both speak with our hands I know that.
Joan: Yes and I’m speaking with my hands yes absolutely. But my mom did she took me out to buy the new hat and I was thrilled with the new hat but it certainly did not take that fear away. And then she waited until Frank came home for dinner late that night after 10:00. And she said “Frank you know what’s happened here you know are there problems that I don’t know about?” And he said “No!” I mean he was just as shocked as we were. Well then we kissed each other goodbye and she left and we went to bed and the next day the very same thing happened. And at the end of our street there was a doctor, just a general doctor which I had never seen before. But when my mother and grandfather arrived my dad was at work also they took me down to this man and this man I was still blind when they took me into his office and they took me in as an emergency. And this doctor said “I do not know what’s wrong with her but I have a friend whose name is William Bailey and he’s an ophthalmologist and I called him and told him you were one the way. Well I went to him Sid and he said “You have optic the hemorrhages are behind both eyes and the optic nerves are swollen into the brain” and he said “There’s major trouble here and of course I can’t tell you conclusively what’s wrong but I’ve made an appointment with another doctor named Edmund Smallick” and I said “What is that?” And this time again the fright had come back but it wasn’t right. And he said “He’s a brain surgeon and I want you to see him and it’s my thinking that it could be several things. He said it could be a brain tumor and we want to check this out.” And so I went to this Edmund Smallick and what an unusual man this was. Now this was in one day Sid one day I went blind the next day it happened again. I went to the first doctor he sent me to the ophthalmologist which sent me to the brain surgeon that day. He said “I’m going to send you over to the hospital and I want you to be in there tonight we’re going to do some tests tomorrow and we’re going to see what we can find.” And I started crying, the guy gave me his handkerchief and he said “You know I haven’t done anything to you yet don’t cry” and he felt really bad for me because I was just…I had not really been sick and I did not know what was going on. And to think that this blindness could be part of your life now, but you know Sid the thing that scared me the very most was…
Sid: What was that?
Joan: If I would die I mean immediately I mean there was not only a blindness but there was a sick feeling that came over when this. Now I don’t know if it was an emotional sick or what it was but physically I felt sick. Again I don’t know if it was because of the stress of the thing but I just felt terrible, and so this is in one day. Now that night I’m in the hospital and laying there I’m crying. I never missed a Sunday for over 20 years in my Lutheran church I was born and raised in a Lutheran church not Catholic as Italians usually are but a Lutheran church. And I thought “If I die will I get to heaven?” Now that was so big inside of me the fear from the blindness was one thing, but the fear of maybe not making heaven was the…I think the most important of the two. And so they did the test the next day they injected radioactive isotopes into my veins through my arm. And they pact my body in sand bags and they today it’s an MRI and it’s very quick but then they ran this x-ray across my whole body to see if they could pick up any problem areas. Well it was almost an entire day that I had to lay still and I came out of that thing desperate, I was desperate. And so I called for my pastor and he came and I said to him “Pastor Zigoran I’m afraid if I die I don’t know if I am even going to get to heaven.” He said “Joan first of all you’re probably not going to die, second you will get to heaven because you’re a member of our church.” He said “And you and your husband tithed to our church” and he said “You’re little boy has been baptized in our church and everything that you’ve done revolves around the church; so because I can assure you that you’ve been a good worker you’re going to get to heaven.” Well I felt good but then when he left all of my hope went with him. And the next day testing was more grueling than the day before and on and on I remember staying there for 2 weeks and they could never pinpoint anything. So my plea by this time is desperate because this blindness is coming and then it’s going now it’s affecting my hearing, its affecting my walking, I cannot walk correctly, my balance off I’m dizzy. Now what I once knew as a perfect body was not any longer a perfect body I was an absolute mess.
Sid: Joan we’re out of time we’ll pick up right here on tomorrow’s broadcast.
