John and Susan Houser

Often called Lou Gehrig's Disease, ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) is, according to medical professionals, untreatable, incurable and invariably fatal. This disease (nicknamed after the Yankees baseball star who died from it in 1941, is a relatively uncommon neuromuscular disease characterized by a progressive degeneratiion of motor nerve cells in the brain and spinal column. When the motor neurons can no longer send impulses to the muscles, the muscles begin to waste away. According to the ALS Association approximately four out of every 100,000 people will be stricken with it in their lifetime. With 271,000,000 people in the U.S., that means 10,840 people will develop ALS. Lou Gehrigs Disease

Meet Dave Mefferd Dave Mefferd of Hampton, Virginia is 55 years old and is employed as a high school guidance counselor at Phoebus High School, also in Hampton. He has always been a "high energy" man, and for years has painted houses after work and on the weekends. Just prior to June of 1996 he started slowing down for the time in his life. Along with a lack of energy he developed an overall feeling of unrest about his general health. He began to experience aches and pains that were completely uncommon for him, and just felt generally unwell.

Dave's Story

I first started feeling ill in 1996. It took the doctors a year to diagnose my illness as ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. So, there I was in the doctor's office in August of 1997 and the doctor told me that there was no help for me--no treatment and no cure. I sat there trying to think of something intelligent to ask. So, after a minute I thought, well I'll ask him what he would do if he were me. I asked him and he said, "Well, I would retire from work, go to Florida, buy a trailer and wait to die." I drove home very depressed.

Shortly after that visit to the doctor I kept an appointment with my chiropractor, Dr. Joseph Nusbaum, who was also a good friend, and talked to him about my diagnosis. He talked to me at length about taking antioxidants and I started on those immediately. For the next nine months I read everything there was to read about vitamins. I ordered vitamins from companies all over the world. The problem was, with every combination of vitamins I took, they worked well for a while and I would feel better--then they would seem to stop having any effect after a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, my overall general well being was deteriorating and it was getting more and more difficult to keep a positive attitude. I have always been self-sufficient so it was difficult for me to begin to lose the edge of my independence as the disease progressed. My wife, Diana, was very supportive, as were my stepchildren and the faculty at school, but even with their help it was becoming hard to stay upbeat. You see, it was as if my life was on a timeline and I was looking for a way to stop the deterioation and live again in such a way that I didn't have to think about the "timeline" every day.

By August of 1998, a year after diagnosis, I was experiencing severe symptoms of ALS. I could only walk sixty-six steps without stopping and resting. My mouth severely drooped on the left side and I was losing my ability to write or button my buttons with my right hand. I refused to allow anyone to help me dress and learned to use a pair of needle nose pliers to grab the button and push it through the button hole on my shirts. My left foot tingled with "pins and needles" all the time and I had a very noticeable limp with a "drop foot". My balance was seriously affected and my speech was extremely slurred. As bad as all of that was--the fact that I had extreme difficulty swallowing was the worst part. For most people swallowing is a natural reflex and they don't even think about it. In July of 1998, in order for me to swallow I had to consciously concentrate on what my throat was doing. I was constantly in danger of choking--and it had become life threatening. Most ALS patients choke to death on their own phlegm.

Then, one day in late July, while doing some work on a lady's house I met a man named Tandy Brown. Tandy saw me limping around and when I took one of my frequent breaks he and I struck up a conversation. He said, " You need to be drinking more water." I agreed, but told him I didn't like the taste of water. He offered me a glass of water with Coral Calcium in it and it tasted great! He sold me a one-month supply and I started using it every day. Approximately two weeks after I began using Coral Calclium on a normal maintenance program I started to feel better. Lou Gehrigs Disease

Shortly after that first meeting with Tandy he introduced me to Art Franklin, the Founder of HTN the company that sells Coral Calcium. After hearing Art lecture on the HTN products I began using the HTN "Pack of Life Plus" on a daily basis. These special, all-natural product formulations are owned and sold exclusively by HTN. About a month later I could tell the difference in my body--the deterioation had seemed to stop. A few weeks later, in September of 1998, after a second conversation with Art about Cleansing, Nourishing, and Balancing my Body so that it could heal itself, I decided to double up on the "Pack of Life Plus".

I have now been using HTN products for eleven months, and I am twenty-five months post-diagnosis. My symptoms are almost completely gone. I no longer have any difficulty swallowing and the drooping in my mouth has almost completely disappeared. My once noticeable limp has now gone away and my speech has greatly improved and is only very slightly slurred. I can walk unlimited steps and my balance is only a "little off" once in a while. My writing has returned to normal and I no longer have any difficulty buttoning my buttons. I am working full-time in my position as a high school guidance counselor, I continue to paint houses on the side, and I just returned from a two-week vacation to see my mother in Iowa.

HTN has given me my whole life back. For my continued health and well being I have made a commitment to taking the HTN products for the rest of my life. Each day I take the double Pack of Life Plus (includes: Coral Calcium Gold, Assimilator, ActiVin OPC 50, Omega 3/60 with Shark Liver Oil), Silver Max (which I keep with me at all times to help my swallowing), and the Metabolizer 2000 extra for energy. In addition, for the past two months I have added the new products Nature's Flora SBOs (soil based organisms for colon cleansing) and the new Centurion hGH Booster (hGH-human growth homone). These products immediately helped me reach a new level of improved health. I believe if I had been taking the SBOs from the beginning that my recovery time would bave been cut in half. The only thing I have changed in my diet since beginning my regimen of HTN products are that I no longer drink any soft drinks or coffee. In addition to the HTN products I take vitamin C and vitamin E on a daily basis. I also get a deep muscle massage once a week to release toxins from my muscles and I have a fifteen-minute Reflexology session following the massage. I had been getting an occasional colonic to cleanse my small intestine villi but now I believe the SBOs will take care of that. I want to stress to those reading this that I am not saying if you take vitamins for a few days you will be cured. As I said earlier--this is a lifetime commitment to wellness.

Amazingly, there are people who, while watching my progress into wellness, have actually suggested that I was misdiagnosed and never had ALS at all. My response to them is, "Does it really matter?" You see, I know that I was very ill and near death, now I know that I am better and getting better everyday. What does it matter what they call something if there is nothing they can do about it. I had all of the symptoms of ALS and that is what doctors a MCV (Medical College of Virginia) diagnosed me as having.

If it hadn't been for HTN I believe I would be dead or in a wheel chair by now. Out of five people I know who were diagnosed about the same time as me, two have died and two are in wheel chairs with failing health--I am the only one who is still up and walking around and feeling great. Lou Gehrigs Disease

I have tried to get others with ALS to listen to my story about the HTN products and, sadly, the answer I most often receive from them is--"I am going to do exactly what my doctor tells me." Three years ago I would have agreed with them, but not today. Now, I have decided two things--a person's health is totally up to them. Nobody is going to care about your health the way you do. The second is--no matter how you feel you cannot really, one hundred percent, describe it to anyone else. So, only you can really see the differences going on in your life. Doctors have a place in our society but when they tell you there is nothing they can do for you--you have to look elsewhere and not give up. Doctors are valuable, but they don't know everything about how to heal yourself naturally.

My goal, today, is to live a healthy life. I am enjoying my life and looking forward to another great year at school helping students to work at their highest level of achievement. I refuse to settle for a wheelchair or an untimely death. With HTN, a positive attitude, and the rest of my daily regimen, I believe that I can do what it takes to be healthy for a long time to come. I am so grateful to my family, and the faculty at my school, as well as everyone at HTN especially Tandy and Art for being positive and supportive of me. Even when times were very difficult and it was hard for my wife and my peers they did their best to help me keep a positive outlook. It took me nine months to find HTN and that was nine monts of wasted time. I strongly urge anyone to take a look at what HTN has to offer, no matter your disease or health condition. It may work for you just like it has for me and thousands of others. (HTN is currently working with other ALS diagnosed individuals who are also experiencing improved health with HTN products.)

Lou Gehrigs Disease/supplements

Lou Gehrigs Disease - contact The Raleigh Herb Shop

John Houser HTN pin # 67886

Lou Gehrigs Disease ALS and possible helps

Aug 26 2004 - update - Dave has been symptom free for 5 years .

Raleigh Herb Shop
Owner-John Houser, Herb Specialist
919-875-1005

6320 - 132 Capital Blvd.
Raleigh, NC 27616