This Psychic Reading given by Edgar Cayce at the office of the Association, Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Va., this 15th day of June, 1944, in accordance with request made by the mother, Mrs. [...], new Associate Member of the Ass'n for Research & Enlightenment, Inc., via Miss [993].

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis and Jeanette Fitch, Stenos. [5234] and mother.

TEXT

1. GC: You will go over this body carefully, examine it thoroughly, and tell me the conditions you find at the present time; giving the cause of the existing conditions, also suggestions for help and relief of this body; answering the questions, as I ask them:
2. EC: Yes, we have the body here, [5234].
3. As we find, there are conditions which prevent the better physical functioning of this body. As we find, there are some outside influences which have caused, to a portion of the brain, an adhesion or lesion, that under stress, as too much of certain foods or overtaxation, prevents the normal reflexes by that pressure produced where this scar tissue or adhesion produces a pressure on a portion of the brain. It is upon that portion of the medulla oblongata that this pressure is caused.
4. These, then, are not epilepsy, though there is some similarity in the character of the seizures. But it is not true epilepsy. Thus operative measures might bring conditions which would remove the fear of, as well as the sources of, these pressures. These we would have accomplished.
5. The effects may be kept more quiet by refraining from too much sweets, getting over-excited or taking any foods or drinks which cause any spasm to the diaphragm, that is a part of the brain flexes through sympathetic reactions.
6. Do that. As we find, in such a place as Johns Hopkins or Mayo Clinic would be the preferable for such an operation.
7. Ready for questions.
8. (Q) Would this operation affect a complete cure?
   (A) As just given, it should remove the sources of these pressures which come from flexes and reflexes which occur with the body.
9. (Q) Any physical activities which would aggravate his condition?
   (A) It is more mental. Whenever the body gets mad or gets thoroughly disappointed or gets aggravated, these bring on such disturbances.
10. (Q) Will this condition eventually affect my mentality, causing me to be less alert?
    (A) It already affects in this direction and this manner. Yes, of course, it prevents the full or complete reaction from sympathetic or from the imaginative system, see?
11. (Q) Is there any nerve severed?
    (A) No nerves severed. These are, as indicated, fractures and adhesions and a thickening of the capsule, and this upon the flexes in the lower portion. Look for it there. This should show a thickening with the shadowgraph.
12. (Q) Would marriage be advisable?
    (A) Not until these changes were brought about. Do this.
13. We are through with this reading.

    Copy to Mother
    Copy to Ass'n file
    Copy for indexing
    (The reading, as I see it, definitely advises an operation, but only at Johns-Hopkins or Mayo. I suggest that you discuss the reading with Miss [993] and get her reaction.)

BACKGROUND

1. Born 1/28/19 in Virginia; single.
2. 5/31/44 Mother's questions submitted in addition to those at end of 5234-1: "(1) Can my son be cured? (2) How? (3) Whom do you recommend for the surgeon? (4) Do you recommend any certain diet? (5) Is there any certain food from which he should abstain? (6) Would it be advisable for him to marry? (7) I can't think of more questions now, but will bring them when I come."
3. 6/15/44 Mother's questions submitted previous to reading, in addition to those at end of 5234-1, and her remarks: "(1) Would this condition be inherited by his descendants? (2) Will this condition eventually affect his mentality, causing him to be less alert? (3) Is there any pressure on the brain from the scar? X-Rays don't show any pressure; can't tell from that. (4) Is there any nerve severed? Dr. Dandy says his physical condition is perfect in every other way. The trouble is no doubt due to the accident he had when he was 3 years 9 months old. He was run over by a street car and dragged 75 feet before it stopped. One doctor at Duke Hospital advises operation to remove scar tissue from the head and putting in metal plate. Could not do that when he was a baby, as his head hadn't stopped growing... He has regular epileptic attacks, loses consciousness at times quite often. At other times goes 6 months without having them."

REPORTS

1. 9/22/49 Questionnaire sent. No reply.
2. 1/09/52 GD's note: I was told by [993] that the reading for [5234] as to surgery, was not followed.
3. 7/60 Notes by Walter N. Pahnke, M.D: "Case [5234] was classified in group 1 [of the Epilepsy Abstract of 96 cases from the Edgar Cayce Records]. Doctor gave the diagnosis of epilepsy caused by scar tissue on the brain. The attacks were described as occurring regularly. The reading says that this was not a case of true epilepsy. There were no follow-up reports."
4. 6/06/84 GD's note: This afternoon Mr. [5234]'s brother appeared with Mr. [5234]'s wife and daughter, requesting a copy of 5234-1 and giving a full report on the case, leaving us with a copy of [5234]'s death certificate [he died 3/12/76 at age 57]. The brother dictated on tape a complete case report.
5. 6/07/84 GD's note to Dr. Windsor:
   In 1948, following the incorporation of Edgar Cayce Foundation, we had the microfilm people out to set a price on microfilming the readings for preservation. They found their equipment would not copy the readings from the yellow paper carbons. Consequently it was decided that it would be necessary to retype all the readings. I was busy with the E.C.F. campaign people, with Hugh Lynn, who were trying to raise funds for the job. Mae was given the job of preparing the carbon copies for retyping (on a new format that the fund raisers thought would be more appealing). She was to brief the background from the correspondence and put it at the top of the reading, with the reports at the end, so that the typist could produce a complete, accurate copy of the reading. Lydia J. Schrader Gray [Erik Jensen's wife Lorraine's aunt] offered to proof the newly typed copy with the typist. Mae had only to get all the right information in the right place on the copy for the typist; this was to come from the individual's correspondence file, with the correct Case Number instead of name, etc.
   Case 5234-1 is one of those samples of approximately two hundred readings that were retyped in this format. Fortunately we were not able to raise money for the enormous retyping job and the work on it stopped. (For a short time there were six girls hired to do nothing but type in this fashion.) The matter was dropped until November 1959 when Mr. Robert Adriance became President of E.C.F. [also Business Manager of A.R.E. until Everett Irion came and succeeded him as Business Manager and Treasurer]. Hugh Lynn and Mr. Adriance had the microfilm people come out again. This time they found that their equipment had improved so that they could duplicate the yellow copies. Soon the XEROX became available and made our job of duplicating much easier and faster than the old Ozalid machine. [See 11/02/59 Remington-Rand report to our PLANS COMMITTEE under 254-55 Reports. See Tomlin Film in E.C.F. vault of the 11 year process, entitled "MINING THE WEALTH."]
   If Mr. [P...] had not come yesterday to ask for a copy of his brother's reading [5234-1], and to give us a complete report on it, this particular case would not have been brought to my attention. I was checking it, after Mr. [P...] had gone, so I could add the death certificate which he left with us (and his report which he left on tape). Immediately I noticed that [5234]'s mother had been listed as the contact for his reading, under Case [2848], which indicated that she also had obtained a reading. I looked up Case [2848] and found that she was a Mrs. [P...] in Florida who had been recommended to Mr. Cayce by Thomas Sugrue; she had no connection whatever with Case [5234] and his mother in Norfolk who had been recommended by Miss [993]. The Norfolk Mrs. [P...] did not have a personal reading, only the [5234] for her son.
   Well, this gives you an idea of our problem. I simply MUST check these readings for accuracy before they get into a Circulating File or get written up in some fashion by someone not familiar with the actual circumstances of the case, etc. That's why I insisted on proofing all the Physical Readings for Bob Clapp before he used them in a new file, or a revamped file - and this BEFORE they were retyped. If someone retypes them BEFORE they are corrected that will make the job that much harder, of course.
   See attached 5234-1 original yellow carbon copy of 6/15/44, which was marked for typing by Mae in 1948, and my corrected copy of 5234-1 which I made late yesterday.
6. 6/06/84 Below Death Certificate was given to GDT by [5234]'s brother:
   Commonwealth of Virginia - Certificate of Death Department of Health - Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics - Richmond Registration Area Number 217 Date of Death March 12, 1976 Age 57 Color or Race White City or Town of Death Norfolk State Virginia USA Cause of Death Cardiovascular accident Funeral Home Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home, Inc., Norfolk, Va. Date Record Filed Mar. 16, 1976
7. 7/07/84 JT's note: The daughter of [5234] wrote me on July 11 and provided the following report which was written by her uncle, a brother of [5234]. The report was dated March 25, 1983. This report was addressed to a doctor who appeared on the television news program "20/20". The program featured a doctor working with coma patients and the treatment of patients.
   Dear Doctor [D...]:
   This information is sent to you with the hopes that in some way may be of value in your work...
   Patient: Deceased Name: [5234] Born January 25, 1919, died march 12, 1976 My relationship to patient: Brother
   When [5234] was about 3 years old it is believed that he went to sleep with his head resting on the street car tracks, it is a fact that he was lying with his head on the rails when the Navy Base street car struck him in front of 620 West 35th Street, Norfolk, Va. The street car stopped about 300 yards from the impact point and the child was beneath the car.
   A Doctor Winston who resided at the corner of 34th and Colonial Ave., approximately a block and a half away happened to be at the scene and took the child to the office and treatment area of his home.
   Damages to [5234] included: Crushed skull in the temple area, mangled right leg, and damaged hand (if my memory is correct the right hand and temple were the areas involved), as well as massive cuts and bruises. The child was in a coma.
   Treatment was conducted at Dr. Winston's residence and the patient was not expected to survive. A six inch area of the crushed skull was removed, the right leg was only partially straightened, and the remaining cuts dressed.
   Patient improved as far as the cuts and bruises were concerned but remained in a coma, and with little hope the winter passed.
   I was very young and my first memory of life is the following event which may be of interest to you and your work. I was dressed in all white and clean clothes for a visit to see my brother who had been in a coma now for six months or thereabouts, I do not recall ever seeing him before this time.
   My mother and I arrived at Dr. Winston's and the doctor took us in to the back room to see [5234]. We were only in there a few moments when my Mother broke down and started crying, Dr. Winston escorted her out of the room and towards his office, and I was left there with [5234] alone. I was angry because [5234] would not answer me, and I took a straight pin from a circular pyramid shaped pin-cushion that was on the bedside stand with which I jabbed him in the right hip towards his buttocks. [5234] immediately stood up and cried.
   Mother and Dr. Winston rushed into the room very excited, which I did not understand at that time. Nothing was asked of me and as I thought I had been bad I did not tell of this occurrence of mine with the straight pin. Throughout my lifetime this information was withheld from my parents, brothers and sister.
   The program 20/20 [3/24/83] sparked the thought that somehow a combination of shock, or acupuncture to the nervous system may be applicable.
   Patient Recovery:
   Right leg badly twisted and a steel brace applied to twist the leg to change the position of the foot from pointing at the left heel to a normal stance. This brace was removed by a German doctor who made a visit to see my Father. This doctor removed the brace and inserted a pebble between the leather of the shoe and its lining, re-sewing the incision on the leather portion. Following the doctor's instructions the pebble was transferred to replacement shoes until the foot passed 90 degrees clockwise of normal. When the pebble was removed the foot returned slowly to what was the normal position and remained so for the rest of [5234]'s lifetime.
   Normal growth and activity was enjoyed without a plate ever being inserted in the area of skull removed. Height aprox. 6'6", Weight aprox. 198 lb., "Build like Li'l Abner, walk like an Indian."
   About 1934 the patient experienced the first of what was diagnosed as an epileptic seizure. These progressed in frequency through the years and reached the peak of daily occurrence after which a decline of frequency started until in May of 1957 when [5234] told me that they were maybe once a month and he was able to tell that one was imminent. I believe that the attacks were replaced with violent headaches in his later years, but this is not a known fact by me.
   Records of [5234]'s case history may be available to you from the following places that were consulted:
   Mayo Clinic Duke Medical Center, North Carolina Edgar Cayce Foundation, Virginia Beach, Virginia Consultation results were that nothing could be done except to weather out the storm, as the skull was probably knitting over part of the brain, and the seizures would pass with long enough time.
   I respectfully request you overlook my hunt and peck system, and errors that are made as I pray for help for others. May God be with you and your efforts for mankind.
   Most Sincerely, Mr. [...]

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