Return from Death

by David Hanson, DEH, TFT-Dx

My name is David Hanson and I have serious doubt that I would be alive today without Dr. Roger Callahan and THOUGHT FIELD THERAPY. What follows here is a true account of my personal experience with TFT and how it has returned me to a state of vibrant good health. All of what you will read here is verifiable and reliable witnesses are available to attest to the validity of all facts included here.

I met Dr. Roger Callahan in May of 2002 when I attended the TFT Diagnostics (TFT-Dx) training in Palm Springs but that’s not where this story starts. In telling a story like this, it’s always best to start at the beginning. So, here it goes.

In 1990, I was diagnosed with HIV infection. I became disabled in 1995 when testing revealed that my T-cell count (T-cells are lym-phocytes that fight viruses and infections) had plummeted to just 30. A normal person has between 800 and 1100. I had only 30 - - so few, in fact, that I could have given each of them names! I was terribly depressed and talk therapy was unsuccessful in relieving the problem.

In 1997, my physicians put me on the famed AIDS "cocktail", a mixture of noxious chemicals that would stop the forward progress of the virus. Through this ordeal, I have learned the implacable universal law of "price paying." In other words, for everything there is a price. The price I paid for skirting the shoals of the river Styx was many faceted. I was beset with ALL of the much publicized side effects of the AIDS medications which included: nausea and vomiting, chronic fatigue, daily bouts of diarrhea and severe stomach pain, a sharp increase in cholesterol and arterial plaque, and a thing called "lypodystrophy" which is a fancy word that means you body starts redistributing fat in the oddest ways.

My body soon learned to despise the "cocktail" and would not allow me to take my twice a day dose without gagging violently. The only thing I did NOT suffer from was wasting syndrome. Instead, I experienced exactly the opposite effect. I started to gain weight at a tremendous rate. Among my friends, I used to laughingly call it "AFR" – AIDS Related Fat. My weight quickly climbed to 320 pounds. That’s really bad when you’re only 5' 8".

So, here I was. Sick, tired, and fat. In the meantime, I had become interested in Reiki, a form of Japanese energy healing. As a student of Reiki I soon learned that most of the diseases the body encounters are the result of an impairment to the orderly flow of "Chi", the body’s life force energy. I completed my Reiki training with Master and Teacher certifications. Between the daily Reiki treatments that I gave myself and the medical "cocktail" I started to gain T-cells. My labs showed my T-cell numbers increasing to about the same number as my weight, 320.

Now fast forward to the week before Thanksgiving of 2001. The AIDS meds and lypodystrophy had increased my cholesterol and arterial plaque to the point where I was having angina. My cardiologist determined that I needed to have an angioplasty and stent implant. Angioplasty opens the blocked artery and the stent is a small internal brace that is supposed to hold it open and allow a restoration of the blood flow to and through the heart. I underwent this procedure three days before the Thanksgiving holiday and was released from the hospital the very next day. I was sore but no longer had the chest pain. The holiday came and went.

On the following Tuesday morning, I was sipping my decaf coffee and nibbling my morning toast when I felt the worst pain I have ever known come into my chest. I was having a heart attack.

The paramedics rushed from the fire house across the street, they put me in the aid car and off to the cardiac care center we went. I don’t remember much after that because I died in the back of the ambulance. The paramedics were able to restart my heart, but the attack was serious enough to keep me in the hospital for nine days.

Between December of 2001 and May of 2002, I continued the AIDS meds - still experienced the ineffable side effects and found my recovery to be slow. Very slow.

Tired of reading yet? Don’t quit! Please continue because this is where the story really gets good!

I attended Suzanne Connolly’s Algorithm training in May of 2001. It was my first exposure to the miracle of TFT. I watched a girl (one of my Reiki students) who was so frightened of heights that she would break into a sweat at the thought of standing on a chair. After application of the appropriate algorithm, she was able not only to stand on a chair, but also to ascend to the top a nearby desk without a wince of hesitation. Her fear of heights was GONE!

I knew right then that I had just stumbled across something big. I started using TFT with everyone I could find. I became what Bob Bray calls a "shameless tapper." It wasn’t just that it was so effective that prompted me to use the technique on everyone I could find. It was FUN! I used TFT with my Reiki patients, my neighbors, friends, family, students. EVERYONE!

My growth in TFT was going great but my health was not. By May, 2002 I was having chest pain again. My doctor was suggesting quad bypass surgery and my t-cells were hanging in there at about 420. I was continuing the Reiki treatments which I believe contributed to my stabilization, but I seemed not to be progressing and my weight was as bad as ever. I was still sick, tired, fat and never without a pocketful of nitro tablets.

But chest pain or not, I decided to take the TFT-Dx training in Palm Springs that started May 20, 2002. With fellow Reiki Masters Sharron Kanter and Michael Gross, I flew from Seattle to Palm Springs. The weather in May is lots cooler in Seattle than it is in Palm Springs. It was over 100 degrees. I was sick to my stomach from the AIDS meds and my chest began to hurt the minute I got off the plane and into the desert heat. Over that weekend, I used over a dozen nitro pills.

They tell you to go to the hospital after the third one, but I’m stubborn. I recall having to leave the training room numerous times because of the medication-related diarrhea. I quickly became the class "project" when, on the first day of class, my HRV score turned up as an alarming 6. This was clearly disturbing considering that we (the class) had just learned that the lower the score, the greater the prediction of mortality.

My traveling companions were becoming visibly agitated and Dr. Callahan was having trouble disguising his concern with my low score. He and Bob Bray were pleasant but firm in their invitation to step out-side the training room for a quick diagnostic session out in the hall. Drs. Callahan and Bray worked with me for twenty minutes more or less. There was no surprise in finding that the AIDS meds tested toxic. The toxic meds were treated with Callahan’s 7 second procedure. We worked on the nausea and diarrhea. We worked on the chest pain. We worked on the abdominal pain. I was led back to the HRV scanner and I improved only slightly to a eight point some-thing. Not much, but still an improvement.

I did not know how important this day would be in my current life. The next day, we worked at building on the prior day’s successes. But with one important difference: I woke up the next morning without the diarrhea or abdominal pain that I had grown so accustomed to and I was able to take my morning meds without the usual gagging.

After my morning TFT treatment, I scored better on the HRV scan. We continued this throughout the four day training and I eventually got my HRV score up to 18 but my autonomic balance was still way out of kilter. But that doesn’t matter because that Dx training was a life-changing event for me. Since then, I have not been troubled AT ALL with medication

sickness or the nausea, gagging, abdominal pain, or fatigue that comes with it. I took advantage of the information we discovered about the foods that are toxic for me and have modified my diet accordingly.

Since May 20, 2002, I have lost a total of sixty-five pounds and ten inches around my waist without hunger or depression. As a matter of fact, I started a weekly TFT weight loss program to help others with food addictions.

I was HRV scanned again in October by Karen Hope from BIO-COM and my HRV has improved to a robust 87.3 and my autonomic balance is nearly perfect. My T-cells have jumped miraculously to over 690 and my viral load had dropped to undetectable levels.

For all purpose and intent, the AIDS is in total remission. And my medical doctor discovered that my cholesterol dropped to completely healthy levels.

Thanks to Dr. Callahan and TFT, I have been getting healthier and healthier. I have my life back. And the best part of this story is yet to be written because next Tuesday morning, I leave the disability dole (after seven years on disability) and am starting a new, full-time job as a counselor with one of the Puget Sound’s largest cemetery/funeral home combinations working with families who have lost a loved one.

My new mission is to spread TFT through the grief-counseling community. As I said before, there is no doubt in my mind that I would not be alive today without TFT. I want to take this opportunity in print to publicly thank you, Roger, for your help. The gratitude I feel in my heart is not easily translated into words. Just know that I will forever be in your debt.

Note from March 2008: There were approximately 50 Men who were put on the “Aids Cocktail” at the same time David started and David is the only survivor living today.

Dr. David Hanson