Dr. Roda sharing his healing at a Thanksgiving Program 2006By Pat Mudgett
"My uncle is a miracle..," commented Ben Sanidad, physician and a Hartland Wellness Center (HWC) alumnus. However, Dr. Prospero Roda was anything but a miracle when he arrived at HWC. A practicing surgeon, Dr. Roda had a heart attack eleven years ago, resulting in quintuple bypass surgery. That was "strike one." His prospect for long life, at best, were only another sixteen years. And that was only if he took good care of his health.
Then he developed pneumonia on top of a serious infection contracted while performing surgery. That was "strike two." He was hospitalized on his 65'th birthday in May 2005. Soon the toxicity of the pneumonia led to kidney failure. Steroids helped restore kidney function but caused his weight to balloon to 210 pounds. His mild diabetes became full-blown, requiring 60 to 80 units of insulin daily. Medications piled upon medications. His heart went into fibrillations and he retained fluid, so he was given even more drugs. Finally, he was released from the hospital.
Things went from bad to worse after he returned home. Dr. Roda suffered "strike three" with symptoms of Parkinson's disease and serious side effects from his medications, including difficulty breathing, blurred vision, tremors, and muscle weakness.
"When I started looking at my history," Dr. Roda said, "I began to see that my end was coming. So I said, "Well, I have finished my work on earth." He morbidly concluded, "Maybe the Lord is ready to call me."
However, his wife Elma and his nephew Ben and wife, Esther, had other plans. Ben had been treated ten years earlier at Hartland for cancer of the esophagus, a cancer with a high death rate. Ben knew first-hand what a stay at HWC might do for his uncle. So together he and his Aunt Lou contrived behind the scenes to get Dr. Roda to Hartland by any means possible. Elma told her husband, "Your health should be your first priority now. Never mind the expense." Despite his disinterest, he consented to go and his wife went along to support him.
A cleansing diet of fruits and salads, plenty of water, lemon juice and dandelion tea, rest, exercise, fresh air and sunshine, and a heaping plateful of devotional time and "TLC" turned his health around.
Dr. Roda's children and grandsons visited him on the weekends to mark his progress from sickness back to health. When all attended church together on Sabbath, they were shocked and not a little concerned when the doctor was asked to sing. A nurse later said that she was ready to run to the front to help him if he collapsed. But instead of falling, his song brought tears to the eyes of many listeners and the planned sermon gave way to a testimony meeting. It was the first of many blessings for the Roda family.
Though Dr. Roda's condition at the onset required that he use the elevator to navigate the two-story Wellness Center building, he soon exchanged it for the stairs. By the third day of his stay, he had no further need of his oxygen equipment and nebulizer. By the end of the program and forty-eight pounds lighter, he had completely stopped using eight or nine medicines he had been taking.
Oh, yes, those daily hydrotherapy sessions! Dr. Roda thought they were torture. While receiving hot fomentations to his chest and back he would complain to his hydrotherapist about the heat. Then he would complain about the cold. But by the end of the eighteen-day session, the treatments became something he loved.
Even his wife Elma benefitted. "I was surprised when my blood tests showed that my cholesterol was high!" she said. "But I did not take any medications. I just followed the program, and at the end of the session my cholesterol had gone down to the upper limits of normal. I also got an added benefit of losing some weight."
"The people at Hartland are very friendly and self-sacrificing," Dr. Roda says. "It is an atmosphere of "What can I do to help you?" They have a goal in life to help people, and I'm very thankful for this."
Today, Dr. Roda is able to drive his car again and is back at his medical office once more. "I plan to live as long as I can. My grandkids need me and the Lord is not finished with me. 'Strike three' is just a milestone for me to start all over again. Hartland gave me a new lease on life. I wish I were very rich so that I could pay Hartland back."
Elma seconds the motion. "We praise the Lord for his goodness and for giving my husband another chance in life."
