Elijah Harper is showing signs of recovery from the mystery illness which has left him physically exhausted and 60 pounds lighter.
After months of being unable to keep food down, he is now eating more regularly and putting on weight.
“He is much more himself now,” said Lome Hanks, a spokesman for the Liberal Member of Parliament for Churchill.
“He thinks he can handle anything now that he has lived through this.” The bizarre illness struck Elijah last December. It started with an excruciating pain in his hip and extreme nausea. Later, he was afflicted by rapid heart beats, anxiety and sharp pains in his legs.
He was in and out of the hospital for months, undergoing a variety of diet and drug treatments and traditional healing regimens. But despite exhaustive testing, no doctor or healer could figure out what the illness was. Cancer, AIDS and the flesh-eating disease were ruled out.
Elders in Elijah’s community of Red Sucker Lake told Elijah that the illness is spiritual, not physical.
At times, he was in such pain that he prayed for death. “I prayed—boy, I prayed more than I ever have in my life before— that God would take me so that I could get away from this misery,” he told The Winnipeg Free Press last spring.
But Elijah kept his spirit going, buoyed by an outpouring of support from across the country.
Edmonton’s Sacred Heart Church of First Peoples held a healing mass for Elijah in July which attracted 300 people.
Drums pounded, hymns were sung in Cree and the priest, Rev. Peter Doherty, wore moccasins. On the walls, the traditional Roman Catholic stations of the cross depicted a Native Christ This month, The First Nations Free Press devoted its entire issue to Elijah, including numerous messages of support and prayers from people throughout Canada.
“He was very moved by that” said Hanks. “He is very appreciative of the support he’s been getting.
“It’s been a very difficult time for him.”
