‘I Decided to Have My Throat Blessed’

“My Healing Journey” is a special series of stories written by people who found unconventional paths to wellness when they had nowhere else to turn.

Tinsa Ann Harding, daughter of the survivor. Photo courtesy of Tinsa Ann Harding

This is my father’s story, as he told it to me.

Soon after my family and I arrived in crisis-torn Haiti in 1992, I contracted dengue. Indeed, Dengue lived up to its name of “break-bone fever”—my bones throbbed with severe pain. I had a high fever, and it left me covered in a hot, red rash. After I recovered from dengue, I developed a lump the size of half a grapefruit on the back, left side of my neck.