A Statement To My Friends
Inasmuch as the impression has spread across a large portion of the United States that I am a victim of tuberculosis, I wish to correct that impression. It has been determined by tuberculosis experts that I do not have tuberculosis. But many friends in many places are concerned and interested in knowing of my real condition. I therefore make at this time the announcement that it has been definitely decided that I am a victim of polycythemia. After this diagnosis had been made by my Tulsa physician I went to the Scott-White Hospital at Temple, Texas, for a complete clinic examination. In case you do not know, the Scott-White Hospital means the same to the south that Mayo Brothers means to the north and east. When they had made many tests and examinations they confirmed the diagnosis of my home physician.
Polycythemia is a rare blood condition so rare, in fact, that of those who pass through clinics and hospitals there is found one case in seventy thousand. There are probably less than thirty cases of it in the United States. The cause of it is unknown to medical science, and there is no cure known for it. Furthermore, it is ultimately fatal. Life-expectancy is but a few years at most. My red blood count is abnormally high, and the volume of blood in my body is twice that of a normal man. At the present time I am giving away a pint of blood each week to reduce the volume. I shall probably have to be less active during the remainder of my years—if years it proves to be—than
I have in the past. If I live but a short time, I want to enjoy that time and do all the good possible for the cause of Christ; and if I can stretch my life into twenty, years, I am determined to do it.
As the Bible tells us that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," I want the prayers of the brotherhood that the treatment which I shall use will be effective enough to prolong my life beyond that which medical science now promises me.