The Complete Patient

As Michigan authorities inch toward a decision about how to follow up on their Oct. 13 sting operation against Richard Hebron and the Family Farms Cooperative, one of the things they are hopefully doing is reviewing the 232 testimonials sent by Michigan raw milk drinkers and supporters.

I have seen these sorts of testimonials before, in Ohio raw milk cases, and the Michigan versions are just as compelling and touching. They are compelling in the power of their simple message: Please let us consume the natural foods we choose to consume.

The most touching ones are from parents of children worn down by chronic conditions like asthma, allergies, and frequent strep throats and colds, who have experienced nearly miraculous cures following regular consumption of raw milk. They are too specific and personal to have been taken from any kind of template.

Steve Bemis, an Ann Arbor lawyer, sent me copies of the testimonials, which are public record. Many are also posted on the Family Farms Cooperative web site. Here are excerpts from a few:

My youngest has battled GERD along with recurrent ear infections & urinary tract infections since she was 2 months old. She had started drastically regressing from about 10 months on. She was schedueled for a CAT scan because of a suspicion of a brain tumor. She had low-grade fevers for months that would sometimes spike inexplicably. We started raw dairy at about 12 months of age. Her recovery has been miraculous. She is a bright, healthy, happy four-year-old who doesn't even get a cold.

I have a son who at three was diagnosed with "cold induced asthma". Every few weeks he would get a cold and congestion with heavy mucus. We were told by our doctor (a D.O.) to take him off regular store bought milk (which he loved). Within two days he started sleeping through the night (finally) and the coughing was gone. Several years later when he was about seven we were still dealing with occasional asthma attacks and some allergies…While we were picking up our yearly supply of organic meat from a farmer in MN we were offered "raw milk" from their home supply. We loved the taste and the idea that it was "alive". They gave us a gallon to take home. Within two days my son's cough was gone and never returned. Within a short time we located Family Farms Coop as a source of raw milk. We have been purchasing from them for several years. We have seen less colds and my son is now able to drink all the milk he wants with much less colds or asthma attacks than before. In fact most of time his asthma medicine expires rather than gets used.

A year and a half ago I was truly on the brink of disaster with Crone’s disease causing rapid, undesired weight loss. There were fewer and fewer foods that I could tolerate without having terrible negative reactions. I hardly knew what to eat anymore. Through Dr. Mercola and his website (Mercola.com) I learned about raw dairy and grass fed beef. I was terrified to try either one as I was so allergic to both in their usual form (pasteurized dairy and grain fed beef). Miraculously, it was not only OK, but I began to regain desperately needed energy and weight. I am now so totally reliant upon Family Farms Co-op’s nearly magical dairy that it scares me to think it may be in jeopardy. Also, my son was on the Autistic Spectrum, and within the 1st week of taking in large quantities of raw cream, his brain processing speeded up and sensory disturbances disappeared. He was allergic to pasteurized dairy and relied on rice and soy milk (which either have too much sugar or have negative effects on estrogen levels). He is now considered to be off the Autistic Spectrum. There are many others whose Autistic children have experienced dramatic speech improvements by introducing raw dairy to their diets.

My oldest daughter was the only one of my four daughters who could actually handle store bought milk, although she had repeated ear infections as a baby. The other three always vomited store bought milk since infancy, yogurt was no exception. I was constantly worried that they were not getting enough calcium, and I was eventually told to give them raw milk…It has taken me 5 years to find Family Farms Coop! From the first time I brought raw milk home, in the spring/summer of 2006, my family drank it up. Our monthly 6 gallon delivery is usually gone in 8 days! This past Fall no one in our family got a cold, pneumonia, or flu which has been an annual event in our house. My allergies, and that of my second daughter, were also lessoned this past fall. We are all healthier, happier, stronger individuals. Even my husband, who has not tolerated milk his whole life loves this milk and can easily digest it.

It’s difficult to imagine charging the suppliers of this product with a crime. We will hopefully learn shortly if Cass County prosecutor Victor Fitz has been similarly moved.