An independent medical assesment of Tali's condition in September 1997

Oprah Winfrey had a show in which she extensively elaborated on many USA children who were seriously disabled by the effects of CFIDS.

Tali Wolowitz from Johannesburg was another example that CFIDS can affect very young people and create almost disastrous consequences:

In August 1997 Tali (10) developed a paralytic form of CFIDS. Tali's father, a prominent Johannesburg surgeon contacted various specialists, however all methodologies failed to improve Tali's condition.

At the beginning of October he and his wife decided to put Tali on Dr. Petrovic's CFIDS Protocol.

Tali's condition was improving very slowly initially due to the fact that she was not able to swallow so many pills. However her initial 'subtle' improvements started to mount gradually and she was improving more and more. Exactly on Christmas 1997 Tali started to RUN. She is fully recovered. At the time of writing this report (Dec 1998) Tali is functioning completely normally without any residual signs of CFIDS. It has been exactly a year since her dramatic recovery. Her mother's report follows.

A HISTORY OF TALI'S ILLNESS

19th January 1998

At the end of July 1997 Tali contracted chicken Pox. Although she was sicker with the illness than her siblings, it ran for the normal period of about 10 days. Three days after we thought that Tali was over her chicken pox she began to feel weak and dizzy. This weakness became worse and worse and she was diagnosed as having a post viral syndrome. Two weeks later Tali was so weak that she was no longer able to walk. At this stage she could also barely talk, lift her head or any of her limbs and she could not eat without assistance, but had to be fed. It was then thought that she had encephelomyalitis and she was hospitalized and placed on a drip of cortizone. All the neurological tests and scans were negative. Although there appeared to be slight improvements in Tali's condition, none of these were significant.

Over the next six weeks Tali received regular physiotherapy and reflexology and was also seen regularly by a psychologist.

Tali began to take anti oxidants at the beginning of October. However, because of the apparent impossibility of this and because she was too weak to eat enough before taking her pills, she really struggled and even brought her first packet up. She did however persist, but at this stage she only took about less than half of the required amount.

At the end of October Tali decided that she was going to attempt all her pills, and to hers and everyone else's surprise, she actually managed. Tali continued to take all her pills each day.

Within about two weeks of taking all the required pills, we began to notice small improvements in Tali's condition. She began to talk better, she began to show an interest in things around her, she began to use her hands more and more and she began to do simple activities. She also began to do her hair herself

As the weeks passed, Tali became stronger and stronger. This was noticed by everyone who was working with her - the paediatrician, the physiotherapist, and the reflexologist. At physiotherapy, Tali began to walk more and more with less and less support. Eventually she was walking with only the support of a walker.

About seven weeks from the time that Tali had begun to take her full regimen of pills (exactly as Dr Petrovic had predicted) Tali began to walk unaided. Within days of this development, she was swimming alone, playing almost normally and at times virtually running.

Now, two-and-a-half months after beginning the full treatment, Tali is almost back to normal. She is still not 100%, but she is very close. She is able to attend school for about two hours a day and although she still tires and is exhausted at the end of the day, she is really coping very well and a million times better than she was three months ago. Noone can believe the massive 'd true. miraculous improvement and I have to Pinch myself regularly to ensure that it is all true.

I thank G-d a thousand times a day for helping us find Dr Petrovic.

SHEENA WOLOVITZ