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CBN.com – For a year, 14-year-old Brock Alcock suffered with daily fatigue and headaches.
Brock remembers, "I was real tired all the time. I couldn’t do the things I usually do."
His parents, Gail and Russell, grew increasingly concerned with Brock’s condition. Finally, they had Brock tested. The news wasn’t good.
"He [doctor] told us, he has polycythemia. And he asked, 'Has his blood always been this thick?" says Gail. "And I said, what are you talking about?"
"And he [doctor] said his blood is so thick they could hardly draw it."
Brock was diagnosed with Polycythemia, which causes the blood to thicken, increasing the risk of stroke and heart attack. Polycythemia is rare and when it does occur, it’s usually seen in elderly people. Brock’s case was unusual, so to reduce the thickness of Brock’s blood, medical staff drew two pints of blood from Brock. This process took over eight hours returning Brock’s blood thickness to normal. Consequently, a month later, repeat tests showed Brock’s blood thickening again.
"Brock didn’t understand how complicated this was, and how serious the condition it was. Because when you’re told that when you’re 14-years-old, [he wasn’t quite 15 at the time], that you could have a stroke or a heart attack, and die at any minute, that’s hard to accept," says Gail.
Brock's father Russell clung to his faith: "I was just hoping for the best, I was hoping for a miracle."
Brock’s fatigue and headaches continued for another six months. But in October of 2005, while Gail was watching The 700 Club...
Gail says, "Whenever it came to the Word of Knowledge that day, Gordon said, 'There’s a person out there with a very rare blood disease. The way the red blood cells multiply, I don’t know, but God does, and He’s healing that condition.' "
"It was like cold chills went all over me. I have them right now. Because I said, that is Brock. That is for my son, he is healed. He’s going to be healed," she remembers.
"At the time she got it, I was in school. I came home, my daddy got home, and she told me. I was like, wow," says Brock.
"It was better than winning the lottery. It was so wonderful, it’s hard to explain," describes Russell.
Two weeks after the Word of Knowledge, Brock begged his doctor to let him join the wrestling team. At first, his doctor disapproved believing Brock was at high risk and could suffer a stroke or heart attack. But a week later, Brock was retested in Greenville, North Carolina.
"They did more blood work and while we were waiting and waiting and waiting for the results, they finally came in. They said, 'You know, we can’t find anything wrong. His blood tests all are normal,' " says Gail.
"After mom told me, within that week, I decided to get more energy. It was gone. Nothing was wrong. It just went away. I just can’t explain the way it happened," recalls Brock.
By the way, Brock did wrestle and has the letter to prove it. As far as Brock’s health today, blood work is still normal.
"God healed him. There’s no other explanation," says Gail.
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