Caroline Waves Goodbye to Hand Dystrophy

A crippling disease disfigured Caroline Tellefson-Gonzalez’ right hand. She said she never saw it coming.
“It started with just regular typing. I was told I had maybe tendonitis, carpel tunnel,” Caroline said.
“Even hearing that, I thought, ‘I’m healthy. I’m a healthy woman. Why should this be happening to me?’ So I’m like ‘Okay, carpel tunnel, worst case scenario: I have the surgery and I’m fine.’ Well, I had the surgery and that’s when my hand swelled up and the signs started happening,” Caroline said.
Caroline’s symptoms only got worse. She suffered extreme pain that didn’t go away. Her knuckles swelled and were very red and her hand was cold.
Doctors diagnosed her with reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD). It’s a nerve disorder which often develops after an injury, causing chronic pain and swelling. And there is no cure.
“And then they’re telling me, ‘it’s gonna spread; and that someone in the same condition was in a wheel chair within five years,” Caroline said.
“I said, ‘I am not receiving this! I’m not receiving this for me, I am not receiving this for me!’ And I would just cry out to the Lord. I kept saying ‘You’ve healed me, you’ve healed me, you’ve healed me. My body’s lying to me.’ I would say ‘Devil, you’re a liar,’” Caroline said.
“Because of God I had hope, but the reality of it was creeping up on me. I was depressed. I was sad. I cried a lot alone,” Caroline said.
The debilitating condition prevented Caroline from caring for her family.
“I couldn’t work. The pain, I was on so much medication, a bag full of medication. I couldn’t clean the house. The simplest things: getting dressed, making food, washing dishes, I couldn’t do it,” Caroline said.
For safety reasons Caroline had to give up her love for riding horses.
Caroline and Sebastian
“The way her hand was deteriorating and this disease was progressing, it was really hard to watch her suffer with that,” said her husband, Sebastian. “We were praying and believing that she was going to get healed. It was always in the back of my mind, something that I knew was going to happen. We didn’t know when it was going to happen, but we knew it was going to happen.”
Last April Caroline’s sister invited her to the Lakeland revival in Florida.
“Everyone was lifting their hands and worshiping and we walked in. We felt the heavy anointing. It was a presence, it was the presence of…God. It was just the most beautiful feeling anyone could ever feel. I felt like we were in the throne room of the Lord,” Caroline said.
“And I was just worshipping. My fingers, they weren’t popping, but they started like pulsating and they were moving and spasming. My hand was doing this (Caroline opens and closes her hand) and I was not doing it,” Caroline said. “And I was like Huhhhh! And I started just weeping. God was taking my hand and he was undoing and redoing, changing, straightening; and the pain in my hand, for the first time, right then right there, I could open and close my hand all the way. Never could I do this – ever, ever, ever - and not one at a time, ever.”
“I was in awe. I was like so excited. I was like a kid going to Disneyland or a candy store. I was like ‘Ahhhh! Oh, my gosh!’ I’m walking around going ‘Oh my gosh! Look! Look! Look!’” Caroline said.
“And I’ve been able to continue to do this, use my hand. It has not gone away, praise God. And it’s healed completely! Completely, completely!” Caroline said.
“When she came back from Florida, she was so full of God and you could tell that she’d been touched,” Sebastian said. “I mean she was literally like almost glowing. And I was like ‘Okay, this is it! This is it, it’s happened. Finally we’ve received! It’s happened. It actually was done.’ It was really exciting. I was very happy for her, and for us! And for our family.”
Caroline’s life is back to normal – in an extraordinary way.
“I can type! I can talk on the phone with my right hand. I can do the dishes. I can do laundry. I can ride! I can do everything!” Caroline said.
Caroline is even back on the local rodeo circuit.
“For the things she couldn’t do that she can do now, the things she loves doing, we’re very, very thankful. It’s a miracle,” Sebastian said.
“He fixes things that humanly can’t be fixed. His word says we’re supposed to be whole. Nothing missing, nothing broken. Whole. Healed. That’s why He went on the cross. He is the Healer. He is the Redeemer. And we have to just keep faith no matter what it looks like,” Caroline said.
“No matter how hard it is, no matter how long it is, we just have to believe, believe, believe that He will do it and is doing it. And actually has done it! We just need to grab onto it, and run!” Caroline said.