A Matter of Love

Some two decades ago I met Linda, Lili and Doran. Linda Scotson, famous author of Doran, Child of Courage, had written a play based upon Michael Rowbotham's The Grip pf Death: A Study of Modern Money, Debt Slavery and Destructive Economics, and my What Everybody Really Wants to Know About Money. The play, entitled A Matter of Interest, was performed and filmed locally. Linda introduced me to her family's life's work, the promotion of health through love rather than the profit motive. In the years that followed we maintained contact. The recent film Breathe, about the Advance Centres Clinics, is a tour de force.

The film portrays the quest of families seeking appropriate help in caring for brain injured family members. They know there must be some alternative to putting a much-loved child away into the residential care of strangers, to endless surgery and invasive drugs. Over the years many such families from all over the world have found their way to Linda's family, where they have received the loving care and support needed to provide for their children. So far, resistance by medical professionals to taking these methods on board has resulted in families having to endure lengthy periods of frustration and despair. In the quest to put their work onto a mainstream footing, Linda embarked upon the time-consuming exercise of researching a PhD thesis to establish the scientific basis of her therapies. When the solid evidence of the thesis was finally rejected by the scientific establishment, Linda embarked upon a different tack. The film Breathe is the result, and there is a book based upon the thesis in the pipeline. More details in due course.

Linda's first book, Doran, published by Pan Books in 1985, was translated into many languages. It carries the following cover text:

"Linda Scotson's son was born with severe brain damage— he was deaf, dumb, blind, and his limbs were totally uncoordinated. Doctors told her he would remain forever a wheelchair-bound human cabbage. 'Are you sure you want to keep him?' they asked. The answer was never in doubt.

"A chance conversation led her to the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia where she found an evangelical zeal to match her own. Doran's life, it was revealed after extensive tests, could literally be re-made.

"The controversial programme of treatment was exhausting but effective. By the age of three Doran was taking his first steps and beginning to talk. One year later he was reading aloud and could count, write and spell. His remarkable progress was duly recognised when he was presented with the Woman's Own Child of Courage award by the Queen Mother and Prime Minister.

"By her example, and through her continuing efforts, she has provided hope for other parents of brain-injured children—and much food for thought for the medical profession."

Breathe includes historical glimpses of younger Linda, Lili and Doran, offers hope and inspiration to all carers of loved ones struggling to navigate the medical establishment wisely. See also Bernadette Meaden's Illness, Disability and Caring, published by Darton, Longman and Todd in 2020.