The True Story of a Veteran Who Overcame Despair and Found New Life #falungong #healing #health

When my eye doctor told me that my optic nerve had improved, she looked puzzled. These things just don't heal themselves, she said, shaking her head. Even more surprising, the pressure in both my eyes, once bordering on concern, had returned to normal. She had never seen anything like this. I left the exam knowing something wonderful had happened. My name is Dave Oshinsky. I was born in 1956 in New Jersey. My father was Jewish and my mom was Catholic. My father passed away when I was seven months old. My mother raised my older brother and me as Catholics, bringing us to church regularly. Yet I did not grow up as a typical Catholic. My Jewish name bothered some Christians and they didn't treat me nicely. Some Jewish people became distant when they learned that I was not one of them. As a result, I grew up without a strong sense of belonging. In 1974, after high school, I joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, bordering Mexico. Having grown up in a middle-class neighborhood in New Jersey, I was deeply shocked by the poverty I saw there. People dressed in rags, living along dirt streets, and children searching for food in dumpsters. The scenes I saw pained my heart and were etched onto my soul. After completing two years of service, I enrolled at William Patterson University to study accounting and finance and earned a BA in 1980. Over the next 40 years, I held various positions in New Jersey state government and non-profit healthcare organizations, hospitals, and the New Jersey Veterans Affairs System. My roles included auditor, manager, director, chief financial officer, and vice president. My entire career was devoted to healthcare and human services. I was also active in charitable and community work. Beginning in 1986, I participated in a wide range of community services by serving with various organizations and town committees. These included domestic abuse intervention, municipal utilities, economic development, environmental protection, nature conservation, education, historic preservation, and therapeutic horsemanship. I married in 1989, and over the next 21 years, we built a family life and raised two sons. In 2010, after both sons had entered college, our marriage ended in divorce. As a child of an interfaith family, I was puzzled by the religious conflicts that have shaped much of world history. For example, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share many core beliefs and trace their spiritual lineage to a common ancestor, Abraham. Yet the divisions have often been bitter, leading to hatred and violence. Even within the same religion, different sects have at times become enemies. I respect all genuine faiths that worship higher beings. Yet too often, religious leaders seem preoccupied with hierarchy, ritual, and dogma while overlooking what truly matters in the world. I also explored Eastern traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, as well as some New Age beliefs. Over time, I developed a particular affinity for Taoism. Its concept of wu-wei, seeking truth by letting go rather than striving, stood in sharp contrast to Western ways of thinking. Although I am not a Taoist disciple, I applied much of its wisdom in my life. At the end of my career, I was business manager of a state-run veterans nursing home in Paramus, New Jersey. When COVID-19 struck, the bureaucracy and poor leadership led to an extremely high death rate. In early April of 2020, within two weeks, 40 elderly veterans died, more than 10 times normal death rate. The authorities took no effective action. I felt morally outraged and obligated to do something about it. Knowing those in charge would neither admit the problems nor resolve them, I blew the whistle to the media. It quickly became a major scandal in New Jersey and soon drew national attention. USA Today, The New York Times, and other major news outlets reported on the story. Federal VA and military authorities intervened and brought the situation under control, but tragically, it was too late for too many. By the end of the pandemic, 191 residents and two staff members had died at the Paramus and Menlo Park facilities. The death rate was four times higher than that of any other veterans homes in the nation. In 2021, my whistleblowing cost me my job. It was a hard blow to my career and finances. It turned my world upside down, yet I have no regrets. In 2022, I retired and relocated to Deer Park, New York. In 2023, I began writing and photographing local news and events for a local online newsletter. I also became involved with a local environmental group that focused its concerns on Dragon Springs and New Century facility. I reported on the group's lawsuits and tried to remain fair, objective, and neutral, despite clear bias against Falun Gong among some members. That was when I first heard about Falun Gong. Through my reporting, I met a reporter from the Epoch Times who was also a Falun Gong practitioner. She told me about Falun Gong's history, its health benefits, the persecution, and even the organ harvesting atrocity in China. Intrigued, I began researching the practice on my own. In late 2024, I met a few more Falun Gong practitioners in local communities. They came from diverse backgrounds, yet they shared a quiet strength, unwavering faith, and genuine kindness. In a troubled world, their presence felt like a breath of fresh air. One practitioner gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Gong, written by Master Li Hongzhi. As I read it for the first time, the teachings deeply resonated with me. The book answered many questions and had troubled me for years. I also began to learn the exercises from them. In December 2024, I attended a nine-day seminar in New Century Films. Each day for about 90 minutes, we watched video recording of Master Li's lectures, given in Guangzhou in 1994, with English voiceover. I enjoyed the experience so much that when I learned that another seminar would be held in January 2025 at Fa Wan Bookstore, I attended the lectures again. Since then, reading Zhuan Falun and practicing Falun Gong have become part of my daily routine. When I began practicing Falun Gong, healing was not my primary motivation. I considered myself relatively healthy and simply hoped to gain some clarity and peace. Yet day by day, I noticed subtle changes. I felt more energetic and happier in a way I had never experienced. Back in 2017, I was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. After radiation treatment, the cancer went into remission. My PSA, Prostate Specific Antigen, level dropped from an initial diagnosis value of 9 to 0.3, and remained there until late 2023. Over the next year and a half, it began creeping upward, reaching 3.54 in June 2025. Although a PSA level below 4 is generally considered normal, the upward trend was concerning. On my doctor's advice, I began hormone therapy. This coincided with my practicing Falun Gong. By late fall 2025, my PSA had dropped to 0.01, nearly undetectable. In the fall of 2024, just weeks before I began practicing Falun Gong, my eye doctor had noted a problem involving my optic nerve. Two months later, at a follow-up visit after I had been practicing only for about a month, she was surprised to see improvement. She also noticed that my interocular pressure was at the high end of normal, measuring 21 in my left eye and 24 in my right, a potential precursor for glaucoma. She asked me to return the following year. At my 2025 exam, the improvement had continued. The optic nerve issue had healed further, and the eye pressure had dropped to 20 in both eyes, squarely within the normal range. Shaking her head, my doctor said, these things just don't heal themselves. I feel deeply fortunate to have discovered Falun Gong at the age of 68. Falun Gong gives me more than improved health, it has renewed my hope and deepened my sense of purpose. I share my story in the hope that others may find encouragement in it and take the time to explore this remarkable practice for themselves.