Ann Wigmore: Cure of gangrene

Ann Wigmore was a pioneering health educator; she discovered the healing powers of sprouts and wheatgrass juice. She founded the Hippocrates Health Institute in Boston. 

            Ann was raised by her grandmother, a healer in a small Eastern European village. 

She learned the power of natural healing while helping her grandmother care for the sick and wounded. After the war Ann travelled to the United States. Her health suffered some consequences due to the changes in her diet. In Europe she ate natural foods but in the United States she ate modern and unnatural foods. Her stomach was often upset, her arms became rounder, and pimples began to appear under her arms and along the back of her neck. Even the soft food burned her gums and harmed her teeth. 

            An accident with a wagon led her to hospital with two broken legs. After many days of pain and anguish she was informed that her legs had to be amputated below the knees, or she would surely die. Ann did not consent the operation. Each morning, her uncle would lay her down in the sun, for she could not move.

In her all day quietness she began to remember her grandmother and faith began to grow. She tried to eat everything green she could find. By reaching beside the bench she was able to fill her stomach with ordinary grass, which her grandmother believed to hold every nutrient required for human health.  

A little white puppy began to visit her everyday and one day he climbed onto the end of the bench and began to lick the gangrenous, pus-laden wounds. She impulsively raised her arm to move it away, worried about his safety. But she suddenly remembered her grandmother’s teachings and let him lick the wounds. The puppy continued his “treatment” each day. 

One day, a surgeon, a kind neighbour stopped to visit her and after examining her legs took some flesh in his pocket. The next day he was back puzzled and evidently pleased. He asked her if she had been taking any medication and when he heard of her grass, flower and leaf diet he looked thoughtful. He came some days later and said he believed she was getting better.  

The wounds turned pinkish and pain began to disappear slowly. Several months after she was taken into hospital for examinations only to conclude that the gangrene had vanished. 

Sometime after Ann began to study several grasses and discovered the amazing powers of sprouts and wheatgrass juice, and popularised them as part of her unique live foods program. She helped and taught many people to live and eat naturally. 

Ann Wigmore died from smoke inhalation in the fire that destroyed the Ann Wigmore Foundation in Boston.