Just over a year ago I wrote this post, regarding Linda Osmundson, a prominent resident of the St. Petersburg, Florida area, who was the founder of a local organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence. She was also a Christian Scientist, and was forced to resign her position with the organization she founded due to a very obvious health concern in the form of a growth on her face. Sadly, I have recently learned that she has succumbed to whatever her illness was (she apparently did have a diagnosis, but never shared it publicly).
It saddens me whenever I read or hear about someone who has died unnecessarily due to their misplaced reliance on a ‘healing’ system that is fully incapable of healing anything. I’ve known numerous fellow Principians who have died well before their time, and I’m sure many died of conditions that could have been successfully treated or managed through medical care.
Closer to me personally, an ex-girlfriend of mine, who converted to Christian Science as an adult, died several years ago at the age of 41 in a Christian Science nursing facility. Although we had ended our relationship a few years earlier, we had kept in touch occasionally. I understand that she had been suffering from breast cancer, which if caught soon enough through proper and regular screening is often survivable nowadays. At the very least, with proper palliative care, she would have had proper pain management in her last days. I can’t begin to imagine the pain and discomfort she must have endured. I also feel for her mother, who lost her only child. Her husband, and father of my ex-girlfriend had died many years before I knew them. My ex was the only one in the family who was a Christian Scientist.
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Related Links:
- Community Action Stops Abuse (CASA): (St. Petersburg, Florida, USA)–the organization Linda Osmundson started.
- Tampa Bay Times: newspaper article announcing Linda Osmundson’s death.
Emerging Gently 
This is heart breaking on so many levels. I am so sorry.
Is there any Christian Science media outlet that will take note of her passing and write about all the good things she did? No. She will be swept under the rug and considered a failure. So, so sad. She seems like an amazing person.
If the usual Christian Science cultural protocol is followed, she will never be spoken of again…she whose name must not be spoken.