A little over a year ago, during basketball season, I had a weird pain above my right knee. Not wanting to be seen as weak, I ignored the pain and didn’t complain. Basketball season ended and I had a short break before track started. During that time I forgot all about my leg pain and went on living my normal life. One day I was walking down the hallway at school and heard “Guatemala”. I ran to my mom’s classroom and told her what God had whispered to me. Later, I found out Guatemala was a country ;). I began to pray about it, but when I heard nothing else I let it go.
When track started the pain in my leg could no longer be forgotten. It increased with every practice and meet. I was extremely close to breaking my schools triple jump record, so again, I did my best to ignore the pain. Pretty soon, I was coating my leg in icy hot, taking ibuprofen, icing, and heating my leg every day. The pain continued to get worse, but that record held so much worth to me. I thought if only I could break the record I would gain the worth. Towards the end of the season, I jumped a quarter of an inch off the record. I was so frustrated at myself that I didn’t realize how much pain I was really in. The next morning, I started to cry as I walked up the stairs at my house. My mom said it was time to at least go to the school trainer. I was trying to prepare myself for the worst news I thought possible…that I wouldn’t be able to finish the track season and the record would be left untouched. However, I was in for a different ride. The trainer was concerned of the area of my pain and wanted me to get X-rays at an orthopedic doctor. The x-rays came back abnormal. I had a strange spot above my right knee. The orthopedic doctor wanted me to get an MRI, so I got an MRI as soon as I could in hopes that they would release me to jump at my last track meet. When the MRI results came back, the track record meant nothing to me. They referred me on to a bone cancer oncologist.
When I first heard the news, I was at a loss. The day before, I was only worried about breaking a track record; now I was terrified that I was going to lose my life. Shortly after I heard the news, I was alone with my dad. I always ran to my dad when something was wrong, so when this huge scary word “cancer” could become a reality for me, I looked to my dad. When I could finally see through my own tears and was about to ask my dad what he was going to do to fix this and I saw that he was crying just as much I as was. In that moment, I realized that God would be the only one who could get me through this situation. Suddenly, I had complete peace. Anytime I felt overwhelmed or scared, I cried out to God and the peace returned. At the first appointment with the bone cancer specialist, the doctor wanted me to take a more advanced test because no one knew what was going on. The results came back and it was either overuse or uncurbable cancer. The doctor put me on crutches for six weeks. If I came back after the six weeks, took another test and the spot was gone, then it was only overuse and I was good to go. If the spot was still there, then it was most likely the uncurbable cancer.
That six weeks of not knowing was a very huge time of growth for me and my family. My relationship with God became a necessity. I fell so in love with God and I was able to see my family do the same. It was amazing.
During this time, God reminded me of Guatemala. I prayed about it again and felt led to look it up online. The first thing that popped up was a two week mission trip to Guatemala through Adventures in Missions. I felt like God was calling me to go, so I filled out the profile. I had to explain that I was at an oncologist and wasn’t sure if I would even be able to go on the trip. Somehow, God put all the pieces together and I was accepted to go on the trip!
The six weeks were up and I returned to the oncologist. The spot was still there. The doctor explained that he was going to do nothing to treat it anytime soon. He said I would have to be his patient for many years to come, so he scheduled another appointment for a couple months in the future just to check in. In those few months, I was able to let go of a lot of fear and live fully alive because God gave me the strength. I was scared I was going to lose myself, but in all honesty I found myself in Christ. I grew up going to church and having a relationship with God, but not until that moment did I fully believe that I am His. When I went back for my appointment, I got another MRI. The results came back a couple hours later. The doctor walked in and explained that the MRI came back totally normal! He said the spot was completely gone, and I was released in full health! That was eight months ago and now I am in Guatemala. I am learning to love Him and the people around me in entirely new ways. God is so so faithful. He continues to call me deeper and I have never been so full of joy.
Lots of Love,
Abigail Criqui
