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| Devotional |
Calli Nickels
My name is Calli Nickels and I am a sophomore in High School. You all
gave me a trip to come and fish but before I get into all of that I would
like to tell you about my journey. I was saved when I was a little girl and
always loved God. After 3rd grade my family and I moved to Georgia
from South Dakota. I continued to grow as a Christian and was baptized
in my church. When I was fourteen I was a thriving young girl. I was in
the top 3 % of my class, was always with friends, played basketball, and
was taking up golf. I was on top of the world. The summer before my
eighth grade year I went on a mission trip to Hungary and Romania
instead of going to camp and being with my friends. I thought I was
following God’s will pretty well. My arm had been bothering me for a
while but like any other young active girl I just thought it was lifting
weights or being in sports and using it. In February of 2009 I was skiing
with my dad. I hit a big ice patch and took a really bad crash where I hit
my arm. The pain didn’t go away so in March we made and appointment
but couldn’t get in until April. We took an x-ray to start with and as big as
day was a large mass consuming my humeral head and part of the
humorous. We had a MRI and a biopsy and it was Cancer. At 14 years
old I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma; an aggressive and extremely
painful bone cancer. I had my port put in on May the 3rd and started
chemo the same day. The chemo I was given was aggressive because
the cancer was aggressive. The chemo caused my feet to burn so badly
I couldn’t walk and had to be in a wheel-chair. The chemo also gave me
thousands of mouth and throat sores. I had sores on top of sores on top
of sores and my tongue peeled. Like I said before I thought I had been
following God’s will; so why me? I became very angry with God and
decided I could do it without him. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I
started praying more and started little by little to come back to God.
When I realized that God had trusted me with cancer not punished me
with it I started to look at it as a tremendous opportunity and not a
burden. Little by little I started using my cancer to spread the word of
God. You see the night before my biopsy I knew deep down that it was
cancer and that night I promised God that if I could help to lead just one
person to him then whatever was to come would all be worth it. That’s
when it all started. Every new nurse I had I would try to tell about God.
And I always tried to have a positive attitude and just be a Christian
example and the blessings started to come. I had and still have so many
opportunities I never would have had before. I became more and more
blessed as the days went on. Pretty soon I was getting letters in the mail
from people wanting to thank me for helping them find God or that I had
helped their prayer lives to improve and I realized that cancer wasn’t so
bad after all. Like I said before I went on a mission trip and had had a
growing heart for missions for some time. I always thought you had to
take yourself to people that needed God little did I know God was
bringing people that needed God to me. You see the devil had to go to
God to ask for permission to allow me to have Cancer and God doesn’t
just give anybody the honor of being given the opportunity to spread his
word. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t happy to have that Ugly disease
inside of me but what I came to was that it was there and there was
nothing I could do about it so why not make the best of my situation. I
said before I was given opportunities and being able to meet you all was
one of them. My oldest brother works for the Howards and that is how I
was introduced to your organization. My brother Cole kept his bosses
updated on me and they found out that I liked to fish. So you all gave
me a trip to come down here and fish. It was so nice to just get away and
relax and have a little fun. You all fed me and my family for two days
gave us a place to sleep and just take a break from everything and the
fact that I caught a huge 12 pound catfish was nice too. My dad also
caught a really big bass it was about 10 pounds. He has always wanted
to catch one that size and he did. So my dad caught the fish he always
wanted and I caught my biggest fish. I also got a call from Jimmy
Houston. That was pretty cool. It was so neat that someone so good at
what he does and has no idea who I am would take time out of his busy
life to call me a 16 year old girl and tell me good luck with everything.
You all did something else for me too. Something that I am sure you
had no idea you had done, something I could never put a price on it,
and there is no way I could ever thank you for. My grandfather died of
stomach cancer and my brother was very close to him. Cole was up
there with my grandfather during the end and it was very hard on him.
Before we found out that I had cancer I was very close to Cole even
though we are 9 years apart. When I was diagnosed me and Cole
drifted apart because it was hard for Cole to see his baby sister like that
especially after watching our grandfather pass away. Cole wasn’t sure
what to say or do so instead we just didn’t talk very much. Don’t get me
wrong Cole was very good to me and supported me it just wasn’t the
same. So coming down to fish Cole got to see me healthy and happy
having fun being normal and after that weekend me and Cole were back
to the way we were and I can never thank you guys enough for that
tremendous gift mine and Cole’s relationship is stronger now than it ever
was.
My name is Calli Nickels and I am a sophomore in High School. You all
gave me a trip to come and fish but before I get into all of that I would
like to tell you about my journey. I was saved when I was a little girl and
always loved God. After 3rd grade my family and I moved to Georgia
from South Dakota. I continued to grow as a Christian and was baptized
in my church. When I was fourteen I was a thriving young girl. I was in
the top 3 % of my class, was always with friends, played basketball, and
was taking up golf. I was on top of the world. The summer before my
eighth grade year I went on a mission trip to Hungary and Romania
instead of going to camp and being with my friends. I thought I was
following God’s will pretty well. My arm had been bothering me for a
while but like any other young active girl I just thought it was lifting
weights or being in sports and using it. In February of 2009 I was skiing
with my dad. I hit a big ice patch and took a really bad crash where I hit
my arm. The pain didn’t go away so in March we made and appointment
but couldn’t get in until April. We took an x-ray to start with and as big as
day was a large mass consuming my humeral head and part of the
humorous. We had a MRI and a biopsy and it was Cancer. At 14 years
old I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma; an aggressive and extremely
painful bone cancer. I had my port put in on May the 3rd and started
chemo the same day. The chemo I was given was aggressive because
the cancer was aggressive. The chemo caused my feet to burn so badly
I couldn’t walk and had to be in a wheel-chair. The chemo also gave me
thousands of mouth and throat sores. I had sores on top of sores on top
of sores and my tongue peeled. Like I said before I thought I had been
following God’s will; so why me? I became very angry with God and
decided I could do it without him. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I
started praying more and started little by little to come back to God.
When I realized that God had trusted me with cancer not punished me
with it I started to look at it as a tremendous opportunity and not a
burden. Little by little I started using my cancer to spread the word of
God. You see the night before my biopsy I knew deep down that it was
cancer and that night I promised God that if I could help to lead just one
person to him then whatever was to come would all be worth it. That’s
when it all started. Every new nurse I had I would try to tell about God.
And I always tried to have a positive attitude and just be a Christian
example and the blessings started to come. I had and still have so many
opportunities I never would have had before. I became more and more
blessed as the days went on. Pretty soon I was getting letters in the mail
from people wanting to thank me for helping them find God or that I had
helped their prayer lives to improve and I realized that cancer wasn’t so
bad after all. Like I said before I went on a mission trip and had had a
growing heart for missions for some time. I always thought you had to
take yourself to people that needed God little did I know God was
bringing people that needed God to me. You see the devil had to go to
God to ask for permission to allow me to have Cancer and God doesn’t
just give anybody the honor of being given the opportunity to spread his
word. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t happy to have that Ugly disease
inside of me but what I came to was that it was there and there was
nothing I could do about it so why not make the best of my situation. I
said before I was given opportunities and being able to meet you all was
one of them. My oldest brother works for the Howards and that is how I
was introduced to your organization. My brother Cole kept his bosses
updated on me and they found out that I liked to fish. So you all gave
me a trip to come down here and fish. It was so nice to just get away and
relax and have a little fun. You all fed me and my family for two days
gave us a place to sleep and just take a break from everything and the
fact that I caught a huge 12 pound catfish was nice too. My dad also
caught a really big bass it was about 10 pounds. He has always wanted
to catch one that size and he did. So my dad caught the fish he always
wanted and I caught my biggest fish. I also got a call from Jimmy
Houston. That was pretty cool. It was so neat that someone so good at
what he does and has no idea who I am would take time out of his busy
life to call me a 16 year old girl and tell me good luck with everything.
You all did something else for me too. Something that I am sure you
had no idea you had done, something I could never put a price on it,
and there is no way I could ever thank you for. My grandfather died of
stomach cancer and my brother was very close to him. Cole was up
there with my grandfather during the end and it was very hard on him.
Before we found out that I had cancer I was very close to Cole even
though we are 9 years apart. When I was diagnosed me and Cole
drifted apart because it was hard for Cole to see his baby sister like that
especially after watching our grandfather pass away. Cole wasn’t sure
what to say or do so instead we just didn’t talk very much. Don’t get me
wrong Cole was very good to me and supported me it just wasn’t the
same. So coming down to fish Cole got to see me healthy and happy
having fun being normal and after that weekend me and Cole were back
to the way we were and I can never thank you guys enough for that
tremendous gift mine and Cole’s relationship is stronger now than it ever
was.