I have to tell you about a woman I recently met.
We didn’t meet because we ran into one another. We didn't meet because our paths casually crossed. We didn’t even meet because friends introduced us and thought we’d be great friends.
It was a traumatic event that would put our paths on a collision course as I was allowed to share her story.
Kellyn is a patient care technician who works on a COVID floor. She sits with patients after her shift, so they are not alone. She holds their hands when their family can’t be there. She comforts and soothes and smiles. She is a ray of hope.
On her day off, she chose to help a mom in need by offering to babysit during remote learning. After school, the unthinkable happened.
Kellyn was attacked by the family dog – a dog that she knew and who had never bitten before.
I contacted her to see if she would like to share her story with the paper, and, seemingly without hesitation, she called me on her way back home from an appointment at Northwestern Medicine Chicago.
She had been attacked a mere five days prior, had received over 100 stitches, and lost most of her nose in the attack, but, when she called me, I would have never known.
Confident, cheerful, and full of hope, Kellyn went over every dreadful minute with me – I didn’t expect her to, but she did. She matter-of-factly stated that she would likely need 20 procedures including one that would require removing cartilage from her ear to create the missing bridge of her nose and obtaining skin, probably from her forehead, to cover that area.
I’m not a medical person, but Kellyn is. When she invited me to her parents’ house to photograph her, I admit, I was skeptical that this was the place for me. Her mom answered the door, though, and immediately made me feel … well, like part of the family.
I photographed her while she explained her medicines and ointments, as she went over her daily medical journal with her mom, and as she worked out with a pedal cycle -- her Kellyn-ton! You guys, I cannot imagine what it is like to be in her footsteps, and I know she has downright awful days, but she has to be one of the strongest people I’ve met.
Soon, we were talking about her job and her new husband. Her mom asked me about my family. We found out we had a lot of friends in common – and that she had homeschooled for a time as well. We talked about how her husband also worked at the hospital and that all of her nursing friends were extraordinarily interested in her wound care. I, however, was not.
But their faith, courage, and strength was undeniable.
Her mother, Erin, kept saying that they don’t believe that pain is without purpose, and that she knew that God would Kellyn’s experience and story for good.
Wow.
I don’t say this often, but, my life was dramatically impacted that afternoon. I was inspired. Two of her sisters were there, and they chatted with me about their own lives and their own battles. This was a family who knew how to persevere.
Their witness to faith was powerful and introspective. Having gone through some difficult times with my own daughter’s health, I recently had been feeling as though we were just “getting by” and “getting through.” But this family … this family was thriving – and Kellyn was smiling – smiling. Oh, how I needed to see how that faith in action looked.
I haven’t known Kellyn and her mom for more than a week, but that is long enough to wish that I had known them my whole life.
Kellyn, Erin, and Kyla, you inspired me in so many ways. Your ability to overcome, to share the fact that you have difficult moments that you aren’t hiding from, to put your faith in God, to share your story with a stranger – you have reached in and touched my heart in ways I never could have imagined. I know your story is going to inspire others. The road won’t be easy. I know that even the most optimistic hearts have moments of anguish. But, God will bring you through this – and the incredible support team of your husband, family, friends, and community will be there, too.
Let there be no pain without purpose.
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