Survival to Service: Rachel LeMaster’s Story of Miraculous Healing
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Rachel LeMaster has long been familiar with hardship. Born with Turner syndrome, a genetic condition describing females with a missing or malformed X chromosome, Rachel grew up experiencing symptoms including atypically short stature, delayed development, and hormone and thyroid problems.
Although she wasn’t diagnosed until age 14, Rachel faced relentless bullying because of her differences—she was even bullied out of elementary, middle, and high schools.
But despite facing so much cruelty from her peers, Rachel’s faith in God was not shaken. Instead, she felt reassured of his presence. Speaking of that time, she says,
“I felt isolated, but I knew I had Jesus. And I knew he was with me no matter what I faced. He was gonna help me through it. So, I didn’t despair.”
In fact, the hardship Rachel faced drew her closer to God, inspiring her to seek his plan for her life. She knew she was different for a reason.
Once she graduated high school, she attended community college with a golf scholarship, pursuing a degree in physical therapy assistance.
It seemed like life was finally looking up—until Rachel, then 23, was hit by a truck while driving to work.
“Was No Accident. Have Faith.”
Because of the car accident, Rachel sustained severe injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, a bruised heart, bruised lungs, and internal decapitation, a condition in which the spine is severed from the skull. Overwhelmed by trauma, Rachel’s body fell into a self-induced coma.
While Rachel was in a coma, her doctors worked tirelessly, and family and friends prayed ceaselessly for her life to be saved. And when Rachel finally woke up, she was not filled with distress, but with hope. Recalling her first memory after the car crash, Rachel says,
“My first memory was my mom standing by my bedside crying, telling me I had been in an accident… I’m on a ventilator, fully paralyzed, and I started to regain some function in my right arm shortly after. So, I asked to write down something, and I wrote down, ‘Was no accident, have faith.’”
“To Live is to Give”
After Rachel regained consciousness, she had a long recovery journey ahead of her. Although most people with internal decapitation either die or remain permanently paralyzed, Rachel eventually regained full use of her body, a miracle she attributes to the sovereign care of God. Even though she was deeply blessed, her recovery process was still difficult. Rachel had to relearn how to eat, walk, talk, and sleep. Today, she still experiences ongoing symptoms, like executive functioning impairment, because of her traumatic brain injury.
But Rachel continues to find meaning, both in the miracle of her survival and the difficulty she has endured. She still trusts that her injury wasn’t an accident. And instead of despairing about what she can’t do, Rachel concentrates on what she can do. Speaking of her limitations, she says,
“So you’re not enough. God is. And be aware of, ‘I can’t do this, this, this, or this, but I can do this.’ Focusing on that. This is what I can do, and this is how God made me. You can fulfill his purpose.”
Rachel is committed to coming alongside people in their suffering, using what she has, her story, to encourage. After her accident, she returned to the hospital that saved her life and volunteered there, serving other patients. She has also shared her story on the Today Show and the Kate Couric Show. Everything Rachel does is centered on her life motto: “To live is to give.”
“You Can Be a Life-Giver in More Than One Way”
As Rachel continued to turn her struggle into service, she soon realized that God had something more planned for her future. He had someone planned. While working part-time with the Christian Missionary Alliance (CMA), a network of churches focused on sending missionaries overseas, Rachel met Caleb.
Caleb worked in the CMA’s IT department. He remembers catching sight of Rachel at a company luncheon, after a mutual friend pointed her out,
“I’m standing in line… And lo and behold, a man leans over and says to me, ‘Do you see that girl over there at that table?’ He said, ‘She has an amazing life story.’”
Intrigued, Caleb ventured to Rachel’s table. Soon, the two started dating.
On their first date, Rachel shared her story with Caleb. She wanted Caleb to know how her injuries would affect their relationship from the beginning. But for both Rachel and Caleb, the hardest reality to accept was not Rachel’s traumatic brain injury, but her infertility. Because of Turner syndrome, Rachel cannot conceive.
Caleb, who comes from a large family, had always expected children in his future. But he knew God was calling him to marry Rachel and to embrace a different calling.
“I realized, you know, I think God is calling me to pursue this woman. And I think this is the woman for me. She’s not the typical wife that I was expecting in my mind to have. But she’s who I need.”
Caleb
Now, Rachel and Caleb have been married for eight years.
Together, they have learned what it means to trust God through infertility, serving him faithfully in their unique circumstances.
“Infertility is very hard… there’s the longing, wanting to be a life-giver. But you can be a life-giver in more than just one way. Like being on this podcast is life-giving. Sharing your story is life-giving. And encouraging others. And sitting with others in their trials is a way to glorify God. So, there is hope beyond your circumstances.”
Rachel
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