Saturday afternoon I experienced the most terrifying-and most faith building-experience of the race thus far. I’ll try to recreate it as best I can for you, though even as I have shared it with a few friends on the squad, I know there is no way to convey in words all that I felt. That being said, I feel compelled to share this with you all.
We were at the mall Saturday afternoon getting ready to say goodbye to a dear friend we made in Malaysia. Before we parted ways, myself and four other girls from my squad headed to the grocery store in the mall to buy food for our bus ride from Penang to Kuala Lumpur the next day. We walked into the grocery store and immediately I began feeling ill. I started to experience pain throughout my body and faintness. Within a few minutes of being there, I couldn’t stand the weight of my purse across my body, took it off, and kneeled on the floor trying to catch my breath. There was this incredible pain going from my head, down my neck, into my back, and around my stomach. I felt incredibly weak and could not get enough air in me. It was a pain and an experience unlike anything I had ever felt before, and it was intense.
My teammate Ashley put her stern face on and ordered me to leave the store and find a place to sit down, asking Bridget to go sit with me. Burning up, I stepped outside the mall to try to get some air into my lungs, forgetting how much hotter it is outside. I came back in and sat down inside of a smoothie shop, burning up and writhing in pain. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I began crying as the pain intensified and fear set in. “Do I need to go the hospital?” I asked myself. As melodramatic as it sounds, I questioned whether I was dying. Yes-it was that bad.
Unable to stand sitting and unbearably hot despite the A/C, Bridget and I went back to the grocery store to get water. I held it to my head, crying in line as locals stole glimpses of me, clearly unsure what to make of this sobbing American. After a few moments I did not have the strength to hold the bottle of water to my head. Bawling, I asked the family in front of me with a cart full of groceries if I could go in front of them. Kindly, they let me. As I stepped out of the store Ashley took my hand and led me around the corner. I fell to the floor in tears as five of my squadmates lay hands on me and began praying. My crying intensified. I began hyperventilating, crying out to God for help, knowing He was the only one who could help me.
Part 2: coming soon J
