This blog is for my friend and brother who just fought through a battle for his life. His name is Trevor Curington, and he’s one of the most courageous men I’ve ever met. Here is the story. Basically, it starts with your worst nightmare as a world racer. You’re sicker than you’ve ever been before in your life. You have absolutely no idea what’s wrong with you. If it’s the sickness that you think it might be, you’re in a country and on a continent that can’t do much to treat it. Nobody at any of the hospitals you’ve been in speaks more than 2 words of English. You’re finally put in a primitive hospital where your friends aren’t allowed to come in your hospital room, and your parents are half a world away.
Trevor was taking an 18 hour train ride with his team from Kiev to southern Ukraine on September 6 when he first started feeling sick. It started with dizziness, nausea, and headaches. Over the next couple days, an upset stomach and a fever were added. His team took him to the local hospital who put him on an IV and then released him. Then he started getting worse. The fever wouldn’t break, and he would pass out a couple times a day. The team took him back to the hospital, and that’s when I got the call about his condition. I immediately got on skype to call his father in the States to let him know of the problem. We quickly 
made arrangements to fly him up to a Kiev to a better hospital with his friend and teammate, Tyler. Unfortunately, he was already too sick to get on a plane so they admitted him to a different hospital. By the next day, they took the risk to fly him up to Kiev where I would meet them at the airport. He blacked out seven times that day including as he was boarding the plane. The airport officials took Trevor and Tyler’s bags off the plane once they saw him black out, but the Lord intervened and the officials then decided to let him on. (Quick note…in addition to honoring Trevor, this blog is also very much about glorifying the Lord because he came through relentlessly on multiple occasions and exactly when we needed him the most.) Trevor passed out a couple times on the plane, and Tyler would do everything he could to bring him back to consciousness. Their plane was scheduled to arrive at midnight on September 12, and I was waiting for them at baggage claim, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. I described the guys to a woman there, and she said th
ere was an emergency on the plane. Moments later, an ambulance pulled up and I saw Tyler in it and Trevor on a stretcher. We quickly went to the airport hospital where Trevor passed out trying to get from the ambulance to the bed and was quickly evaluated. We were then taken by ambulance to city hospital #4. Tyler’s and my original intention was to take him to a modern hospital in town by taxi. We lost that option when we had to use an ambulance. We later found out that the hospital where we wanted to take him wouldn’t have admitted him. Again, praise the Lord. At hospital #4, Trevor was evaluated until 4 AM. He passed out as he sat up while they were in the process of taking a blood sample. The doctors came rushing over, threw water on him, and slapped his face until he came back.
made arrangements to fly him up to a Kiev to a better hospital with his friend and teammate, Tyler. Unfortunately, he was already too sick to get on a plane so they admitted him to a different hospital. By the next day, they took the risk to fly him up to Kiev where I would meet them at the airport. He blacked out seven times that day including as he was boarding the plane. The airport officials took Trevor and Tyler’s bags off the plane once they saw him black out, but the Lord intervened and the officials then decided to let him on. (Quick note…in addition to honoring Trevor, this blog is also very much about glorifying the Lord because he came through relentlessly on multiple occasions and exactly when we needed him the most.) Trevor passed out a couple times on the plane, and Tyler would do everything he could to bring him back to consciousness. Their plane was scheduled to arrive at midnight on September 12, and I was waiting for them at baggage claim, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. I described the guys to a woman there, and she said there was an emergency on the plane. Moments later, an ambulance pulled up and I saw Tyler in it and Trevor on a stretcher. We quickly went to the airport hospital where Trevor passed out trying to get from the ambulance to the bed and was quickly evaluated. We were then taken by ambulance to city hospital #4. Tyler’s and my original intention was to take him to a modern hospital in town by taxi. We lost that option when we had to use an ambulance. We later found out that the hospital where we wanted to take him wouldn’t have admitted him. Again, praise the Lord. At hospital #4, Trevor was evaluated until 4 AM. He passed out as he sat up while they were in the process of taking a blood sample. The doctors came rushing over, threw water on him, and slapped his face until he came back. Tyler and I were then forced to leave and still had no idea what was going on or how serious it was. When we arrived at the hospital the next day, we found out Trevor had been transferred to hospital #9. We had no idea where that wa
s or how to get to him, but the Lord sent us help. He sent us Jane who is an English speaking doctor, and she immediately put us in her car and took us straight there. It was from Jane that we found out what it was. It was malaria, and it was bad. We’ve had plenty of malaria on the squad this year but nothing like this. He must have been bitten by a mosquito in Africa, and it likely just sat in his system until it erupted. Jane said there are four kinds of malaria, and Trevor had all of them. Malaria can be deadly, and Trevor had it as bad as you can get it. She said this was the one hospital that can treat cases of malaria. However, the hospitals here aren’t like US hospitals. The facilities and technology are extremely primitive. They don’t let you visit patients in their rooms, and there are bars over the windows. In addition, they don’t have any money, and therefore, don’t have any medicine. Tyler and I couldn’t believe it. We thought we had finished what was required of us. We got him to the hospital, and they’ll take care of it from here. Not the case. Jane explained that each patient has to pay for their own medicine. Otherwise, the patient just lays there until the patient gets better or doesn’t get better. I went straight to the phones, and through a local contact in town, the Lord provided us with a doctor in the city who could get medicine out to us. He arrived that night and got him started on the medicine. I later found out that the medicine was started just in time. The malaria was close to getting to his brain, but the medicine that was sta
rted that night likely prevented it. Thank you, Lord. After the medicine had been started, the doctor pulled me aside and told me how bad it was. He said on a scale of severity, he was a 9.5 out of 10. I asked him if we could medevac him out of here immediately to get to a better hospital. He said he didn’t think Trevor would survive a flight to the US or even to Western Europe. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as he spoke, and they’re in my eyes again right now as I type this and think back on those moments. I told Tyler who then told Trevor’s father and could barely get the words out. Trevor’s dad was on the next flight out to Kiev. I prayed healing over Trevor from outside his window that night and members of Team One Love, who are serving in Kiev this month, slept on the sidewalk below his window the whole night so he wouldn’t be alone. I tried to sleep that night but couldn’t. I could only think about him lying alone in that bed knowing that he was in rough shape while his parents, who must have felt completely helpless, were half a world away.
s or how to get to him, but the Lord sent us help. He sent us Jane who is an English speaking doctor, and she immediately put us in her car and took us straight there. It was from Jane that we found out what it was. It was malaria, and it was bad. We’ve had plenty of malaria on the squad this year but nothing like this. He must have been bitten by a mosquito in Africa, and it likely just sat in his system until it erupted. Jane said there are four kinds of malaria, and Trevor had all of them. Malaria can be deadly, and Trevor had it as bad as you can get it. She said this was the one hospital that can treat cases of malaria. However, the hospitals here aren’t like US hospitals. The facilities and technology are extremely primitive. They don’t let you visit patients in their rooms, and there are bars over the windows. In addition, they don’t have any money, and therefore, don’t have any medicine. Tyler and I couldn’t believe it. We thought we had finished what was required of us. We got him to the hospital, and they’ll take care of it from here. Not the case. Jane explained that each patient has to pay for their own medicine. Otherwise, the patient just lays there until the patient gets better or doesn’t get better. I went straight to the phones, and through a local contact in town, the Lord provided us with a doctor in the city who could get medicine out to us. He arrived that night and got him started on the medicine. I later found out that the medicine was started just in time. The malaria was close to getting to his brain, but the medicine that was started that night likely prevented it. Thank you, Lord. After the medicine had been started, the doctor pulled me aside and told me how bad it was. He said on a scale of severity, he was a 9.5 out of 10. I asked him if we could medevac him out of here immediately to get to a better hospital. He said he didn’t think Trevor would survive a flight to the US or even to Western Europe. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as he spoke, and they’re in my eyes again right now as I type this and think back on those moments. I told Tyler who then told Trevor’s father and could barely get the words out. Trevor’s dad was on the next flight out to Kiev. I prayed healing over Trevor from outside his window that night and members of Team One Love, who are serving in Kiev this month, slept on the sidewalk below his window the whole night so he wouldn’t be alone. I tried to sleep that night but couldn’t. I could only think about him lying alone in that bed knowing that he was in rough shape while his parents, who must have felt completely helpless, were half a world away. 
Tyler and I arrived the next morning and were met by surgeons. They said his spleen had ruptured while trying to fight the malaria and had to be removed. We waited at the hospital all day for him to come out of surgery. Finally some good news…successful surgery with no complications. The doctor told us how strong he was and that his spleen had bled out enough into his abdomen to be fatal. Praise the Lord that the surgery happened just in time. His dad, Dan, arrived that afternoon. I had to fight back tears again as I watched Dan walk up to the barred window and greet his son. Finally. Finally, Trevor had one of the closest people in his lives at that window.
For the next 4 days, Dan, Jake, Tyler, and I would spend all day, every day at the hospital. We were on the phone with family, Adventures in Missions, members of the squad, doctors, insurance companies, and the US Embassy. The Lord sent us two faithful Ukranian translators, Taras and Katia, so we could communicate with the doctors, and Trevor was improving to the point where we could speak with him and encourage him. A specialist had just arrived in Kiev from Uganda, likely where Trevor got malaria, and had better medicine with him. Thank you, Lord. As soon as the new medicine was given to him, he started to respond. The parasite count started declining, and his condition started improving even more.
As of September 18, Trevor and his dad are no longer in Kiev. The doctors said he was stable enough to medevac him to London to finish recovering. He’ll likely be there for a week or two and then be well enough to return to the US. As I write this, all I can do is praise the Lord. He heard the prayers of people all over the world and responded by giving us exactly what we needed, exactly when we needed it. I want to honor Trevor as well. That boy fought so hard. We never did tell him how serious things were. We never told him that the doctors said it was a 9.5 out of 10 or that the amount of blood in his abdomen was enough to be fatal. Maybe the doctors told him. If they did, he didn’t say a word about it. He certainly didn’t need to hear about it from us. He just needed to know that we were in his corner, that people all over the world were praying for him, to keep fighting, and that we loved him. It’s a joy to be writing this today knowing that he is in London and recovering well. Thank you, Trevor, for being the definition of courage, and thank you, Lord, for being exactly who you are.
