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Rachel's Radical Road

About Me

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Rachel 2025

What followed was more than recovery — it was a complete rewriting of my life. A traumatic brain injury, craniocervical instability, brainstem impingement, Lyme disease, POTS, EDS, small fiber neuropathy, vision loss, and relentless chronic migraines reshaped my days. I can’t drive. I can’t live independently. I need help walking. Many days are spent in a wheelchair, in hospitals, inside MRI machines, or in a dark room managing pain. My world became smaller in ways I never imagined — but somehow, my spiritual world expanded. God taught me so many lessons. 

In the quiet places, I discovered unexpected treasures — how to treat others when I was in pain and how deeply God’s love sustains us there. I began writing about these lessons in a blog, asking my mom to post them online because I was unable to look at screens at the time. I was shocked at how quickly it grew. Messages started pouring in from across the country — people sharing shattered dreams from chronic illness, disability, broken families, and financial ruin. I realized my story had one theme in common with so many others: pain.

Rachel’s Radical Road isn’t about pretending suffering is easy. It’s about showing what God can build on that road. When I couldn’t build teen centers, God showed me I could still help people find hope. I use what I have — my voice, my faith, and my art — to encourage others walking through heartbreak and shattered dreams.

Light shines brightest in dark places. Stay strong. Your fight matters.

In my senior year of college, my life had momentum. I was finishing my degree and preparing for graduate school in counseling. I worked full-time in a career-level position during the day and volunteered at night in a research psychology lab to strengthen my applications.

In my spare time, I loved teaching dance, hiking, and traveling. I planned to launch teen centers nationwide where teens could discover their strengths, find scholarships, and build a clear path toward their careers and future. I was driven, energized, and moving forward. Then a car accident changed everything.

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Rachel with her mom & fulltime caregiver

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Rachel Hospital stay 2016
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Rachel painting from her sick bed.

 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'

Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses... in hardships, in difficulties.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

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Rachel 2024
(still a dancer at heart)

Before the Accident

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Rachel Graduation 2011 AA degree
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Rachel with her brother in her mobility device.
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