Stepping in Grace – Callie’s Story
Callie Colwick embodies the fullness of God’s grace. Her story is hardly a short one, she will tell you, but it’s not a lamentation of tragedy as much as it is a fierce story of redemption and beauty. If it weren’t for people as strong as Callie, we may never have a depiction of God’s goodness this side of heaven – not in the form of a Utopian existence, but in the sweet victory made possible through faith.
Today, Callie is preparing to publish her very own children’s book. She and her husband Kevin, high-school sweethearts, are making preparations for an adoption. She’s a homeschool teacher to her daughter and a part time graphic designer with a partiality to the color pink. She does volunteer work with multiple nonprofit organizations, loves the pool and to walk. It’s the last item of this list of applause that actually deserves the ovation – that she walks – because it’s been just shy of four years since both of her legs were amputated below her knees.
It’s not about the fact that she walks. It’s not about the fact that she’s moved from hospital bed to wheelchair to prosthetics and now walker. It’s not about her facing the adversity of these physical challenges, although it does itself deserve immense credit. It’s the fact that she has overcome immeasurably more than the average person. It’s that Callie’s ability to walk again is a representation of the challenges she has walked through.
Callie has suffered arguably more than the average person. Anyone advocating on her behalf may say that she doesn’t deserve to suffer as much as she has. But what Callie sees through her suffering is not an undeserving self, but God who is deserving of her praise and dedication. Because of her choice to step into grace, we get the privilege to share her story.
Athletic Beginnings
As a soccer athlete, Callie had a promising scholarship opportunity before reaching even her senior year of high school. Like many athletes she had routine injuries, but it wasn’t until she shattered her hip that she would find out the root to her chronic pain – a rare bone disease called fibrous dysplasia that, in effect, wore away at the integrity of her bones.
Not only did Callie lose the potential for a collegiate scholarship and the athletic career she had dreamed of, but it was the dignity of her own independence lost that she said crushed her. From daily routine to bathroom care, she became reliant on her family for basic tasks. What she didn’t realize then was how this devastating experience was merely a foreshadowing and preparation for what was to come nearly 10 years later.
“Looking back at it now, it was a blessing,” says Callie. “There was a lot of pride in the things that I did prior to my hip breaking. I learned how to release that pride and learned how to rely on others.”
Callie would go on to marry Kevin, have their first daughter, buy a new home and begin her dream career as a graphic designer with a Silicon Valley company. But just as the redemption of her heartbreak had seemed to take off, she mourned two miscarriages. At seeing the third positive pregnancy test within six months, she says she felt guarded. After finally announcing her pregnancy she made an emergency trip to the hospital where she ended up fighting not only for the life of her son, but also her own, for the next year and a half.
Upon admittance to the hospital, Callie would find out that she had a rare pregnancy complication that would require her to hang upside down “like a bat” to protect the life of her unborn son, Quinn. This is where she would have remained for the rest of her pregnancy were it not for contracting sepsis there at the hospital.
“Just before I went septic, I had written a blog article where I expressed all my fears of the ‘what ifs’ about this pregnancy. I decided to change my mindset right then – to focus on the ‘even ifs’. That ‘even if’ the worst happened, I would praise God.”
-Callie Colwick
Health Complications
The worst, in fact, did come. The e.coli infection would quickly spread to the rest of her body, tragically ending the life of her son Quinn and nearly ending hers, too. Already unconscious, she delivered Quinn, and hemorrhaged heavily into her abdominal cavity. Her organs began to shut down and her kidneys would fail. The life saving medicine came at a cost – lack of blood pressure to her extremities caused her feet to die and turn black. Her kidneys’ failing caused her skin to swell up and eventually the skin on her back began to peel away, much like a burn victim. The next six months in the ICU would be a painful, drug-induced cloud of memory in which she could not grasp the reality of her situation.
“Kevin would leave a note beside my bed so that whenever I came out of my sedation, I could read it and have some sense of what was happening,” says Callie. “The note told me what had happened, that I was at the hospital that he loved me and that he would always be there for me.”
In March of 2018, Callie would lose both legs below the knees and have her left thumb and index finger amputated later on as well. Even the fingers she had left were so atrophied and damaged that she would have little ability to use them.
“And then one day I just had this perfect moment of clarity,” Callie said. “I turned to Kevin and told him that he needed to go to the church, tell them what happened and tell them that God was good. It’s like a fog had been lifted from over me.”
From this one act of faith, a friend of the church would contact Lauren Scruggs Kennedy, an American fashion blogger and representative of the amputee community. Lauren would contact her friend Ashley Igo, also an amputee, who would visit Callie in the hospital. It was because of this connection that Callie would reach Amy Martinez, someone who so deeply shared Callie’s story as a fellow sepsis survivor, mother and amputee.
“Amy was the first person that I felt understood what I was going through,” says Callie. “She had been through something similar to me and she was a mom, too. She spoke so much truth during that dark period of my life and showed me what life could look like without feet.”
Hopeful Future
Thanks to these relationships, we met Callie as a participant of the Beautifully Flawed Retreat in 2018 and again in 2019. Thanks to the boldness and clarity of her faith to reach out to her church family, she came to the retreat not only as a participant, but as an encouragement to the younger girls around her.
“I thought that I was going [to the retreat] to find healing and instead I realized that I was there to pour into these young girls, love on them and share the good news of Christ with them.”
Which brings us back to today. Where many people struggled immensely in the stillness and uncertainty of 2020, Callie felt emboldened to use her voice through the lessons she had already learned through her year of isolation in the ICU. In the unexpected and broken places of the world, she felt ready.
“Christ is only capable of good. He uses trials in our lives to draw us closer to his heart.”
Make Incredible Things Happen
Help further our mission and programs that support young people living with limb difference or those who’ve experienced traumatic limb loss by making a tax-deductible donation.
Mahalo to Our Sponsors
Thank you to the following corporate sponsors who have already made direct contributions towards our upcoming retreat! We couldn’t do this without the support of:
- Certified Brands Group
- Cobian
- Dukes
- Fjallraven Kanken
- Mae Cargo Jewelry
- Pain Free Kauai
- Primal Kitchen
- Rank Up Academy
- RX Smart Gear
- San Diego Picnic
- YETI
- Feast on This
- Hakus and Love
- Health Ade
- Hoa Kai
- LinkSoul
- Love Handle
- Now Foods
- Point One Vision
- Rustico
- Blender Bombs
- Crossway
- Gnarly Nutrition
- Greenhouse Foods
- Greyston Bakery
- Kokua Suncare
- Mo’s Dough
- Nooty
- PalmDream
- Paper Sunday
- Surfwater
- Palmdream
- Ponyback
