You were born to Fly…Love, inspiration, memories

I was extremely touched by this story that my dear friend Susan Williams shared with me, and I wanted to share this with my friends as a reminder of how precious life is, and that each one of us impacts another in some way. I hope you enjoy this beautiful life story. Thank you Kathrine and Susan!


"Alyssa made such an impact on all of our lives, my fondest memories of my
time with Alyssa were Thanksgiving and singing around the Bonfire and
being in the room with her during her Bone Marrow Transplant…I cried
tears of joy as I watched one life being woven into another life
intravenously. I also remember her and me singing to the Spice
Girls…”I’m a Survivor”. And yes, we both were Survivors in our own
ways!!! A day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about Alyssa. She is
always “precious in His Sight”. ~ Susan Williams

My Story
By: Katherine McCarty


My passion for the Lord began as a sophomore in high school when my Home Economics teacher led me in the prayer of salvation in the back of the classroom. Little did I know then what an incredible journey my life would take being a child of God. The transformation in my life, however, with just that simple prayer was deep and profound and often misunderstood by the rest of my Catholic high school friends. But God was faithful to me and I began to know Him with all of my heart and soul. I devoured His Word, read books incessantly and shared with anybody that would listen to what He had done in my life. Through college, the Lord opened doors for me to be a leader in my sorority as Chaplain and my reputation followed that I was “sold out” for the Lord. Because of my gratefulness to the teacher who led me to the Lord, I became a teacher of English with the hopes of helping other students who needed to know about the love of God.
I met and married my husband after my first year of teaching. Hal loved the Lord as intensely as I did and together we vowed to serve Him all the days of our lives. We welcomed our first son after the first year of marriage and I became a stay-at-home mom. Within a matter of years, we were the proud parents of five beautiful children: Jared, Lauren, Alyssa, Tyler and Lindsay. We had little money on a teacher’s salary, but we were happy serving the Lord by being obedient in raising our children. We were diligent to teach them the Word as well as to impart a heart of worship to each of them. I home-schooled our three oldest for seven years before releasing them to a school and returning to teaching in an effort to save money for college educations. I became the head of the English department and Dean of Faculty at Great Hills Christian School and brought our children there to complete their education. Little did I know how quickly our life would change a year later.
Our daughter, Alyssa, was a beautiful third-born child. People would stop me on the street when she was a toddler and comment on her physical beauty and I would retreat home to seek the Lord’s wisdom on how to raise her with character that would reflect Him. She had memorized many scriptures in her early years, but the one I remember teaching her as a life message was from Proverbs 31: “Charm and beauty are deceitful, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.” She learned this at age seven. Alyssa continued to grow in grace, giving her heart to the Lord and being baptized as a sign of her commitment. She, as well as the rest of our children, were healthy and never experienced any illness besides a common cold during their formative years. Jehovah Rophe, our God as Healer, was just one of the names of the Lord we proclaimed in our household. Alyssa became an accomplished flute player, gymnast, volleyball player, student council president and cheerleader by her eighth grade year at Great Hills Christian School. Early in the fall of that year, she would come home from volleyball practice complaining of her back and ankles being sore. Hal and I would glance at each other and wonder if she had “growing pains.” Then one day in November, her knuckles swelled. She sat for two days with her hands in buckets of ice as we thought it must have been due to her all-star volleyball tournament she had just played in. Hal even asked me if I had changed washing detergents which could have caused an allergic reaction, but that was not the case. He was off for a class period on the following Wednesday and took her to the Scott and White Clinic to have her examined. Once there, even the nurses agreed that it looked like an allergic reaction but took a blood sample to make sure. “We’ll call in a few days,” they said, but two hours later I received a call at school retrieving me from my AP English class with a frantic plea, “Get her to Temple, NOW.” My world immediately whirled, but panic mode with the Lord is in slow motion. By the end of the day, we had been told that Alyssa had a rare form of leukemia and would begin chemotherapy the next day. I did not have time to react, only to process that we were now in a battle to save her. My husband and I clung to each other and cried as we made the heart-breaking phone calls to her siblings and our extended family with the news. Everyone vowed to pray. Everyone vowed to help. The Body of Christ was put into action not only here in Austin but all over the nation. I knew God was in control even though our world was terribly awry. What I witnessed taking place can only be experienced by those who know Him and many of our extended family members were soon to see first hand. I even remember laying awake the first few nights in the hospital and hearing the Lord ask me, “Did you mean what you said when you dedicated her to me?” It was a question that would ruminate in my spirit over and over through the months. The story of Abraham’s faithfulness to God with his son Issac reassured my heart. “Yes, Lord. I meant it.” I would answer. I would never question God’s ways, not once. It was part of my life commitment: to know Him and make Him known…even here.
One of the largest obstacles in the beginning to overcome was the fact that we did not have medical insurance at that time. Money was tight and we had opted to not enroll in the expensive health care plan for one more year. We would soon find out just how expensive critical care would be, and yet God would show His abundance as Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. Our response to the doctors was that we would sell all that we had to insure Alyssa’s health care needs would be met and with that they went to work. Chemotherapy would be the initial process taking a week to stay in the hospital and two weeks at home. Taking a leave of absence from the school was the only answer for this journey, but it would also take away the much needed funds for her care. However, my focus was on the Lord and as long as my children at home were taken care of, I would be beside Alyssa. From that point, I never left her side. Hal’s job was to maintain at home as normally as possible, but everyone was making sacrifices to accommodate this journey. Through the weeks that followed, I watched people come to my house, wash and fold my children’s underwear, prepare meals, help with homework, clean our toilets, and serve us in most humbling ways. All the while, I was an hour away holding trays while my beautiful young daughter spewed the toxins from her system. Her countenance never changed from the first hour of her knowledge of the cancer. She had a peace that passed all understanding. As her room filled with well-wishes from her friends through the months that followed, I watched as they too began to pray and believe God for a miracle for their fellow classmate. It was a family affair…God’s family at their best. I remember going to make the first payment on our hospital bill that had already in the first week exceeded $50, 000.00 and the business office secretary looked up the file and said, “But Mrs. McCarty, you don’t owe us anything. The hospital has given your family a grant and your bill is paid for.” I was shocked! But that was the beginning of what God would provide for us due to our faithfulness in the small things—tithing our time, talent and resources.
Talk of transplant began soon after Alyssa’s diagnosis. The need for a donor, the costs, the trip to Fort Worth’s Cook Children’s Hospital, the plan for those left behind all consumed our thoughts. Each of our children was screened as a possible donor, but medical personnel were quick to warn us that there might not be a match. But God was faithful in this instance as well. Not only was Lauren a perfect match, but two of our other children were perfect matches to each other as well. Doctors were amazed! This rarely happened in families. We always acknowledged God at work to them. As transplant neared, I initiated a “Team Alyssa” campaign that organized her school and all of the family, friends and acquaintances that were now a part of this journey through their prayers and support. A banner was made in which all of the students signed their best wishes to her as she headed to this part of the healing process which would include months of isolation due to a compromised immune system. Everyone wore “Team Alyssa” hats, took pictures with up-raised thumbs, and sent her off with their love and support. During this time as well, Shoreline Christian Center’s Men’s Athletic Ministry, of which Hal was a part of, organized the first Hawaii 5K Run benefiting the Leukemia Lymphoma Society with proceeds going to Alyssa’s transplant costs. Over 800 runners came to support this cause, and according to Run-Tex, was the largest first run in their history of marathons. Alyssa, if well, was asked to give her testimony at this event. I remember running in this race and asking the lady next to me why she was doing the same. She remarked that she had read Alyssa’s story and was so moved by her love for the Lord that she felt she had to run for the cause. On top of that, she brought eleven people with her from her office at Dell. Ironically, Alyssa’s life scripture was I Corinthians 9:25: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run ...Run in such as way as to get the prize” What a picture of the Body of Christ! We would later realize as well that this was her birth date, 9-25-86!
Alyssa continued to astound the doctors through the transplant process. She never ran a fever nor developed a rash.—all signs that would have indicated a rejection of the donor’s blood. We knew this was due to the hundreds of people who were praying. We returned home forty five days later but cautious of the tremendous risks that lay ahead. During this time, music continued to minister to us and the song, “I Know My Redeemer Lives,” by Nicole C. Mullen was one of Alyssa’s and my favorite. I remember shopping for about an hour one day during transplant and this song piped over the intercom. I had to stop and find a corner to just cry in…I rarely allowed myself to do that in front of Alyssa. She took her cues from us in the beginning and yet towards the end, we took ours from her.
Alyssa returned to school that fall semester and continued to heal. She returned to cheerleading, volleyball (but as a manager due to her weakened state) and socializing with friends. We continued to see her doctor on a weekly, then bi-weekly, then monthly visit. Each time a clean bill of health was given, we would high-five each other in the parking lot before traveling an hour back home. Life would seem to be getting normal. Then, just before Christmas holidays, our last visit for the year would once again shake our world. Dr. Frankel would draw blood as usual, send us home, we would high-five, and begin celebrating. The call would come around six o’clock as I prepared dinner. “It’s Dr. Frankel, mom,” one of the kids would yell from upstairs. I hastened to the phone of what had become our dear friend and little did I know that Alyssa, too, had picked up the upstairs phone. “I am so sorry to tell you this, Katherine, but the cancer is back. I need Alyssa up here tomorrow first thing in the morning.” I was stunned to silence. Then I heard Alyssa start weeping on the phone…my heart broke. We knew what this meant. Dr. Frankel had told us that if the cancer returned, it would come back with a vengeance. The date was December 18, 2004.
“We had no sudden healing…” the song recites by Natalie Grant called “Held.” I knew the phrase well. Two months to the day, February 18, 2005, Alyssa slipped into the arms of Jesus with all of us at her side. The infections that had followed her chemotherapy regime had left her looking like she had been in a nuclear explosion. So ravaged was her body, yet so strong her spirit. She fought so gallantly to the last day when she finally looked at me and said, “I cannot do this anymore.” I told her I knew. The night before she died, Hal took her in his arms and told her that she was going from one father’s arms to another Father’s arms. With that, she went into a coma and slept until 3:30 in the afternoon when I know the angels came and escorted her to the throne of God. As I read Psalm 27 over her, the song playing in the background was “I Can Only Imagine” which had just been released a few days before. God had been faithful to her and to us as a family. She was my very heartbeat and I would miss her so much.
In the weeks following, I was placing some of her memoirs in her hope chest and I came across a picture from her dedication day. There, a young looking Hal and I stood offering our child to the Lord. “Did you mean what you said when you dedicated her to Me?” I would recall what the Lord had continually asked. I still said, “Yes, Lord.” Then I saw it. The date read November 30, 1986…the same exact day fourteen years later when she was diagnosed with cancer.
Alyssa left behind a legacy of courage in the midst of adversity, uncompromising faith and an unconditional love to her many friends, family members and those we don’t even know. I know that she fulfilled her purpose on earth and that someday when I close my eyes for the last time, it will be as if I last saw her on February 18, 2002. I am the one bound by time, but with the Lord, one day is like a thousand, so I look forward to the day that I will walk by her side as we worship the One we lived for here on earth. For those of us who are left behind, God promised to be near to the brokenhearted and to be...held.