Post Falls High School: Camryn Nichols never let her ailments stand in her way

Camryn Nichols is a bright, cheerful and optimistic person who has overcome and continues to live with a host of physical ailments that leave her in pain and exhausted most of the time. You’d never know it upon meeting her.

The Post Falls High School senior, who is halfway through her associate of arts degree at North Idaho College, continues an active and helping life – and firmly believes that people have to keep challenging themselves, as “it’s the only way to grow.”

She was diagnosed at age 6 with a severe form of Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory digestive system disorder. There’s no cure, and she has been through all the therapies – including shots, medications, infusions and feeding tubes. In middle school, she faced sepsis and surgery and near death.

Despite all the obstacles, she has persevered.

She’s been in and out of remission all of her life. “As I was growing and hit rock bottom, I knew I had to get out of the mindset where it ruled everything,” she said.

“I knew there had to be life outside this. … It would have been easy to give up a long time ago, but my strong family support, friends and church members filling my hospital room with balloons and all the other support has meant so much. I’ve developed adaptability and ways to still get things done.

“Mostly, my foundation has been God. What has pulled me through has been Jesus.”

Always a good athlete, she ran cross country in elementary school, winning every race she participated in, including her last one, in which she had a feeding tube because she had not been able to eat for 40 days.

She was a rock star in volleyball, named Division 1A All Star as a freshman and sophomore. Transferring from a private school to Post Falls High School in her junior year, she made varsity that first year, also playing club volleyball in the off season.

She needed surgery on both knees in her junior year. The right knee came undone and needed repair; it got infected, requiring more surgery. Then a knee screw snapped. Last August, bone grafts were done … and failed. Braces, wheelchair for five months, long stays in the hospital followed.

Currently all orthopedic therapies are being suspended, and physicians, who call her a unicorn, are trying to see if the bones will heal on their own. “There’s been a little bit of progress, but, frankly, I don’t know if I’ll ever heal,” said Nichols, who does still allow herself some open gym volleyball.

None of this has stopped her from living her best life. She managed the volleyball team this year, and when she learned that the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes group had fallen apart, she – at first singlehandedly and then with friends – restarted it, and it now has up to 40 members who do service projects and get together for game nights.

She is very active in her church, Real Life Ministries, where she takes photos for youth group events and coaches volleyball for the younger kids.

And her grades – a 3.9 GPA. “Yes,” she said a little dejectedly, “it dropped last year when, for the first time in my life, I got a B” – in honors pre-calculus. Plus, she’s worked at a pet facility.

If she could give advice to anyone, Nichols said there are three things she’d say – never give up, it’s our trials and overcoming them that make us stronger, and find strength in the Lord.

She’s not quite sure what the future holds for her. She loves the medical field, “but I know I have a heart for ministry. I want to help people.”