Crabb uses challenges to help others

Krisi Crabb has taken the punches dealt by life and not only hit back -- literally and figuratively -- but also shares the strength she has learned along the way with others.

The strength and inspiration she has shown are why Crabb was nominated by her friend, and member of her “tribe,” Beth Wade.

“Krisi is an amazing woman of God ... She has touched so many lives and makes such a difference in our community. I am a better person and woman of God because of her,” Wade wrote in her nomination form.

Crabb’s journey of turning potential negatives into positives began nine years ago this month after her Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. Not long after the shocking diagnosis, she and husband Joey learned they were expecting their first child.

“I kind of tabled it because two weeks later I found out I was pregnant with Eli and that took precedence in my mind for nine months,” Crabb said.

“After I had him, I started the therapies and the treatments and all of that, and that’s when my perspective completely changed on health and what health means. With MS, you can get a lesion on any part of your brain or spine, and it can take away your ability to walk. It can take away about your ability to see. It’s common to have lesions on the occipital nerve. It can take these things away and you don’t know if you’ll get them back, and you have no warning.”

That diagnosis shifted her thinking about health, and she hopes her journey will inspire others to start getting serious about their health and not wait until they hear their own diagnosis from their doctor.

"I remember the exact words my doctor told me when I was diagnosed, and he said it kindly, but he said you could wake up tomorrow and not be able to walk, and we have no way to predict it. What I told people a thousand times it seems like is you don’t appreciate your ability to walk until someone tells you that you might not be able to do it anymore.

“After battling my weight for selfish vanity reasons my entire life, at that moment, God switched that perspective for me and it no longer was that I had to lose weight for myself. It became a “get to” instead of a “have to.” I was able to look at it as ‘This is a blessing that I’m even able to do what I’m doing,’” Crabb recalled.

“Fast forward a little bit. Statistically speaking, I should be in a wheelchair or at least using a cane at this point. But, instead, I’m running a non-profit fitness ministry. I’m teaching seven classes a week right now, trying to show people not to let a doctor telling them they might not be able to walk or some other negative health news, don’t let that be your wake up call. Let my story be your wake up call to appreciate your body, your health and steward it well instead of waiting. That was such a profound moment for me and I don’t want someone else to wait on a doctor to give them bad news before they can have that freedom.”

That desire to help others turned into the creation of Faithful Fitness, the non-profit fitness ministry she leads with the help of three other women. The goal is to reach as many people as possible -- without getting caught up in the numbers.

“Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in numbers of people that are there, and it’s really easy to get discouraged when the numbers aren’t as high as you want them to be. We tend to measure success as a quantity ... Something God really worked out in my heart a long time ago is that it doesn’t matter how many people are there, as long as I’m reaching the ones who need it. It’s more important to me to have one person in the class and them get what they need -- spiritually, mentally, physically, the whole nine yards -- than if I had a class of 20 people and everyone just had a good workout and left,” Crabb said.

But, her own health concerns are not the only diagnosis that shook her and her family. At age 2, the Crabbs’ only child was diagnosed with autism, and at age 8 is non-verbal. Again, she used her struggles and concern as a path to help others.

“When Eli was diagnosed with autism, I saw the need in our area for more resources. I have started the Greene Sullivan Autism Support Group. I did the Resource Fair at Linton Park the next year. I also did the Symposium at Vincennes University to bring more resources and information to our area -- not only to only let the people in our area know that there are resources for us, but to let people know in the bigger areas that we are here, too,” Crabb said.

This year, she authored “A Puzzle Half Finished” -- a book that, with the help of Joey, details their journey. She has started touring the area, noting a recent trip to Vincennes University.

“I spoke with third and fourth-year education students who are getting ready to do their student teaching. It was a really cool experience because I could talk to them as a fellow teacher, because I do have my elementary education degree, but I’m also able to speak to them as a parent. I told them that I can talk to them from both sides of the IEP (individual education plan) table, and that’s not a very common perspective to be able to combine,” Crabb said.

Looking back, Crabb said she hadn’t expected to be able to touch so many lives with her own story.

“The way I see it is when those curveballs come at you, you can either let it hit you or catch it and throw it back,” Crabb said.

“The fact that I know everything happens for a reason. I know that’s cliche, but I truly believe in my heart that God does not cause these things to happen, he allows them to happen so that we can grow, become more mature and then turn around and use that to help others who are going through the same thing. I look at it as if I were to just sit and wallow in my situation, I’m not helping myself. But, if I only help myself, I’m being selfish by not using what I have learned to help others.”