Richards High School social studies teacher Christina Kreil, a new member of the U.S. National Women’s Amputee Soccer team, is devoting her summer to training for the first ever Women’s World Cup in Columbia this Nov. and to finding a cure for the rare disease that has plagued her since 2000.
Extremely rare, “Giant Cell,” she said, is as mysterious as it is debilitating. It is a dark cloud hovering over a summer of hope and celebration. Because doctors in Illinois seem stumped, and because the condition is rapidly worsening, the mother of two plans to visit some of the country’s top cancer centers this summer, even though she does not have cancer.
She barely made it through her high school senior soccer season and often couldn’t walk long distances because of the pain. “That’s how giant cell behaves. It just keeps coming back in the exact same spot it started or it jumps to the lungs,” she said.That fall, Kreil’s left lung collapsed in an unrelated incident. While in surgery, doctors found a lump and removed it.
Despite her exhaustive medical quest, Kreil said she is readying herself for the World Cup tournament. The opportunity, she said, shines a bright light on an otherwise dark forecast.