Coping with paraplegia | Nincy Mondly’s story of faith

She may be confined to a wheelchair but Nincy Mondly’s story of faith while coping with paraplegia, is surely going to inspire you today.

I was browsing through some random craft ideas for my son one afternoon, when my phone beeped.

It was a message from my paternal cousin. She wanted me to watch a video featuring her cousin. She was convinced I would like it.

This was the video-

I watched and I was amazed. This young girl seemed to know what she was saying. There was a calm in the way she talked about how she was coping with paraplegia. A sense of purpose behind her suffering. A clarity of thought that very few people possess.

I immediately asked my cousin if I could interview her. And after 5 months of procrastination, some chat conversations, one heartfelt talk, I am finally posting her story.

I am absolutely convinced that Nincy’s words will inspire hope to all who are seeking God in their pains. I have learnt so much from her in this short period of time and I hope you will too.

So here’s presenting Nincy Mondly and her story of faith while she struggles with Paraplegia.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am Nincy Mariam Mondly, 26 years old and living in Kerala. I was born in Saudi Arabia and my family i.e. my father, mother and elder sister were settled there till I was about 10 years old.

I completed my schooling in 2012, after which I chose to study a paramedical course in Bangalore. However in 2014, I had to discontinue the course because of a medical condition caused due to spinal cord injury.

After almost a year of postoperative and rehabilitative care in hospital I returned home. For about the next four years, I underwent physiotherapy at home, with the help of therapists who would come to my home and train me to handle my disability with my abilities. 

Within this period I also completed my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Certificate in Guidance through distance education under IGNOU. Currently I am pursuing post graduation in Counselling and Family Therapy. From the beginning of this year I also started working in an Ed-tech company called Bloombloom. 

Crossing my heart I would say that through all these years i.e. from stumbling blocks to what may be called milestones, I have increasingly felt the loving presence of Almighty God. And this is what keeps me going in life. 

Could you tell us a little more about your medical condition?

The medical condition which I am facing is called Traumatic Paraplegia. In 2014, my spinal cord got injured at the thoracic level (T2-T3) due to a fall from a height.

Following this injury, my body became paralyzed below the chest level thus making me bound to either a bed or a wheelchair.

I had to suffer several other injuries and its consequences too, like major and minor fractures to my neck and limbs.partial loss of vision, complete loss of smell, loss of function of one kidney and so on. 

Now there are two reasons why I am bragging about such a list.

One is that, by God’s grace I have survived all these to share this story. Secondly, I live with the hope that the same God will bring me out of the several problems that have persisted in me. 

At that age, how did you react to your sudden situation? 

In retrospect I know that the 18 year old Nincy in that hospital bed, having a collar around her neck, casts on both the arms and one on her leg had absolutely no idea what she was dealing with.

‘It was just a matter of time till everything returned to normal’, she believed. So she didn’t give it a second thought when doctors would talk about ‘not giving false hope’.

At the same time , she would go to the extent of asking for second hand wheelchairs rather than wasting money on a new one (because neither could she imagine having to use one for long nor could she foresee the number of wheelchairs she would actually end up buying in the coming years).

But when she was discharged within 4 months from the first hospital, barely able to sit up by herself, she felt betrayed.

The awareness of the condition and its implications grew in me, only over all these years.

Today I understand that it’s an ongoing process of learning how to deal with my condition in every new situation I come across. Looking at the big picture, I would still say it’s a matter of time, but not the kind of time that you or I can predict, but the one that God has chosen. 

Did you blame God during this time? Were you disappointed in Him?

Just like weeds that sprout up quickly, especially after a rainfall, resentment kicks in every now and then. So yes, if you don’t remove it at the earliest, your mind becomes very much like a messy and unproductive garden, housing several other unwanted things too. 

All my anger and sadness were directed at myself rather than God. So more than blaming God or being disappointed in Him, I struggled to tolerate myself.

Like a dog chasing its own tail, my own voice would harass me. Somewhere amidst all of this, I do remember thinking of the Bible as just a book of good principles. But thanks to all the people God has put in my life, such thoughts were short-lived.

In your opinion why does God allow man to suffer despite his faithfulness towards Him? 

Neither do I believe that suffering follows unfaithfulness nor do I believe faithfulness can ward off suffering. There is the kind of suffering that God gives each one of us a chance to endure. And when I say endure, I believe God endures it with us, feeling everything we are going through.

There is a psalm of David (one of the most faithful characters in the Bible ) where he prays to God “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle”.

If the image you get from this verse is the same as mine, you will see a God who is not in a hurry to wipe away your tears but takes hold of each one of those droplets because you are precious to Him. 

The faith that the God who is with me loves me, is what has helped me endure. But that by no means makes me feel big enough to answer why God does things the way He does.

I have also realized that most often, being at peace even when some questions remain unanswered is what ends your suffering. 

If you notice in life, you will see that the hope of things getting better makes us happy. In fact when we lose such a hope, life feels nothing less than suffering.

So if we look at suffering in that sense, know that God has already given us a way to endure suffering and that is through the eternal hope in Jesus Christ.

While the things that we usually hope for passes with time, Jesus is the living hope. So if it feels like God is letting us suffer, remember that He gave us Jesus ahead of everything.

Nincy continues to reflect on her journey of faith in this post.

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