LITTLE AXE, Okla. — Under the Friday night lights, members of the school and community of Little Axe rallied to cheer on a star 30 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.
The star of this homecoming game on Sept. 20 wasn’t a football player, but a young lady who has been battling cancer since 2016.
One local TV reporter said, “A game ball meant more than just being passed off to the referees in a small Oklahoma town Friday night. After traveling by [medical] helicopter with game ball in hand, Rachel Scott was able to have a night she wouldn’t forget.
“[Rachel] is a high school cheerleader at Little Axe High School and had the opportunity to present the game ball for the football game. This comes just after being in remission from leukemia for more than three years at the Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City.”
Rachel’s friends and family were on hand for the special game, including her parents, Bryce Scott, pastor of Cornerstone Indian Baptist Church in Little Axe, and his wife Cindy.
“Rachel has undergone countless medical treatments, including dozens of spinal taps, chemotherapy treatments, hospital stays, doctors’ visits, amounting to years of bad days and good days,” Scott said of his 15-year-old daughter’s battle with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. “This night was a tremendous blessing to Rachel and our family. We were so grateful to Mediflight for this opportunity.”
Cornerstone Indian provided a tailgate fellowship after the game in Rachel’s honor as she continues to fight cancer.
“Our church family has prayed for us and stood with us,” Bryce Scott said. “It is my job as pastor to encourage them, but they have encouraged us through these hard days.”
Rachel made a profession of faith in Christ as a youth at Indian Falls Creek, the Native American family camp each summer at Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, and she has held tightly to the hope she has in Jesus Christ.
Her favorite Bible verse is Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”
The verse is inscribed on purple-pink-colored arm bands along with the phrase “Rachel’s Courage,” which she and her parents and brothers hand out to people they encounter.
As family, friends and schoolmates continue to lift Rachel up in prayer, Scott said he is thankful for his daughter’s faithful testimony and the prayers the family has received.
In an interview with Oklahoma City’s KOCO-TV, Rachel spoke of how the Lord has helped her through the struggle, with her father noting, “Rachel continues to give honor to the Lord, whether in church or on secular television.”
“We are trusting the Lord as our pilot,” he added. “He will make a way for Rachel and for everyone who trusts in Him.”
Written by Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.