ChristianWeek

REGINA, SK—For almost an entire year Brad Fraser had a migraine that never left. It began in December, 2005, when Fraser was a Grade 9 student at Winston Knoll Collegiate in Regina. And the constant headache wasn't his only problem.

"I tried to jog around Knoll, but I started getting dizzy and I almost smashed into columns," Fraser recalls.

Extreme fatigue and severe pain in his lower back and abdominal area not only robbed him of a spot on the basketball team, it also caused him to miss school. "One thing led to the next, and I ended up going to different doctors. And they're like, well, it isn't this and it isn't this," says Fraser. "I had two MRIs, [two] CT scans, two ultrasounds. I had so many blood tests it wasn't even funny. I felt like I was a blood donor during that time."

Finally in August, 2006, Fraser was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Among 250 cases the specialist had encountered, Fraser's was second worst. He was told his condition would likely last for three years, if not longer.

When Fraser began Grade 10 that fall, he only had enough energy for two classes. Even then, he did the majority of his schoolwork at home. These changes left him spending more time in the Bible and prayer, and he found his relationship with God grew. He joined a youth Alpha course at his local church, Rosewood Park Alliance. There a remarkable turnaround occurred.

"I just felt God saying, 'You need to pray for Brad, and if you pray for Brad, he will be healed,'" says Rob Hartman, Fraser's youth pastor. "I kind of felt like [outspoken football player] Joe Namath walking around, telling my youth workers the guarantee: 'Come on Wednesday. We're going to pray for Brad, and he's going to be healed.' So we prayed all week in preparation for that."

On November 22, 2006, the youth group gathered around Fraser, placed their hands on him, and prayed.

"It was the most powerful time that I've ever had at youth ministry," says Hartman. "We prayed for him for a very long time. I was a little bit nervous about how the non-Christian kids that were there would feel about this, but I just felt the Lord saying, 'Keep praying.'"

The presence of God became tangible, and many were in tears. Thirty teens accompanied by their youth pastor and one church elder offered prayer after prayer. "It sounds funny, but it seemed like each time someone removed their hand [after praying], they took a bit of the pain, a bit of the sickness with them," recalls Fraser.

Immediately afterwards, Fraser decided to test his health. For the first time in months, he tried to run. In the November cold, he ran across the parking lot to the edge of a nearby field and then came back. Normally he would get dizzy, faint or even black out—but not this time.

"He calls me the next day and says, 'I slept for 14 hours,'" remembers Hartman. "And he hadn't slept in 36 hours. It's one of those diseases where you're always tired, but you can't sleep. His headache was gone."

His abdominal pain had also vanished, turning his parents' cautious optimism to praise.

"Even though we read our Bibles and say 'Oh yeah, God still does miracles,' it still catches us unawares when it happens," says Fraser's mother, Angela.

"It's just a reminder that we do need to be obedient to Scripture and we do need to go ask pastors and elders to pray for us. I think a lot of times we make excuses as Christians, and we don't want to."

Although Fraser has continued to improve and the migraine hasn't returned, his health problems aren't entirely over. Chronic fatigue results in an overworked immune system, and Fraser has fought a series of flus and colds.

Those, together with a full course load at school brought the return of some symptoms in late February. Still, Fraser says his back pain is weak and occasional and the loss of energy not as pronounced.

Meanwhile, the youth group has been transformed and now exhibits a spiritual fervour and a willingness to pray for healing they didn't have before. "We stopped calling ourselves the youth group and we started calling ourselves the youth ministry," says Hartman. "It built our kids' faith. God showed up; He's real."