“My thought was, ‘Why fight it? Why not just let me go? I’ve had a good life. I’ve done awesome things. Let’s move on to the next step.’ And I think that’s what I needed to know was do you have more that you want me to do here?”
In January, a blog post written by popular LDS singer Hilary Weeks went viral. The post, titled “Carolyn Can,” was a tribute to BYU’s director of sports medicine, Carolyn Billings.
Weeks had recently received letters from people who were given copies of her CDs by Billings, who is battling cancer for the fourth time. The letters detailed how Billings’ kindness blessed the lives of the recipients, some of whom joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
There's a reason why Billings, a former college athlete, shares the CDs. She believes the music once saved her.
This is the rest of the story.
Finding God in a song
Billings left San Diego State to come to BYU after her college basketball career ended two months into her freshman year. She had been hit on her bicycle by a car that ran a red light. A doctor told Billings that he didn’t know if she would ever be able to run again.
In the year that followed, Billings accepted that she would never play basketball again and felt compelled to pursue a career in athletic training. She transferred to BYU and immediately felt peace in her decision.
“I can visually still see,” Billings said. “I’m walking out on the old practice field, first day of fall camp and I knew I loved it. That’s where I was going to work. I loved athletic training.”
Not long after arriving at BYU, Billings began to experience a crisis of faith.