Grant Ketron Uses Cystic Fibrosis Diagnosis to Witness Part 2 of 2

Liberty student Grant Ketron has got the ripped jeans, checkered flannel and slicked hair of a typical pastoral leadership major. Yet Ketron is far from just an average pastoral leadership major.

 

Ketron suffers from a life-threatening disease called Cystic Fibrosis. For most, a dangerous illness such as this would cause sorrow and feelings of hopelessness; but for Ketron it only creates hope, joy and most importantly, opportunity.

 

Ketron is a junior from Harrisonburg, Virginia. On top of his pastoral leadership major, he has four minors that include biblical studies, theology, youth ministry and expositional preaching.

 

Ketron’s plan as a senior in high school was to attend the College of William and Mary or the University of Virginia to study biomedical engineering. However, the Lord had other plans.

 

“I got saved at 18 and got called to ministry a few weeks after,” Ketron said. “The Lord meant very clearly that I was supposed to go to Liberty University to train to be a pastor.”

 

Ketron came to Liberty the fall of 2015 and has taken just about every opportunity the Lord has given him to impact people.

 

Ketron is an active member on Liberty’s Youth Quest team. Youth Quest is a traveling ministry team that seeks to build disciples through worship, creative elements such as acting and improve, and preaching.

 

Ketron currently serves as the discipleship team leader.

 

“For me, it was an opportunity to get plugged in and kind of put rubber to the road, in ministry,” Ketron said.

 

On top of Youth Quest, Ketron has his own ministry called Grant Ketron Evangelism.

 

With his ministry, Ketron essentially gets paid to travel to different churches to speak to their congregations. Though he has only traveled to three locations so far, he has already seen lives changed through his preaching of the gospel.

 

At the age of 16, Ketron received news that would change his life forever. Doctors told him that he had unknowingly had Cystic Fibrosis since he was just a baby.

 

“There is a liquid bilayer that separates your lung tissue from your ciliary hairs which usually move mucus out of your lungs, and in my body it is dried up completely,” Ketron said. “So, the mucus that is in there dries and builds up bacteria and causes lung scarring.”

 

Because of Ketron’s sickness, life for him has not always been easy. He has to do several lung treatments each day. His daily routine involves two nebulizers and a vibrating vest that shakes the bacteria off of his lungs.

 

“I put on this thing called the vest and it basically shakes me for 30 minutes,” Ketron said. “What it does is it knocks the stuff off of my lungs so that I can expel it or cough it up.”

 

Ketron recalls being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis to have been a huge wake-up call in his life.

 

Growing up, life was not necessarily hard for Ketron as he was fairly popular in high school. From being the football starting quarterback to president of student government, to the homecoming king, Ketron was a very well rounded high school student who did not struggle with popularity.

 

Ketron recalls his diagnosis to be the first time in his life where he really felt weak and powerless. It was in this time that he really learned to lean on Christ, which ultimately began to help him grow deeper in his Christian walk.

 

This time of growth brought Ketron to the realization that strength and satisfaction only truly comes through Christ.

 

Ketron recalls John 9 as being a life changing passage for him as he dealt with the realities of his illness. John 9 tells the story of when Jesus healed a man who was blind since birth.

 

Ketron is also inspired by the apostle Paul’s “thorn” that is mentioned in the New Testament, that allows him to serve efficiently.

 

“I don’t view illness as something that makes me lesser than others,” Ketron said. “In fact I think it elevates me on a platform that others can’t experience.”

 

Because of his Christ-like confidence and character, most who come in contact with Ketron are not aware of his sickness. He has gotten the opportunity to share his inspiring story not just within his own ministry, but also in classes such as Evangelism 101 at Liberty.

 

“Looking at Grant, you wouldn’t know anything was wrong. His strength truly comes from the Lord and God is going to use him in mighty ways,” his friend Rebekah Seymour said.

 

Ketron encourages others struggling with this disease to press on and use it for God’s glory. He challenges them to seek out the joy and the opportunity that comes along with having an illness like this.

 

Though life is a constant challenge, Ketron’s inspiring story is an encouragement to all who face not only illness, but any type of suffering throughout their life times.

 

“Yes, I have Cystic Fibrosis. Yes, that affects my every day life,” Ketron said. “Yes, that affects my life-expectancy, but I get to wake up every day knowing that the works of God are displayed through me.”