Little did they know, however, what additional adversity would be forthcoming during their participation in “The World race.”

Among the items stolen from Curington during the robbery was video equipment, along with footage he had captured during their travels to new Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Kenya.

“I’ve always had a camera in my hand, documenting events, but taking video was something that I had never done seriously before the trip,” he said.

After graduating from full Sail University in Winter Park, where he studied mainly audio, Curington said God placed such a strong calling on his heart to go on the mission trip that “I couldn’t ignore it,” he said.

While participating in activities abroad such as preaching, praying, feeding the hungry, helping to build homes and churches, playing with children living in orphanages, and assisting with a sex-trafficking prevention ministry, Curington said he realized how much he enjoyed taking video. he was incredibly disappointed to have all of his footage stolen.

He didn’t fully realize, however, the greater importance of another item that was in one of his stolen bags. it was his supply of doxycycline, a medication used to prevent malaria.

After Tanzania, his group traveled to Uganda and Ireland. once they arrived in Ukraine in early September, Curington began to feel sick. His symptoms became so severe he was taken to the hospital. because of a lack of quality medical care, said his mother, Linda Curington, it took a week for her son to be diagnosed and treated for malaria.

At one point, she said, the doctors in Ukraine reported that his chance of being dead by morning was 9.5 on a scale of one to 10.

In the morning, Linda Curington said, “the doctors were surprised that he was still alive.”

“We believe that it’s the prayer that saved his life,” she said, noting that through the technology of the Internet, people all around the world were praying.

She said she also is extremely thankful for the church raising more than $90,000 to help the family with medical and travel expenses.

After recovering well enough from a surgery to repair his spleen, which had burst as a side-effect of malaria, Trevor Curington was airlifted to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, where he and his family said he received top-quality medical care.

He returned home to Ocala on Sept. 25. Now, he says, he has no regrets about the trip.

“It was an amazing year that I will never forget. the good still outweighs the bad because of the impact it has had on my life and on the lives of those around me,” he said.

Contracting malaria, he said, “was a small price to pay, really, because I have a different perspective of life, the Bible, God, and of how Jesus traveled back in the day. I am definitely more productive now of what God wants me to do.”

Curington said he is “feeling back to normal” and will continue to have his blood levels checked every three months.

He is doing graphic design work for church events and working on starting a business doing photography, video and graphic design.

He said he also plans to stay involved with community outreach projects, such as taking portraits of people who cannot afford them.