As I contemplate the path my life will take, I realize the choices I make are built on the experiences I have had thus far. Intertwined through my experiences of the past few years is the presence and influence of Mary Grace, a little girl I have cared for, loved and learned from. Through the time I spent with her I was helped to realize that this work fulfilled me in a way I had not felt before. I began to reconsider where I wanted my future to take me. I contemplated a career in nursing as I felt being a caregiver was the path for me.
When I graduated high school with honors and was accepted early to James Madison University pre-nursing program, I thought I knew what the next four years would bring. However it didn’t take long for me to realize JMU wasn’t a good fit for me. I struggled with my academics because I was so unhappy and never really felt like I fit in with any of my classmates. Perhaps it was the change in environment from urban to rural. I was aware the first year away from home and close friends and my support system would take an adjustment but that comfort level never happened.
Following a very unhappy freshman year I moved back home to began J. Sargeant Reynolds that fall, continuing with nursing. It was at this time that I began working with Mary Grace again. Her parents have been family friends for years and I knew Mary Grace had been diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, but not much about the syndrome itself. Retts is a developmental disorder seen almost exclusively in females. Mary Grace developed normally and hit all her milestones until she was a year old. That’s when it became apparent something was wrong, she wasn’t developing language or able to bear any weight. She slowly began to lose all purposeful movement of her hands and within 3 months was diagnosed with Retts. Mary Grace communicates with eye gaze and facial expressions only and