 All it takes is a phone call and your world can change…Four years ago I enjoyed a weekend with my sister, Nancy, and her two children. Nancy had driven from Chicago where she enjoyed raising her children, volunteering at the elementary school, shopping, and being active in a neighborhood packed with families in middle class suburban America. During our weekend visit our children played together, we ate out, watched movies and talked late into the night. Sisters and best friends - it was the best. Six days later the phone rang – Nancy had collapsed from a massive stroke.
While sitting in the ICU I watched my beautiful sister who was so full of life, energy and joy lay helpless in a bed. She was not able to make a sound, not able to move, not able eat. The first six months of Nancy’s recovery was remarkable. She learned how to walk, comb her hair, and take care of herself without assistance. Communication became possible with a dozen relearned words and a very expressive face. After three years Nancy mastered dozens of words and the ability to string them together to form partial sentences. However, life had returned to normal for her family and children and Nancy found herself in a very lonely isolated world. The clock became her enemy – how many movies can fill a day before the kids arrive home from school? What could she do with all the time – can’t drive, can’t work, can’t read a book, can’t talk on the phone, can’t shop – life was not being lived as it had been before and had no purpose except when her children were with her.
All it takes is a phone call and your world can change…In June of 2007 someone called me and said read today’s Wall Street Journal. The story was titled “After a Brain Injury, a Business Plan”. I didn’t get through half of the story until the tears were running down my face and I was ready to call Mr. Groeschen. Rob and I met soon after and within a few weeks Nancy was helping to start the greeting card business for InRETURN. I wish I had taken a video of Nancy when she informed her children she was EMPLOYED! Her 10-year-old daughter, Stephanie, was stunned with an expression of how? And “like no way”? Frankie, the 8 year old, flung his arms around Nancy’s neck and said with great joy and pride “I am so proud of you mommy”! We all cried at this unsolicited reaction from two children that have watched their mom struggle so much.
Every human being needs to have a purpose in life – a need to be needed. InRETURN gives people like Nancy, that have perhaps had the opportunity to live life in a grand way, get that opportunity to again live life in a grand way – with purpose and respect.
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