Jaime McHale, MS, OTR/L
Our compassion for your care, is because we have walked this path.
In the Beginning
I grew up as the oldest of 3 children in a small town in Central New York. At the age of 3, my sister regressed into a neuro-degenerative condition and my world became shaped by the realities that come with being a big sister to a medically fragile sibling. Emily’s life of doctors, therapies, special education and in home nursing care allowed me to peer into the window of helping professions. At a young age, I felt called to be a “helper” someday too. I took notice of the gentle way that nurses would care for my sister and the sweet ways that they would interact with her. The therapists gave her opportunities to experience play despite the fact that her body was failing. Her teachers curated learning experiences that she enjoyed, regardless of her inability to speak or even hold a crayon anymore. Social workers provided resources and guided my parents through making impossible decisions about Emily’s care. I was intrigued by these people and I knew I wanted my future to look something like that one day.
On April 9, 2000, at the age of 12, my sweet sister was released from her earthly body and became whole again in Heaven.
Though lost in grief, my shepherd still led me…
Several months after losing my sister, I found myself as a freshman in college without a major and completely lost. My grieving heart turned cold toward any medical professions and I rejected all of my original ideas of becoming a “helper”. I spent two years aimlessly wandering through college trying to find a direction. By God’s grace, I found my way back to my path and applied for an internal transfer into the Occupational Therapy program at my college.
It was like God took me by the shoulders, turned me around and said “Go this way”. So I did and this decision unlocked my entire future.
And finally, I understood from grief and sorrow comes purpose…
I found my purpose in graduate school and was blessed to land an amazing job providing respite care to special needs children while I was studying to be an OT. This job resonated with me so much.
From personal experience, I knew how much families needed the support and it was a great opportunity to get hands-on experience working with pediatric patients.
It was also the first time that I could see the tragedy of my sister’s illness and death as part of a grander plan for my life. Romans 8:28 tells us “…in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”, and I was finally starting to believe this promise. As I worked with medically complex and nonverbal children with developmental delays, I realized that I was completely unintimidated by the intensity of their needs.
Forged in fire, I knew this was the path for me.
The wheelchairs, feeding tubes, suction machines, behaviors, nonverbal communication and long lists of care tasks were so familiar to me that I felt at home while I was with them. I loved these kids so much. It’s said that grief is love with nowhere to go, and while I was grieving they showed me that I was made for “helping”. My patients gave me the chance to heal by pouring all the love I have for my sister into caring for them. Twenty years later, these now adults are all still very much a big part of my heart and my life’s story.
After graduation, I married Brian and we started our life in New Jersey.
Less than two years into our OT careers and less than one year into our marriage, we decided to open our home to a special little boy and became bonus parents to a nonverbal child with ASD. The years we spent as parents and advocates to our son shaped us in the most inexplicable ways. He changed us for the better, as parents and especially as therapists. I learned that being a “clinical expert” is one thing, but being baptized by fire in the true reality of special needs parenting brings experiential wisdom that trumps anything that we ever learned from a book, at a conference, or even from treating these kids every day at work.
We understand your worries, because we have lived them.
Until the weight of that immense responsibility rested on my shoulders, I lacked a certain perspective that only experience could give me. Now, I get to use everything I gained in that season to come alongside my patients with the unique perspective of truly knowing and understanding. That knowing has shaped my practice as a holistic OT and has been the catalyst for serving others through Right Starts. And through serving, I experience healing of my own heart.