Speech Rescue

On Becoming an SLP

Posted by mcrabb | Filed under Uncategorized

I’ve known for as long as I can remember that I was passionate about helping people. As a child, I helped other kids in my class and was friends with everyone- from the biggest trouble maker to the child with a developmental disability that also stuttered (in fact, those two were my favorite). I remember loving learning the ABC’s in sign language and I can not tell you how much I loved the story about Helen Keller in elementary school.

Throughout the years, my passion to help others never wavered. When I went off to college the fall of 1989, my major was elementary education but something about it wasn’t the perfect fit. All I knew was that I wanted to be able to have a very close relationship with people and affect a person’s life in a very profound way. Little did I know that my life was soon to be profoundly affected and that my career path would basically choose me.

The summer of 1990, my boyfriend Andy had a severe brain aneurysm. Needless to say, that summer his life and mine changed forever. Andy was in a coma for eight weeks. I was devastated. I spent as much time with him as possible and when college resumed that fall, my parents essentially forced me to make the six-hour trip to Springfield. I think I cried the whole way. Every weekend, I would find rides home so I could spend time with Andy.

Andy, being the amazing person he is, defied all the odds. With time, he learned to talk again, walk again, read again, tie his shoes again, and regain most of his independence. I felt so guilty for being able to easily do all those things that were so very hard for him.

Obviously, my world was shattered. It was extremely hard trying to be a fun-loving college girl when my mind and heart were with thoughts of Andy hours away in a hospital room. Through Andy’s strength and perseverance though, I somehow had to find mine. He always stayed positive during his rehabilitation; he would always simply say , “I am just happy to be alive!”

Those words constantly rang in my ears and that’s what I had to do: find a way to be happy to “alive” too!  I had no idea how I was going to do that until one day when I looked over at Andy’s speech therapy materials. I thumbed through them, asked him some questions and at that moment, I knew! I knew with every fiber of my being that this is what I had to do with my life. I would become a Speech-Language Pathologist.

On the bus ride back to college that weekend, after a good cry- I knew it was time for me to make a positive change in my life- I couldn’t keep crying my life away. The following Monday, I made an appointment with the head of the Communication Disorders and Sciences Department. By Tuesday, I had toured the facility, read a book on Aphasia and had the paperwork necessary to change my major. My life had meaning again.

There are few clear moments in your life when you know with certainty where your life should lead. It’s an amazing thing to happen. I must say, even over the twenty years since that time, I know it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I truly love what I do! How many people can say that?

I’m sure this won’t be my last blog post in which I mention Andy. He has always been an inspiration to me and I am lucky to remain close with him and his family. Andy will always hold a special piece of my heart.

Every tragedy- every hard time we may experience in our lives- there is something good comes out of it! Mother Superior from The Sound of Music was right: “Whenever God closes a door, he opens a window.”

Comments (3) | March 12th, 2011