Connecting the Dots Mission Possible: The Talking Information Center

...Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path; and that will make all the difference."-Steve Jobs

"As it turns out, the only job we have available right now is with VIST. The mental health walk in coordinator job just got filled," the assistant chief of social work Jim Blair told me after my interview at the VA Outpatient Clinic in November 1988.

"But I have no experience working with people who are visually impaired," I replied.

"We'll train you," Jim said.

My favorite job in my social worker career was as the Visual Impairment Services Team Coordinator at the VA. I could use my marketing/public relations background with my masters degree in social work. My veterans taught me and I supported them in their adjustment to vision loss. We took field trips together and they opened my eyes to what it means to live life with strength and courage coping with the loss of the gift of sight.

Part of my job in helping veterans cope with vision loss was to make referrals to community resources that would support them to feel as independent and empowered as they could.

The Talking Information Center's mission is to broadcast information to inspire, empower and motivate the print impaired community. It was a way for my veterans to have access to newspapers, periodicals, consumer information and a wide range of programming through a radio that only required an on/off and volume button.

Fast forward to May 5, 2014 when through a friend of a friend's Facebook feed I discover that a visually impaired runner qualifies for Boston!

Randy Pierce went on to be a guest on The Talking Information Center's Mission Possible Show. Randy's work supports the New Hampshire Association for the Blind and Guiding Eyes for the Blind. I tweeted about his interview.

TIC reached out to me and asked if I would like to be a guest on Mission Possible.

On Monday, I took a tour of the agency that had made a tremendous difference in the lives of so many of my veterans. Sarah and John shared with me that a listener survey indicated that one of their favorite programs was the reading of the supermarket circulars each week so they could express their preferences to their significant others of what they would like to buy on sale each week. It's the little things in life that can make such a difference between feeling victimized by life's circumstances and feeling empowered to manage whatever life may set before us.

Sarah had done her research and posed questions that would allow me to share my journey and my message of healing, hope and possibility with ease.

She had covered the 2014 Boston Marathon for TIC and met members of Team With a Vision of Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She mentioned on air and off how inspiring it is to watch runners cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I could see that a spark was lit within her. She knew that if I had the courage and fortitude to run the Boston Marathon, so could she.

Coincidentally, I worked closely with the Mass Association for the Blind when I worked at the VA only it was called Vision Foundation at the time. One of my dear sweet veterans was a volunteer there for many, many years.

I am now connected with visually impaired athletes on Facebook and in real life.

I am thrilled to be going to Randy's Peak Potential Gala on 11/22.

It's beautiful to watch the dots connect as the beautiful tapestry of our lives is revealed.

You can listen to the podcast of my interview on Sound Cloud Mission Possible - Mary McManus.

My memoir, "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility" is now available on Amazon.

"Wait, I have one more goal," Mary McManus told her personal trainer in February of 2008 shortly after coming out of her toe up leg brace. "I want to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab Hospital." Mary traded in her polio shoes for running shoes and embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Mary McManus was at the height of her career as a VA social worker when she was told by her team at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital’s International Rehab Center for Polio in December of 2006 that she needed to quit her job if she had any hope of preventing the progression of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. In “Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility” Mary takes you on her seven year healing odyssey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma from her diagnosis, to taking a leap of faith to leave her award winning career at the VA to heal her life and follow her passion as a poet and writer. You’ll experience her trials, tribulations and triumphs as she trains for and crosses the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and discovers the opportunity for healing in the wake of new trauma: the suicide of her nephew in 2011, and the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. This is Mary's journey of coming home to her human form free from the influences of the ghastly ghostly invaders who had invaded her sacred earthly home. Her memoir includes journals and blog posts from her seven year healing odyssey. This is her journey of transformation and her message of healing, hope and possibility.

I donate 50% of royalty payments through on line sales to The One Fund to help Boston Marathon survivors and their families. Copies are also available at Brookline Marathon Sports. $5 of each book sold at Marathon Sports is donated to The One Fund.

Coming Home

This post is lovingly dedicated to our veterans in honor of Memorial Day weekend.

I said that the day I could no longer give 100% to my veterans and their families, was the day that I would leave the VA regardless of whether or not I was eligible for retirement. That day came for me on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, 5/25/2007 just 3 years shy of when I was eligible to retire with full benefits.

For 19 years, I dedicated myself to serve those who served. I was passionate about ensuring they received the benefits to which they were entitled and helped them to navigate the often turbulent waters of the VA Healthcare System. I was an advocate, a counselor, a trusted confidante and had no qualms about giving them tough love when appropriate. They deserved everything I could offer in my role as a social worker at the Boston VA Outpatient Clinic.

The compassion I lavishly offered to them, was the compassion I could not yet offer myself. The healing I brought into their lives was the healing path that I would need to walk after leaving the VA.

I worked at the VA as an intern in 1983-1984 and returned to work there in December of 1988. As a society and as a healthcare system, we were all trying to figure out how to help our Vietnam Veterans come home. The particular methods of warfare used and the sociopolitical climate they returned home to was a perfect storm to complicate the care and management of the emotional and physical injuries of the war.

From my memoir: Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility

I left home at the age of 5 – my earthly home that is. I contracted childhood paralytic polio. Polio was the AIDS of its day. If you contracted polio, you were shunned. There was a fear of contagion. Fear breeds ignorance that is far more devastating that any disease. Three years later my father fell into alcoholism and I was raped and beaten, threatened with death and tortured by my father for 9 years until he ended his life. My maternal grandmother physically, sexually and emotionally abused me with cruel rituals that tortured my body and my mind. My mother was addicted to prescription pain medication. My older brother was numb and trying to survive the chaotic household as best he could. He chose to align himself with the aggressors. I learned early on how to dissociate and to harness the power of my intellect to survive but I paid a steep price for leaving home and disowning my body. I bided my time until it was time to heal.

My veterans shared with me their struggles to come home; to be able to feel at home in their bodies, in their lives and to come home to live fully in the present moment. They felt a constant tug to the past and to their own inner storms of powerful emotions. I was able to be fully present with them unafraid of the stories they needed to share and the pain they needed to heal. I too had been through a kind of war.

During these past 7 years, I have had my own healing journey of finding my way home from the injuries of a childhood fraught with violence and healing the emotional and physical injury of paralytic polio. I know how incredibly fortunate I am to have found the time and the resources to find my way home. I have been blessed by the unconditional love and support of my husband and the running community. It hasn't been easy and it's not always been pretty, but I am here now living a full, vibrant life with passion and purpose to share my message of healing, hope and possibility.

While I am no longer physically present to care for our veterans, they are in my heart and my prayers. I pray that they are able to find the strength and the will to heal. I pray for their caregivers and for those who are caring for veterans in the VA System. I pray that we as a society are able to support our veterans from every era. They need ongoing care and love no matter when or where they served. We need not wait for Memorial Day or Veterans Day to honor those who served. Let's help them know that every day they are coming home to hearts that embrace them and are grateful for their service. I am deeply grateful and humbled by the trust they placed in me to bare and share their emotional and physical wounds of war. I am blessed to maintain contact with a few of them who have found their way home and are thriving in their lives.

We taught each other well about the importance of coming home!

Seven Years Later #tbt #thankfulthursday

May 25, 2007, I cleared out of the Boston VA Healthcare System, closing a chapter on 19 years of my life as a social worker at the VA to take the time I needed to heal my life. At the time, I didn't understand what that meant. I only knew that I was given the life altering diagnosis of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. I knew that if I had any hope of a future, I had to leave behind the stress of my job.

#tbt mementos from my tenure at the VA:

A Certificate of Appreciation Award honoring my 19 years of service at the VA and a certificate from Voluntary Service for my years of collaboration with them to benefit the quality of life for our veterans:


From my memoir, "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility" now available on Amazon

"I didn’t know what needed healing or how that healing would happen. I only knew that I needed time and space away from the stress of getting up at 5:30 every morning, commuting into Boston, taking care of veterans and their families as well as the people on my team, and my own family members. I hold myself responsible for my inability to set limits. I feel tremendous compassion for myself that I was like a hamster in a wheel and had no idea how to get off of it within the VA system. I know many of my colleagues resented me for how much work I did do. I was held up as the standard for social workers when it came to ‘my numbers’ and documentation. There is the middle way of being able to find balance and self care while providing outstanding care to veterans and their families but I was damned if I knew how to get there at that time."

I have been marking each anniversary but I believe that this is the last year to mark the anniversary of when I left the VA. I feel a sense of completion. I feel it is time to move forward. Coincidentally, May 25th was my father's birthday. I am ready to leave him and our relationship in peace, grateful that I survived and now live a life that is full, vibrant and overflowing with blessings.

I feel blessed, honored, humbled and grateful that tomorrow night is the Book Release Party for my memoir.

I am ready to close the chapter on these past 7 years and embrace my life here and now. The combination of biweekly massage sessions at Sollievo Bodywork and Massage which incorporates Zero Balancing into the sessions, Aquatics Therapy at Spaulding Rehab and running 2-3X/week to train for the Tufts 10K in October is a winning combination in moving forward in my life as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma.

I appreciate the gift that each day brings. I'm working on a new book, "Journey Well: Poems and Stories to Inspire". I have races planned for myself and my family. I volunteer and am part of support crew for those races that have a fast field and that I know I wouldn't enjoy - for now. I have run the 2009 Boston Marathon, published books of poetry and my memoir. I know that I blessed many lives when I worked as a social worker at the VA and continue to bless and inspire others as others bless and inspire me by their presence in my life.

I have books to read, and a garden to grow.

Most people my age are planning their retirement. I am living mine. It took me 7 years to settle and find a place of contentment, peace, healing and integrity and integration in my life. My heart overflows with gratitude that I am here now. I have an incredible partner in my life in my husband Tom who, thank goodness, is willing and able to work past retirement age to support us. I have so many beautiful friends in my life with whom to share the journey.

Seven years later -- life is good.

Movie Premiere - The Joy of Sox

"Amazing things happen when large crowds gather to share positive emotions...I was the guinea pig to test whether the heart energy of joy is contagious..." Eric Leskowitz, MD

Seven years ago, on September 26th, 2005 I was reading the Boston Globe and an op ed editorial caught my eye. "Can Weird Science Save The Sox?" It was written by Rick (Eric) Leskowitz with whom I trained at the VA during the 1983-1984 season ahem academic year. I felt this energy coming from him across the conference room at 17 Court Street which was then the home for the VA outpatient clinic. When I saw the op ed piece, I felt a jolt of energy go through me. We have to get Rick to come back and do an in service for social work I pleaded with the chairs of our continuing education committee. They pooh poohed the idea saying it wasn't relevant to clinical social work practice.

Fast forward to 2007. I leave the VA and I begin sharing my journey on the world wide web. A polio survivor from Texas emailed me asking if I could help her find resources. Another bolt of energy went through me and I reached out to Rick who is the director of Integrative Medicine at Spaulding Rehab which coincidentally is where I received my post polio treatment. We reconnected and met for lunch. Twenty five years later and we felt like old friends connecting with each other. We have had many synchronicities happen with each of our journeys - Rick with his Joy of Sox movie and me with my post VA life journey.

At the premiere of Rick's movie Sunday night at the West Newton Cinema, Rick talked about the energy streams that were in the room; how we each contributed in some way - either through the energy of money or the energy of being a fan or the energy of being a friend to the completion of his movie - 7 years in the making.

But this isn't just Rick's movie nor is he doing this for fame or ego. Rick is a holistic psychiatrist with a passion to share knowledge for the good of the whole on how we can live more joyful, compassionate, loving and peaceful lives. He explores the science behind the field of energy medicine using the Red Sox as a 'case study.'

We are all a case study participating in amazing phenomena every day. We only need to awaken to what Rick calls 'the intangibles.' I had never been to a movie premiere before. The celebrities on the red carpet at the West Newton Cinema included fans from Red Sox nation who appear in the movie, staff from Spaulding Rehab Hospital including an energy healer who supported me during my Boston Marathon run who I had not seen in a couple of years, and supporters of Rick and his stellar creative team who helped create The Joy of Sox.

From the moment I stepped into the theater I began to smile.

I turned to my husband and said, "I have a really cool life." I thought about all the twists and turns and amazing coincidences that brought me to that moment and all that aligned for Rick to be able to bring The Joy of Sox to the big screen. The energy was infectious. The collective joy was contagious. Open your heart and your mind to embrace the science and possibility expressed in this film. Join the joy. "There's magic in the air."



For more information about The Joy of Sox and to purchase copies of the book and pre order your copy of the DVD visit the Joy of Sox website.

Enjoy my previous blog posts about Rick and The Joy of Sox journey
Joy of Sox book review

Count Your Blessings for a Happy and Healthy Heart

Opening Day

The Discovery Channel or You Can Teach an Old (Downward) Dog New Tricks

On Being a Champion

From my heart to yours
With total love and deepest gratitude,
Mary

MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY AND FREE!