Never Give Up

A Compelling Memoir Sure to Touch Your Heart. Jenny shares with you her story, where she was forced to grow up much too early. Growing up in Los Angelos, she was in the system most of her life. Her mom's mental illness would sometimes cause her to be hospitalized, and with no other relatives close by, Jenny and her older brother had no choice but to be placed in separate foster homes. She not only had to deal with abuse growing up, she never experienced the comfort of hearing the words "I Love You," getting tucked in at night, or feeling her mom's arms wrapped around her so tight that she could finally feel safe. It was a life she tried to keep hidden from her friends. Until the day of her 18th birthday, (April 15th) her mom had sent her to live with one of her high school friends. She was a year younger then Jenny. They only knew each other through the basketball and softball teams at school. With no permanent place to live, and only having a few thousand dollars in the bank from working in the summer, she had to think about her future. When recruiters went to her school looking for new recruits Jenny knew that was her answer. She decided to join the Air Force. She hoped it would be a way for a fresh start. Though she loved the Air Force, she couldn't no matter how many miles from home, get rid of the feelings of despair, and emptiness inside. Medically discharged, she continued to struggle with her own mental illness. As she continued suffering through multiple hardships, it was ultimately due to her mental illness that at 34 she did something that caused her to be found paralyzed from the neck down. Unable to even feed herself, she was determined to get strong enough to be as independent as possible, to push herself in a manual chair, and ultimately live independently. Only with no family willing or able to help care for her, she was forced to live in the hospital nursing home. Alone, some days were harder than others, and unfortunately, she was forced to deal with abuse from staff, and wounds left untreated. It was when the wounds behind her calves were about 6 inches long, left exposed ligaments and tendons infected, that she was forced to make a hard decision. Stay, and risk the chance of dying or take the chance of flying from Denver, to a spinal cord center in Memphis, Tennessee. This just tells a small piece of what she's endured, not only as a child, but as an adult. There are a lot of things she wishes she would have done differently, but most of the things she went through she had to accept was out of her control. Though she has realized she is in control of the kind of person she could be at the present time. She can be angry at her mom for not being there for her when she needed her. Bitter at the whole situation, being dealt a bad hand. Blame others including God for being paralyzed. Depressed about all the things she won't be able to do now. Or she can make best of the hand she's been dealt and move forward. Follow her story, as she not only shows how much her determination changes her life, but how she finds God and how He changes her life. She now lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she enjoys painting, and is working on a young adult mystery series.