This is a true story. The names have been changed. Once upon a time there was a little girl named Sherry. When Sherry was conceived her mother was addicted to drugs. Sadly, she continued to use drugs during the pregnancy. This mother did make one good decision, and that was to put Sherry up for adoption once she was born. The aunt of this drug-addicted mother-to-be heard about her niece, her addiction, and her pregnancy. The aunt, Maria, did not have children of her own. She spoke with her husband and both agreed that they would bring Sherry home from the hospital, adopt her, and raise her as their own. They did this without care for the emotional, physical, or other problems that a drug addicted baby would surely have. They did this without consideration of the potential dollar costs of raising such a child. They will tell you that they did this because God put a calling in their hearts that drove them to love this child regardless of the consequences. And they did. They would tell you that Sherry was a gift from God.
Sherry was born. Maria took her home. They adopted her. They raised her with all the love, attention, and affection that any child could ever hope for. When Sherry was about 6 she had a final high risk pediatric neurological examination with the team of doctors who had been looking after this child since day one. The doctors told Maria and her husband that not only was Sherry doing fine, but she was excelling, and that there were NO residual effects of her drug addiction that they could detect. But the doctors didn’t stop there. They told Maria that the reason why Sherry was doing so well was not due to her medical care or her occupational therapy or any other intervention that she had along the way. Sherry was doing so well simply because of the time, love and attention that Sherry’s mommy and daddy were able to give to her. This adopted family, the only family that Sherry had ever known, without a doubt had completely and utterly changed Sherry’s entire future life. They were God’s gift to Sherry.
In the middle of all of this, when the doctor’s told Maria how good Sherry was doing, Maria sat down with me to share a part of her story that she had not shared with me up to then. It would seem that several years before I met Maria a chain of events were set into motion that were intimately tied to this story. Fellow church-goers for at least a couple of years had been trying to get Maria to come to my office for treatment of her headaches, which were daily and constant, severe, and quite debilitating. She kept ignoring her friends, taking her medications, muddling through her work day, and staying in her darkened room all weekend. If there was a weekend family event she would up her meds just to get through the event. Thankfully, some loving soul kept nagging her and nagging her and finally Maria made an appointment, came in, told me her history, had her exam and x-rays, and we started care. As is the case with at least 95% of my patients, she did very well and her headaches abated. Eventually, she moved on to reconstructive and eventually wellness care. End of story right? Wrong.
While we were sitting down that day she filled me in on the missing piece. She told me that if it was not for her finally listening to her friends, getting her chiropractic exam, participating in chiropractic adjustments, and finally finding relief from her debilitating headaches, that she physically could not have even considered adopting Sherry. Clearly without Maria and her husband Sherry would be a vastly different person with a much bleaker future. This is not really a chiropractic story. This is a love story. But it does show the power of referral.
Sherry was born. Maria took her home. They adopted her. They raised her with all the love, attention, and affection that any child could ever hope for. When Sherry was about 6 she had a final high risk pediatric neurological examination with the team of doctors who had been looking after this child since day one. The doctors told Maria and her husband that not only was Sherry doing fine, but she was excelling, and that there were NO residual effects of her drug addiction that they could detect. But the doctors didn’t stop there. They told Maria that the reason why Sherry was doing so well was not due to her medical care or her occupational therapy or any other intervention that she had along the way. Sherry was doing so well simply because of the time, love and attention that Sherry’s mommy and daddy were able to give to her. This adopted family, the only family that Sherry had ever known, without a doubt had completely and utterly changed Sherry’s entire future life. They were God’s gift to Sherry.
In the middle of all of this, when the doctor’s told Maria how good Sherry was doing, Maria sat down with me to share a part of her story that she had not shared with me up to then. It would seem that several years before I met Maria a chain of events were set into motion that were intimately tied to this story. Fellow church-goers for at least a couple of years had been trying to get Maria to come to my office for treatment of her headaches, which were daily and constant, severe, and quite debilitating. She kept ignoring her friends, taking her medications, muddling through her work day, and staying in her darkened room all weekend. If there was a weekend family event she would up her meds just to get through the event. Thankfully, some loving soul kept nagging her and nagging her and finally Maria made an appointment, came in, told me her history, had her exam and x-rays, and we started care. As is the case with at least 95% of my patients, she did very well and her headaches abated. Eventually, she moved on to reconstructive and eventually wellness care. End of story right? Wrong.
While we were sitting down that day she filled me in on the missing piece. She told me that if it was not for her finally listening to her friends, getting her chiropractic exam, participating in chiropractic adjustments, and finally finding relief from her debilitating headaches, that she physically could not have even considered adopting Sherry. Clearly without Maria and her husband Sherry would be a vastly different person with a much bleaker future. This is not really a chiropractic story. This is a love story. But it does show the power of referral.