A Stubborn Heart

I have always had a stubborn heart and refused to give up despite the seemingly impossible challenges set before me. That stubborn heart often resulted in more abuse from family members but I always stood my ground. Despite being physically weakened by paralytic polio that I contracted at the age of 5 in one of the last polio epidemics in the US, my heart and spirit were strong.Jacqueline Hansen had this to say about my courage in the Foreword to "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance"
In fact, another Eleanor Roosevelt quotation reminds me of Mary: “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ...

Try to imagine what it must have been like to be diagnosed with paralytic polio as a child. Try to imagine suffering child abuse at the hands of those very family members who are charged with your upbringing. Try to imagine them together. It’s unbearable to think about. Then imagine surviving the unthinkable, and in adulthood being diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome. This is a story that needs to be told. This is a story of challenge, of resiliency, and a story of heart, tremendous heart.

I am fond of using the word “heart.” When coaching young athletes, which I have done my entire adult life, I often tell them to “run with heart.” As I explain to them, I can coach them on skills, on running form, on race strategy, on everything to do with their running, except I cannot create “heart.” This is something that only they can produce from within. I go on to say that “you have to want this (running or racing) more than I do – more than I want it for you.” “Always run with heart.” I am here to tell you that Mary McManus always runs with all her heart.

Just for a moment, let’s ponder the word “heart.” The Latin word for heart is “cor.” Cor is also the root of the word “courage.” I would attribute both heart and courage to Mary. Even Mary herself has said that “It takes incredible courage to heal trauma . . . healing both paralytic polio and trauma.” Author Parker Palmer wrote that “The heart is where we integrate what we know in our mind with what we know in our bones, the place where our knowledge can become more fully human. When all that we understand of self and world comes together in the center place called the heart, we are more likely to find the courage to act humanely on what we know.”

My life has been filled with magic and synchronicity. I was blessed to meet running greats like Jacqueline, Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter who embraced me and my journey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma to going the distance to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond.



I have been blessed by earth angels who have come into my life just when I needed them helping me to create more magic and miracles of healing.

Were there times when I wanted to give up? Absolutely! During the ten years before the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome was made, I became increasingly depressed feeling forlorn and lost. I was at the top of my game as a VA social worker but physically, emotionally and spiritually, I was withering away. It was the dark night of my soul. But somehow, some way I kept soldiering on knowing deep within me that I could not and would not give up. I'd survived paralytic polio at age 5 and endured years of violence at the hands of family members. All the years of giving to others and not taking time to take care of me finally caught up with me.

But ... (excerpted from "Running the Race" and "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility"):

Using wheelchair to travel, set limits on what I could do,
Resulted in joy to realize I could live life anew.
Celebrated my body- creaks, groans and need for a brace
While in my mind I focused on winning a 10K race.
Sought out paths for healing and my spirit flew free
For the first time in life, I could truly be me.
The chains are gone and possibilities abound
I'm a tree with my roots planted firmly in ground.
I'm now off the sidelines, no need to sit and whine
So much gratitude fills my heart and love and beauty shine.
After all these years I can join the loving human race
I exceed all expectations and now I set the pace.

I sobbed to write those words. I had never spoken about polio or the abuse I endured. I became curious. Why am I writing about winning a 10K race?

May you remember that even when you feel like giving up, keep on keeping on because magic happens when you don't give up. The Universe falls in love with a stubborn heart.

To learn more about my journey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond, be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books are available on Amazon.

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours
Mary

Savoring Summertime

While running in hot and humid conditions may not be my favorite running weather, I embrace the sweet scents and sensations that accompany running in the summer. Here in the greater Boston area, the summer season is short lived although I begin savoring the longer days and needing fewer layers to run long before the summer solstice.

It would be easy to bemoan all the "nots" happening this summer with races and trips to the Cape being cancelled yet my heart overflows with gratitude.

This summer, set against the backdrop of a pandemic, generates a deeper feeling of grace and gratitude for gifts great and small in our lives. Team McManus has SO much to be grateful for this year. For the first time in 3 years, Ruth Anne is healthy! We celebrate her and her twin brother's birthday on August 7th. We will mark her Healthiversary on August 28th, the date of her last hospitalization and the beginning of a new era in her life. We are so blessed that Tom's job has been secure and that he works from home 4 days a week. We are all healthy and strong and while we had a few bumps along the road with Ruth Anne's healing, we are blessed with a great team in place and friends who support us with love and prayers. I also know to call on the angels when necessary.

On Wednesday, Ruth Anne and I set out on our morning run. The Reservoir was packed with people. We decided to change up our route and go down Beacon Street.

I took these photos along the way to capture and savor the beauty of our run and the joy of being together:


We were soaked to the skin when we got home and enjoyed the after glow of sweat glistening on our skin.

For the past 3 years, summers were spent navigating visits to Urgent Care and ER's with no end in sight but we finally found the Missing Puzzle Piece.

Even though the summer of 2020 is unlike any we have known before, we are savoring every moment.

From the soon to be released "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life Volume II":

Summer

Watermelon peaches strawberries
dribbling juices
sweet corn on the cob
popsicles drip
sticky hands washed clean in ocean or pool
unbridled joy of summertime.

Sweet scent of gentle breezes
freshly mowed grass
raised beds on lawns
garden vegetables ripen
lush reds and greens
a savory salad from Source.

Time slows
days grow longer
savoring moments
sunshine beckons
inner child unleashed
running through sprinklers
slip 'n slide
a ride with top down
star gazing.

Soon...
green leaves pale
before bursting into autumn splendor
for now I celebrate
eternal summer.

Whatever the circumstances that may surround us, we get to choose our response. In our little corner of the world we are practicing social distancing, wearing masks, washing our hands and doing everything we can to boost our immune systems through healthy living. We are focusing on good news, practicing meditation sending out healing to the world, having an attitude and practice of gratitude and squeezing out and savoring glorious summertime moments.

Dining al fresco in our garden bathed and blessed by evening's light:


From my heart to yours
To your health and wellness
Mary

Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com to learn more about my inspiring journey from having been told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond.

My books are available on Amazon.

Five Years Ago...

When Ruth Anne and I put on our running tees before heading out on yesterday's run, I hadn't realized that yesterday was the 5 year anniversary of when I made a solid commitment to running the Bermuda Half Marathon in 2016.



In December of 2014, I sustained a very serious knee injury. I had not been cross training and I was pushing myself with 9 races in 9 months trying for PR after PR. The MRI findings were not pretty. Imaging indicated torn cartilage beyond repair, a fatty lipoma, degenerative changes due to prior surgeries, bone spurs, an atrophied gastroc muscle from polio and osteoarthritis. Arthroscopic surgery would not be of benefit. I should stop running or cap my distance at a 5K and prepare to have a total knee replacement in a few years. I was referred for physical therapy and was blessed to meet the physical therapist from hell because I needed to get back on my healing path that was set in motion in February of 2007.

The Universe led me to a healer/chiropractor who was excited to partner with me using chiropractic care and the mind/body connection. He helped to get me back on the roads and at my comeback race, Finish at the 50 5K in July 2015, this happened...

From "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953":

Anthony Raynor and Clarence Smith had me at hello at the Bermuda Marathon Weekend Booth at the Finish at the 50 Expo. Tom started chatting with Clarence "Stoker" Smith. I hung back but cocked an ear to the conversation. I gingerly eyed the pink Bermuda wrist bands, the bling from Bermuda Marathon Weekend races and the samples of pink sand. I glanced at Tom and felt we each had a tug at our souls. The tug got stronger with each moment we talked with Clarence and Anthony. We reminisced about when we went to Bermuda. I felt goosebumps and a warm feeling come over me, while a part of me was wondering why was I even having this conversation about running in Bermuda. Several months ago I was told to cap my distance and prepare for a total knee replacement.

“If you can get up to the Half Marathon distance, you’ll be better off than running the 10K with all of its steep hills,” Anthony said in his delicious Bermudian accent.

“The last time I was in Bermuda I was in a leg brace using a cane and a wheelchair.”

Clarence's wife said,kn "Look at you now girl."

There was no stopping me now. We exchanged information. Clarence told us he'd pick us up at the airport. I chatted with Anthony about the weather in January.

"Look," he said with a deep warm laugh, "I was told you people still have piles of snow near the Seaport Hotel from this past winter. I can guarantee you this. You will have no snow in Bermuda in January."

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.” ~Mark Twain

It was time to sail away from safe harbor and go the distance again. This time on the magical Island of Bermuda.

“Running is about finding your inner peace and so is a life well lived. Run with your heart.” ~Dean Karnazes

Facebook reminded me that on July 6th, 2015, I booked our hotel and airfare and laid out a training plan to run my first half marathon since crossing the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon!

I went on to run not one, not two but three consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons in 2016, 2017 and 2018. We became fast friends with the Bermudian running community and American runners who traveled to Bermuda every year for Race Weekend.



As for that total knee replacement, not happening! Through visualization and meditation, chiropractic care and a new strength training regimen along with being more mindful about what goals I set for myself, my knee is healed and I've grown a new gastroc muscle to help power me through my runs.

Five years ago I followed Mark Twain's advice because I knew that I would regret and feel disappointment by the things I chose not to do. I knew it was time to sail away from safe harbor and once again challenge myself to go the distance.

My books chronicling my journey of transformation on the roads and in my life are available on Amazon.

Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary

Reflections on Freedom: Our Fourth of July Run

Even though I experienced severe trauma at the hands of family members, I was always bold in the way I lived my life. Often times my boldness would result in more trauma but I held steadfast to my Truth until the time would come when I could venture out into the world on my own.

In December of 2006, the Western Medicine community gave me the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome and told me to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I boldly turned a deaf ear to their predictions and tuned into Source for Divine Guidance. The answer came in the form of a poem, "Running the Race" and then poems flowed out of me in which I imagined myself running and dancing, feeling free in my body. The poems also served as a way to heal the past through gratitude, forgiveness and bathing my wounds with Divine Love.

During the summer of 1971, I was a prisoner in my own home. Even though my parents were separated, my father would come to the house in a drunken rage. Because my mother was addicted to prescription pain medication, she would let him in the house. On August 1, 1971 he ended his life after going missing for 5 days.

All the trauma had become trapped in my body and combined with the effects of paralytic polio which I contracted at age 5, my body, mind and soul were withering away.

BUT this story has a very happy ending!



I began to heal and transform through the power of the mind/body connection through visualization and meditation along with rigorous physical training. I found my way to the sport of running and on April 20, 2009, crossed the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon.



To quote Forrest Gump, "And from that day on, whenever I was going anywhere I was running!" Well not quite but running is an integral part of my life.

From "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life":

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them." -Marcus Aurelius

Born to Run

Born free
born to run
run free
unencumbered untethered unshackled
pouring energy into my running form
liquid gold once fired in the crucible
now my treasure born of my Spirit molded with alchemy
refining
my precious treasure once buried
the map safely tucked away
X marks the spot
a new starting line.

Poised and ready
to go the distance
all out without hesitation
all is healed at last
my pace swift
Mercury and Hermes pace me on winged feet
I AM
born to run
running free
joyfully crossing the finish line with ease.

What a wonderful way to celebrate July 4th running with Tom and Ruth Anne by my side. We celebrated my freedom from my past and the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome along with Ruth Anne's freedom from a diagnosis of chronic psychiatric illness to transformation to health and wellness after we found the missing puzzle piece last summer.

It was extremely bold of me to not accept the diagnosis that the "professionals" were giving Ruth Anne and to allow Spirit to guide me in helping her find her way out of the darkness and onto a path of health and wellness.

We celebrated our freedom with a run and were treated to these glorious scenes:


My heart was full after running 3.37 miles feeling deep gratitude for the freedom I have come to know despite challenging circumstances I have lived through.



Let freedom ring!

To learn more about my incredible journey be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books to inspire and uplift you are available on Amazon.

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours
Mary

Dare to Go The Distance

The title of the second book in my Trilogy of Transformation is "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance." At the time I did not realize there was going to be a trilogy of transformation. I thought I had gone the distance and celebrated all that I had done and become in the wake of the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome. As I wrote in the Epilogue to "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance," there were more chapters to write and more of the story to tell that had not been captured in "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility" or "Going the Distance."

I sometimes feel in awe of the reservoir of strength within me and the Divine Guidance that I have tapped into since I was 5 years old after contracting paralytic polio. I was blessed to meet Jacqueline Hansen at the 2016 Hyannis Marathon Weekend. I was enthralled with hearing her speak at the pre-race pasta dinner and we connected when I bought her book, "A Long Time Coming" after the dinner. There's a beautiful story I share about seeing her out on the 10K course when she gave me a hug and said,"Run with your heart." I was deeply grateful to Jacqueline for agreeing to write the Foreword to "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance."

Foreword

Eleanor Roosevelt once said “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”

I have found this to be true throughout my life. I have also found that I am attracted to strong women friends, who are strong willed, strong minded, with lots of endurance. At least once a day I must tell my-self, “thank goodness I’m a marathoner.” I am guessing that Mary McManus tells herself the same thing. She is certainly someone who has left indelible footprints in my heart. I have rarely met anyone with so many life-threatening challenges who portrays such an onward thinking attitude.

In fact, another Eleanor Roosevelt quotation reminds me of Mary: “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

When you read about Mary’s life experiences you will wonder how does she not only endure, but lives her life with positivity in abundance. My closest friend in life lives by the motto “Be relentlessly positive,” which is written on her office door. Mary exudes this same attitude. You will not encounter a more positive person than Mary, despite all the challenges she has endured in life.

Try to imagine what it must have been like to be diagnosed with paralytic polio as a child. Try to imagine suffering child abuse at the hands of those very family members who are charged with your upbringing. Try to imagine them together. It’s unbearable to think about. Then imagine surviving the unthinkable, and in adulthood being diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome. This is a story that needs to be told. This is a story of challenge, of resiliency, and a story of heart, tremendous heart.

I am fond of using the word “heart.” When coaching young athletes, which I have done my entire adult life, I often tell them to “run with heart.” As I explain to them, I can coach them on skills, on running form, on race strategy, on everything to do with their running, except I cannot create “heart.” This is something that only they can produce from within. I go on to say that “you have to want this (running or racing) more than I do – more than I want it for you.” “Always run with heart.” I am here to tell you that Mary McManus always runs with all her heart.

Just for a moment, let’s ponder the word “heart.” The Latin word for heart is “cor.” Cor is also the root of the word “courage.” I would attribute both heart and courage to Mary. Even Mary herself has said that “It takes incredible courage to heal trauma . . . healing both paralytic polio and trauma.” Author Parker Palmer wrote that “The heart is where we integrate what we know in our mind with what we know in our bones, the place where our knowledge can become more fully human. When all that we understand of self and world comes together in the center place called the heart, we are more likely to find the courage to act humanely on what we know.”

Besides being a former record-holding runner who became a coach, I am also an educator. I teach teachers about health education, so in turn they will teach the youth. One of the most important lessons we impart is how to build resilient young persons. In brief, I can tell you there are no apparent factors in Mary’s childhood that would lead to her developing into a resilient young adult and woman. Yet, nonetheless, she became so. When faced with the prognosis of spending her life in a wheelchair, she did not “settle.” She chose to reclaim her life with fervor.

A musician and poet, Patti Smith, wrote the book, “M Train,” for which she was described as having the rare gift of projecting radiance despite experiencing melancholy and grief in her life. Patti Smith once said “If we walk the victim, we’re perceived as the victim. And if we enter glowing and receptive . . . if we maintain our radiance and enter a situation with radiance, often radiance will come our way.”

In my heart, I believe our author Mary McManus has mastered overcoming challenges, maintaining positivity, possessing resiliency, portraying radiance; and in doing so, she provides great inspiration for others.

Jacqueline Hansen, M.Ed.
University Course Instructor, Health Education for Teachers
Track & Field, Cross Country Coaching Education
Instructor
Author
January 2017

My family members tried to snuff out the life force within me but I dared to defy them.

Despite all appearances to the contrary, I ran the 2009 Boston Marathon daring to go the distance despite doctors and physical therapists telling me, "If you use it, you will lose it."

After a serious knee injury in December of 2014, I continued my quest to heal my life from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma and went on to run 3 consecutive Bermuda Half Marathons. I was told that I should stop running and would need a total knee replacement in a few years.

On the roads and in my life I have dared to go the distance because after all:


To learn more about my adventure from being told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond, visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books are available on Amazon.

To your health and wellness
To daring to go the distance
From my heart to yours
Mary

A Wonderful Winning Wednesday Run: Reflections on Contentment

On Wednesday mornings we get up and go out for a run before breakfast. It's a beautiful time of the day to feel fresh air and sunshine and get moving to wake up and create a wonderful day.

Last Monday was a challenging day which we were able to get through with strength, resilience and team work. I felt the newness of opportunity and possibility when Wednesday morning arrived. Tom works in his office on Wednesdays so can't join us on these runs but it is special mother/daughter time together.

We set out at an easy pace going twice around the newly renovated Route 9 Reservoir. We reflected on what had happened on Monday, Ruth Anne's journey of the past 4 years and the joy of moving forward in her life. It was a gratitude run during which we felt deep gratitude for the wonderful providers we have to support Ruth Anne's wellness and how, despite the odds, we never gave up!

We talked about transformation and change that was happening in the world in the wake of the pandemic and events happening in the world.

We paused to take photos and savor the beauty of the morning:




We did a little extra mileage for a total of 3.4 miles. When we arrived home, besides feeling the flood of endorphins that happens after a good run, I felt my heart swell with contentment.

We prepared breakfast and took it on a tray into our yard savoring cold OJ, toast, bananas and cereal.

I reflected on our blessings and allowed a sense of contentment to wash over me and wash away and heal the past 4 years of pain, struggle and suffering as Ruth Anne endured multiple hospitalizations with no clear diagnosis. She endured medication trials that were harmful and had become conditioned to "illness."

But now illness is being transformed into wellness. I know that journey well as during these past 13 years I healed the once ravaging effects of paralytic polio and trauma.

A morning run, great conversation, a delicious breakfast in the sunshine and journeys from illness to wellness...my heart is full and grateful overflowing with contentment for all that is here and now!

Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com to be inspired by my healing quest from being told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond!

My books are available on Amazon.

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours
Mary

Conquering Fear, Limitations and Heartbreak Hill

After the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease in December of 2006, I experienced angst and fear. I moved into feeling really pissed before settling into getting still and asking for Divine Guidance.

Through writing poetry, I imagined a life for me in which I was running free, feeling healthy, whole and free from the shackles of my past.

In February of 2008, I declared to my personal trainer that I was going to run the 2009 Boston Marathon.

From "Adventures of Runnergirl 1953":
At my six-month evaluation in February, I made dramatic improvements in every area of the assessment. I had come out of my leg brace. I knew I was on a healing path.

“Let’s write down your goals for the next six months,” Janine said feeling proud and satisfied with my progress.

“Well I want to feel free in my body. I want to dance. I want to be able to walk outside and feel unencumbered when I take a walk.”

Janine feverishly wrote down my goals, and we worked out a plan. She gathered up her belongings and had her hand on the door knob.

“Wait. I have one more goal.”

Janine stopped and turned around.

“I want to run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding Rehab Hospital. I know they have a Race for Rehab team and I want to do it next year.”

Did you ever have one of those moments when words fell out of your mouth after rising up from the depths of your soul without going through any thought process?

Janine was non-plussed. I don’t know what kept her from turning tail and getting as far away from me as she could. She came back into my house, set down her things and without missing a beat said, “Well the first thing you are going to need is a pair of running shoes.”

She laid out a cursory training plan and said that we would begin indoors to build up my cardio endurance. As soon as the weather got a little warmer, we’d go outdoors and I would learn how to run.

What had I just done?

I had just set out to conquer fears and old beliefs about myself as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma and conquer the hills of Newton.

Last December, Bill Rodgers signed this photo for me when we were at bib pick up for the Jingle Bell 5K:



"Mary...You conquered the Boston Marathon Newton Hills for Spaulding."

He embraced my journey with his heart and me with his arms and together, we rocked the stage at the Hyannis Marathon Weekend Pre-Race Pasta Dinner:


I am so blessed to ignite the hearts and souls of others as I continue to share my journey from being told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond!

It's quite remarkable and miraculous when we conquer our fears and move out of self limiting beliefs to achieve goals we once thought impossible; such as conquering the Newton Hills and running 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston.

To learn more about this incredible journey, be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

My books are available on Amazon.

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary

Hope-Light Prevails

Ever since I began my healing quest 13 years ago from the effects of contracting paralytic polio at the age of 5 and then enduring years of abuse at the hands of family members, my message was one of healing, hope and possibility. I did not know if I was going to survive my childhood and adolescent years with a raging alcoholic father, a drug addicted mother and a grandmother who subjected me to torture rituals. Yet day after day, year after year I kept hope alive. That hope had its origins in an out of body experience I had when I lay paralyzed on the couch as my mother smoked a cigarette and was unable to care for me. I often say she was more paralyzed than I was. I felt the presence of my guardian angel and chose to return to my physical body.

I honed my intellect and became high school valedictorian. I received scholarships and worked my way through Boston University as a work study student. I struggled and I searched trying to find my passion and purpose in life.

At the height of my award winning career as a social worker at the VA, I began to experience rather alarming physical symptoms of chronic pain, fatigue, the limp from polio returned; I had difficulty swallowing and breathing and was anxious and depressed. I found my way to Spaulding Rehab's Post Polio Clinic and the diagnosis of a progressive neuromuscular disease was made. I could have easily lost hope. I was told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair; to adapt my Cape house or move to a ranch. I was told I might need a feeding tube in a few years given that the left side of my esophagus was sluggish and I was aspirating food into my lungs. I was told that if there were any "hope" of stabilizing the symptoms where they were, I would need to quit my career just 3 years shy of when I was eligible to retire and after having worked for 25 years in total as a social worker.

I could have easily given into the diagnosis and followed all of the recommendations from the treatment team.

I knew it was time to leave my career because you can't give from an empty vessel and that was the one recommendation I took to heart. I was blessed with a physical therapist, Allison Lamarre-Poole who did not subscribe to the "if you use it you will lose it" philosophy. She gave me hope that I was not destined to live my life in a wheelchair and experience a rapid decline as I aged. Her hope was infectious as was my own little spark of hope inside. Writing poetry, harnessing the power of my imagination to experience healing of my past and creating a future of health, wholeness and running free fanned the flames of that spark of hope.



I gained momentum in my healing journey after meeting Janine Hightower. She held the hope for both of us as I began working with her as a personal trainer. I just wasn't sure of how far I could go on this healing journey. I took it one step at a time:


One step at a time led to 26.2 miles ending at the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon on April 20, 2009:


After suffering a serious knee injury in December of 2014, I was told to stop running and if I did continue to run to cap my distance at a 5K. I was told to prepare for a total knee replacement in a few years.

Because of the success I experienced with hope and healing knowing the power of the mind/body connection and being open to possibilities, I let Spirit guide me. I was led to a chiropractor, Dr. Ryan Means who believed in the tremendous capacity of the body to heal.

We used chiropractic care, KT taping, a new strength training regimen program and a whole lot of hope to heal my left leg and the residuals of paralytic polio and trauma.

I went on to run the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Bermuda Half Marathons.

During these times of unrest and upheaval and as stories of pain, grief, despair and hopelessness fill the news, may you not only hold onto hope but allow hope to uplift your heart and guide your actions.



Light Prevails

It only takes one spark to penetrate a blanket of darkness and despair
one star shining against the blackest of night
it’s easy to be fooled as the mind’s eye
drawn to the unending expanse of pain

love ignites the spark of hope
a tiny flame flickers,
wavering, unsteady and unsure
can she hold a candle to all that’s gone before

the fire of Spirit suffocated and dimmed
cannot be snuffed out
the flame fanned with strength and courage
extinguishes memories
blazing a new trail
lighting the way for others to follow.

Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com to learn more about my message of healing, hope and possibility as a survivor {now thriver} of paralytic polio and trauma.

My books are available on Amazon.

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness, healing, hope and possibility
Mary

There Comes a Moment

At this time of year, I take time to pause and reflect on my journey of transformation. I left my award winning career as a VA social worker just 3 years shy of when I was eligible for retirement. I had been diagnosed with Post Polio Syndrome deemed a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine. I found healing, hope and possibility after getting still and asking for Divine Guidance through the power of my pen, my divining rod for healing.

I was caught up in my role as a social worker, the mother of my twins and wife to my husband. I lost myself and was in a state of adrenal overload manifesting the unhealed trauma and residuals from paralytic polio in my body.

For several months after I left the VA, I went into my cocoon. I wrote poetry, did the home exercise program prescribed by my physical therapist at Spaulding and was open to writing the next chapters of my life.

I have to smile when I reflect on the many iterations I experienced during these past 13 years before settling into being who I was always meant to be; someone to inspire others with a can do attitude, a strong faith, a journey of determination despite the odds that were seemingly stacked against me and a powerful message of healing, hope and possibilities. I continue to be in awe of the power of the mind to heal the body and how imagination, as Albert Einstein said, is the preview of coming attractions.

I learned to do the impossible:



Carl Jung once said that the unconscious prepares the way for the future and as I sat in a leg brace, using a cane and at times a wheelchair for mobility


I wrote a poem about Running the Race.

It foreshadowed my 2009 Boston Marathon run although I had never run a day in my life.



I wrote this poem in 2013 after the Boston Marathon Bombings that was a wake up call for me to stay on my path and be true to myself:
There Comes a Moment 

There comes a moment

a culmination of moments really

when Truth becomes stronger than fear

when heart breaks open into wholeness

and the power of love crushes all that went before.


There comes a moment when the soul and heart's desire

becomes crystal clear

and you lovingly hit yourself on the forehead

why didn't I see this before?


There comes a moment when the old ways no longer serve

and you realize

you cannot possibly serve two masters

the two masters being fear and love.


There comes a moment when playing small

and staying in the 'comfort zone'
becomes intolerable

when passion burns so brightly

lies are consumed in its flames.


There comes a moment when you wake up

to the magnificence of who you really are

and tears of joy, relief and release

like an ocean wave on a hot summer's day

bathe you in the waters of rebirth.


There comes a moment

and that moment is now.

There comes a moment... a day “when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”



Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com to learn more about my journey of transformation from a survivor of polio and trauma to an endurance runner and motivational speaker.

My books are available on Amazon

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary