My story
For years, I was surviving a life that very few people could see.
“I know what it's like to feel invisible inside your own life.”
My husband and I always wanted a family. After starting later in life, facing a cancer diagnosis, and then infertility, we adopted a local sibling pair—a brother and sister. We were proud, excited, and full of dreams about the family life ahead of us.
Both of our children had Reactive Attachment Disorder, but for six years we didn't know the diagnosis or even what RAD was. We offered love, affection, safety, and rich opportunities, yet our home was filled with chaos, confusion, fear, and the feeling of always walking on eggshells.
We navigated a broken system of therapists, shelters, residential treatment centers, and finally a therapeutic boarding school, largely on our own. The financial burden drained our savings. My marriage began to crumble. I felt lonely, burned out, depleted—and like the worst parent in the world.
Along the way, I came to understand how much grief can live inside RAD parenting—the loss of the family life you imagined, the relationships you hoped for, and sometimes even your sense of self. I'm completing specialized certification in grief support so I can hold that part of the story with even greater care.
Today, I feel like myself again. My marriage is happy—the same marriage—and we made it. If I have anything to do with it, you will too.
