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.
In February of 2007, I sat in a leg brace using a wheelchair at times for mobility and contemplating an uncertain future after receiving the diagnosis of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. My body suffered the ravages of childhood paralytic polio followed by nine years of unrelenting trauma. I got still and discovered the healing power of poetry. My first poem, "Running the Race" foreshadowed my 2009 Boston Marathon run although I was barely able to walk at the time I wrote it. My pen became my divining rod for healing. This third collection of poems in a trilogy of poetry books about my healing journey is a celebration of my healing. They are a celebration of life and include the poems I wrote on the road to the 2009 Boston Marathon.
In Set Sail for a New World, Mary McManus takes the reader on her healing voyage as a polio and post polio survivor. With God as her anchor and beacon of hope, she transforms life's pain and struggles. God's love fills her sails. She awakens to her inner beauty and the beauty of the world around her. Buffeted by life's storms, Mary's faith expressed through this eloquent collection of poetry stands as the lighthouse beckoning her readers to set sail for a new world. "Her words sing on their own, but when you get to know this warm, energetic and loving soul, those words take on an even greater meaning. Mary's style of poetry is just what folks need in these cynical times. Read her words, feel better and get to know a beautiful new friend." (From the Foreword written by Jordan Rich, WBZ Boston Host).
Mary McManus grew up in New York. When she was five years old in 1958, she contracted paralytic polio during one of the last polio epidemics. Her steadfast faith and courage along with a healing team enabled her to walk again. In December 2006, she experienced symptoms of post polio syndrome. Out of severe pain and physical limitations, the gift of poetry grew within her. In just five months, she wrote New World Greetings: Inspirational Poetry and Musings for a New World. Take a journey with poetry inspired by Maryas intimate relationship with God. Travel to places in your mind and heart and feel the love of the Divine. Experience one womanas remarkable transformation of mind, body and spirit, eloquently expressed in this collection of original poetry.
The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953" takes you on Mary McManus' healing odyssey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond. After the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome in December 2006, Mary got still and asked for Divine Guidance tapping into the powerful connection she experienced to the Divine from an early age. She harnessed the power of her mind to heal her body, feverishly writing poetry in which she imagined herself healthy, whole and free from the shackles of her youth. Mary's quest to heal her life led her to the sport of running. Her story is one that will leave you cheering for the underdog, discovering the meaning of different ability and experiencing the stunning view from the back of the pack of a race. You will have the privilege of bearing witness to how Mary overcame every challenge that life presented to her. The sport of running provides the backdrop for her journey and shines the spotlight on the very fabric that weaves together the running community. Through the redemptive power of running, Mary transformed from a survivor of childhood paralytic polio and severe trauma at the hands of family members to a woman who embodies faith, grace under fire, courage, determination, endurance and resilience. Running became a way of life for Mary that tested her mettle while forging friendships to last a lifetime. As you'll discover in "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953" nothing, not even a serious knee injury in December of 2014 could stop her on the roads or in her life.
As a survivor of paralytic polio and childhood trauma (sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of an alcoholic father and neglect from a drug addicted mother), Mary McManus has been on a healing quest. Five years ago Mary took a leap of faith leaving her award winning career as a VA social worker to heal her life. She discovered the gift of poetry in her soul. In July of 2011, Mary's dear friend and bodyworker suggested that she go home and write a beautiful poem after an intense healing breath work session. She had no idea that out of that beautiful poem, she would write her third book of inspirational poetry. In "Songs of Freedom:Poems From a Healing Odyssey," Mary takes the reader on her journey of transformation. The poems are inspired by her yoga practice and bodywork sessions as she finds her way home out of the muck and mire of trauma to a place in her soul of love, light, happiness, peace and ultimately freedom.
In 1849, half brothers Michael and Joseph Quigley arrive in America seeking relief from the Irish potato famine. Their dying father tasked Michael to watch over Joe, but young Joe is headstrong and soon runs away. He spends his teen years in the wild cow town of West Bottoms, where his entrepreneurial savvy propels him into a successful business until a worldwide depression sends him scrambling. Joe meets and marries another Irish Catholic, Mary McManus, who comes from a family of higher ilk. The unlikely couple settles in a frontier riddled with lawless violence, which leaves them burned out by Jayhawkers. Natural catastrophes, failed crops, Joe’s military service, and illnesses overburden them, but it is a shocking, single event that leads to the destruction of Joe’s family. Through the eyes of nine-year old Little Mary Quigley—Joe and Mary’s second-born daughter—we observe the ultimate, horrific moment that leaves her and her five siblings orphaned. This particular act becomes their dark family secret and leaves a lamentable legacy that has waited generations to be revealed.
Mary McManus, MSW, RYT is the embodiment of a spiritual warrior who combines her gift of poetry with her love of yoga in "Songs of Freedom:Poems From a Healing Odyssey Volume I:Elements of Healing." In December of 2006 Mary felt her world crashing around her after being given the life altering diagnosis of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. She discovered that her life as a clinical social worker, OCD, Type A personality was coming to an end and a new world was about to unfold before her. After coming to her yoga mat and the KMI Body work table of her beloved healer, teacher and friend, David Vendetti in 2011, Mary's recovery from paralytic polio and a traumatic childhood began in earnest. After a powerful breath work session, David told Mary to go home and write a beautiful poem. From that 'beautiful poem', "A Song of Freedom", Mary gave birth to this stunning collection of poems which take you Through the Fire, to Watering the Soul to a Breath of Fresh Air and finally Unearthing the Treasure of the beauty of her Being. Mary shares the elements of healing she discovered as she walked through the muck and mire of a traumatic past to arrive in a place of grace, love, healing and above all, freedom!
In 1849, half brothers Michael and Joseph Quigley arrive in America seeking relief from the Irish potato famine. Their dying father tasked Michael to watch over Joe, but young Joe is headstrong and soon runs away. He spends his teen years in the wild cow town of West Bottoms, where his entrepreneurial savvy propels him into a successful business until a worldwide depression sends him scrambling. Joe meets and marries another Irish Catholic, Mary McManus, who comes from a family of the higher ilk. The unlikely couple settles in a frontier riddled with lawless violence, which leaves them burned out by Jayhawkers. Natural catastrophes, failed crops, Joe's military service, and illnesses overburden them, but it is a shocking, single event that leads to the destruction of Joe's family. Through the eyes of nine-year-old Little Mary Quigley?Joe and Mary's second-born daughter? We observe the ultimate, horrific moment that leaves her and her five siblings orphaned. This particular act becomes their dark family secret and leaves a lamentable legacy that has waited for generations to be revealed.
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