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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > December > 30 > Entry
MRDD - Quality of life
James Henrie is a busy man.
At 22, Henrie is a disc jockey, a Web designer and an artist. He sells his drawings on his Web site (need address)
He also has cerebral palsy and suffered head trauma when he was young that caused brain damage. At 22, he recently moved out on his own after growing up in Butler County Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
“My thought was it was time for me to be with guys the same functioning as I am,” he said of his new roommates, also MRDD clients.
It has been a long road for Henrie.
Henrie’s story is in our paper today.
It is the final part of a three-part series on the relationship between Butler County Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities clients and caregivers.
- The first part ran Sunday, when we introduced the Butler County Quality Cooperative and Gloria Silas, who puts the “care” in caregiver.
- In this story, we take readers to the Hamilton group home where Silas works. We meet clients with plenty of heart, such as Becky Hughes and Natasha Simpson. And we meet Seneca Botos on her first day of work.
- On day two, we introduce readers to two caregivers with plenty of differences but one important shared a trait: a love of what they do. But why would someone love a job that is so demanding and pays little more than minimum wage? Read that story here.
- Here is a slideshow with beautiful photos of caregivers and clients doing what they do. See the faces of all the people talked about in this series.
- And here is a video illustrating the relationship between clients and caregivers.
Now back to James Henrie’s story
Henrie grew up in foster care, where he wasn’t always treated well.
Lillie Thomas, Henrie’s caregiver, remembers meeting Henrie when he turned 18 and moved into the group home where Thomas worked.
“I didn’t really care for James,” she said. He had a negative attitude, she said, “a lot of rage.”
“I had to pray hard, really hard.”
But she’s tough, and didn’t give up on him.
“She always said never give up,” Henrie said. “She said I know you’ve been through a lot, but you can’t keep thinking about the past, you must keep thinking of the future.”
It’s turned out to be quite a future. Henrie has won an award as a leader of self-advocates who speak out for MRDD clients. He also speaks to groups of children. His message: “Don’t give up. God will work it out, just like he did with me.”
“I can see the pride he has in himself,” Thomas said with a motherly smile. “When he first came to me, he didn’t have any.”
“He’s a good young man, I’m very proud of him.”
These days, they talk on the phone every week.
“I miss James,” Thomas said. “I tell him I miss him.”
“She always cooked really good ribs, so I want her to come try mine,” Henrie said.
But as Thomas taught him, life is about the future. Henrie looks forward to driving a car, getting a full-time job and some day getting married. “That will be the next step of being more independent than anything,” he said.
“Sometimes it gets lonely, but that’s why I got God,” he said. Besides, “I can always keep in touch.”
She started laughing. “And believe me, he does,” she said.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Developmental Disabilities
Comments
By CexOwerb
December 12, 2009 10:07 AM | Link to this
well.. it’s like I knew!