A Time to Heal

ON Thanksgiving Eve, I just happened to have turned on this movie and was amazed at how close to home it hit. This is the one year anniversary of my husband's fall from a ladder, resulting in brain surgery. I have lived through EVERYTHING that Jay in the movie did; the emotional roller coasters, the coma, the ventilator, the trach, the endless therapies, both in and out-patient. On and On!! But what REALLY hit me was his struggle with "just wanting his wife back". Even tho I said the same prayers "to just let him live" and "I'll push him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life if necessary", I now, too, struggle with acceptance of this new person I'm married to and the anger, short-temperedness that makes me feel SO guilty.

The movie allowed me to CRY for hours; sometimes for remembering how horrible it was to go through, and sometimes to sympathize with Jay's inability to handle it as Jenny improved. Some days I want to give up and divorce him, but I keep telling myself to stick it out and learn something from this ordeal. Thank you making a movie that so closely pictured my life and situation. I'd love more information about the writer and WHY she wrote it.

Jenny's Story is a quite remarkable and moving drama. Jenny suffers a stroke (caused by protein deficiency) during childbirth and leaves her husband Jay to juggle a career and fatherhood. Jay has to come to terms with the loss of his 'old' wife and shows amazing courage by sticking by her and learning to adapt to the harsh reality of a new lifestyle. Life becomes a struggle for both of them and although Jay is very pleased his wife is still alive he also has to deal with his feelings of loss once she starts to get better. The story illustrates the huge practical and emotional difficulties a family can face following a partner's major illness and that sometimes it is possible to grieve for someone even though they have survived. What really hit close to the bone for me is that I have Protein S Deficiency and my life has changed too. I now run a website which gives information on the condition but the film was made in 1994 - although I have read an extensive amount of information on the subject yet very little dates to before this time so the Director was really on the cutting edge of this new medical condition. Many of the medical and emotional aspects of the movie reflect the experiences and feelings of other (real) people I have spoken to so I am sure that the Director has told Jenny's Story as faithfully as possible.