Mother’s Road Back Led McManus to Recovery

Continued from page 1 both her own moral pillars and those of Boston College.

“The Jesuit values of community, serving others, and treating the whole person” drive the work that Ruth Anne does each day. “It’s been wonderful,” she said of her experiences. “Hard work, but wonderful.”

Mother and daughter’s intertwined story began 17 years ago, when Mary was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease. Looking for ways to lessen her muscular pain, she fell in love with running—and in doing so, inspired Ruth Anne to take it up, too. The pair ran the Boston Marathon in 2009 in support of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, where Mary had received treatment, raising more than $10,000.

After Ruth Anne graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2014, she felt increasingly ill and exhibited irrational behavior—including fits of rage and fear, and acts of self-harm—that greatly troubled her family. Her unique blend of psychological symptoms stumped doctors for seven years, and Ruth Anne was continually in and out of hospitals.

Then Mary, after realizing that Ruth