Mike McGarry is Presented The Justin Nicolay Resilience Award

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“Resilience is all about advancing despite the adversity we face. Being a caregiver taught me what it truly means to be resilient and how that allows us to get the most out of our precious time we have with friends and loved ones.”
Justin Nicolay, Founder

“Mike McGarry came to our coalition in 2017. Caregiving journeys are often one of two flavors. High-intensity acute care needed for a short duration, or low-intensity chronic care needed for a long duration. Mike’s journey has been an entirely different flavor, high-intensity acute care needed for years. 5 years so far. These have been 5 years of showing up for his entire family for what must feel like at times a 5-year-long head-on car crash. It boggles my mind that he also does so much for our coalition as a volunteer. For years he’s led our blogging efforts on top of everything he’s doing for his family at home. The question for me became, how is he advancing despite all of this adversity? Recently I had the privilege to visit his home and what I saw happening there helped me understand. Neighbors were popping in to feed and let the dogs out. Family members were popping in to help with meals and cleaning, and just to hang out. And then recently Mike reached out to us wanting to explore ways to make his own health more of a priority. I can think of no better example of what advancing in the face of despair looks like.”
​ - Kyle Woody