Yearning for Normal

Susan Ellison Busch poured her heart and soul into caring for her son, Mikey. As do many parents with special needs children, she fought the medical system, educational system and the legal system to ensure that Mikey would have the best quality of life possible. Now that he is grown, she has poured all those memories into her memoir… Yearning for Normal.

Yearning for Normal won a Gold Medal Award at the International Book Festival in Miami in November 2014, and has garnered scores of positive reviews. Here are some excerpts from reviews around the web:

“In this account of raising her son Mike who has 22Q deletion, Susan Busch shares her journey of coming to understand the reality of his illness and her reactions to it while loving him deeply. Her honesty and growing insight into both Mike, the many reactions of the health and teaching professionals who attempt to help him, and her own “yearning for normal” and coming to acceptance, results in an amazing book which will help everyone who is dealing with 22Q and many many others who must understand and cope with things they cannot change. It is a wonderful book.”~Amazon Reviewer

“Susan’s open, honest writing about her life with her son is encouraging not only to those in similar situations but to all of us who are finding our way through life. Most of all, her chapter on forgiveness is so powerful that all if us should read it. This book is an amazing story of redemption.”~ Goodreads Reviewer

Yearning for Normal can help other parents struggling to find a diagnosis for their child, or get an educational plan put in place, or even to help with the myriad of legal issues that will undoubtedly arise. But more than that, this book tells the story of a mother’s love and refusal to give up on her child.

This is an excerpt from a review done by Dr. Robert Rose on Education News:

“In Susan’s case, from the moment he was born, most doctors had no clue what was wrong with Mikey. Deletion 22q11 was not in their training so they treated him on the basis of his symptoms or, with some, a syndrome that fit their knowledge. Of course, they often almost killed him.Her husband Art and Susan were nurses, but, even when she began to understand what Deletion 22q11 was and would try to tell the doctors and nurses about it, she was considered (she says it nicer) “a pain in the a..” It seemed the more educated she became the less they listened to her and she would have to watch helplessly as they continued to almost kill him.”

This is Mike’s story, but it is also the story of Susan, and Art, and their other sons. On a much larger level, it is the story of many people who love someone with 22q or a similar genetic issue.