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Jenny McCarthy brings us a story of a mom’s courage unlike any you’ve ever seen.

Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds

Mother Warriors:
Chapter 1: Opening the Can of Worms

I took a step toward my chair and then stopped quickly. Suddenly I couldn’t put one foot in front of the other. I looked down at the pretty powder-blue dress that I’d bought months ago and I couldn’t help notice that the hem was shaking. My knees were clicking against each other like a little girl about to say something to the class for the very first time. As people moved quickly around me, I stayed in this moment paralyzed by the events that were about to unfold. I closed my eyes to gather strength. How did I get here? Why me? It would have been so much easier to stay quiet and blend in with the rest of the world without anyone knowing my pain. I’m so scared. I’m so scared. I’m so scared.

“Jenny,” the stagehand said. “We’re going live in five minutes. You need to sit down.”

I looked down in front of me and prayed to God to give me strength. I opened my heart and then looked back at the stagehand. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Oprah will be out there in a minute.”

My eyes welled up as I slowly began walking. I exited the dark room in which I had waited, shaking and praying, and soon entered the studio, bright with lights and filled with women. I faintly heard the sound of applause, but the tone of the applause was different from what I was used to hearing. It wasn’t a frantic slapping of hands with big grins on everyone’s faces. It was slow, deep, and sympathetic. I sat down in my seat and looked at the crowd. I witnessed a room filled with five hundred women who had now grown silent. They looked at me encouragingly and I took a few deep breaths to center myself.

Then the room ignited with applause, the type of applause that is excited and brings people to their feet. Oprah had just stepped onto the stage and began walking toward me. The energy in the room was electric. She calmly waved to her fans, who I’m sure had waited years to see her, and I could tell from the looks on their faces that it was already worth the long wait. She arrived in front of me and I stood up to hug her. On any other day I would have gotten on my knees and kissed her toenails, but today was too important for worship. She knew it and I knew it.

We sat down and the stagehand said, “Two minutes till live.”

Oprah beamed and said, “I love live!” and the audience chuckled.

As she gathered her notes, I leaned over and softly said to her, “My intention today is to offer hope, faith, recovery.”

She smiled and responded, “Well, then let us say it again. The intention for the show today is hope, faith, and recovery.” From her energy at that moment, I had no doubt she was right.

“We are LIVE in…FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE.”

Oprah’s voice echoed in the theatre, “If your child stopped speaking, wouldn’t look you in the eye, and completely ignored the world around them, what would you do?”

Being trained in the world of show business, I knew I had only seven minutes in this first segment to tell my story. I kept telling myself, “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Tell your story, Jenny.” I took a deep breath and began to speak publicly for the first time about the horrific events that had taken place in the past two years.

Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds

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