MARY MCNAMERA

Mary is a mother to two, bonus mom to three, and grandmother to four. She lives in Elkhart, Indiana with Kevin, her husband of fifteen years. She is retired and formerly ran a daycare in her home for twenty-eight years. 

Mary’s son, Zach, was found deceased on Christmas Day, 2020 when he was twenty-six. Asthma caused his death. Zach was bright, quick-witted, and nonjudgmental, with a compassionate heart.

Even though Mary’s heartbreaking loss of her sweet son has caused her emotional pain throughout her grief journey, she has also discovered she can experience joy and sorrow simultaneously with assistance from Our Heavenly Father. She is encouraged by the many times that He has provided her with the peace, comfort and strength that she so badly needs while it “surpasses all understanding.”

Even though Mary knows that she will never heal from the death of her son, she has leaned on and learned so much from the empathic hearts of other bereaved parents she has been blessed to meet within the Our Hearts Are Home community. She believes meeting another bereaved parent, knowing they’re most likely experiencing similar emotional pain and a multitude of other endless struggles, is like receiving a hug from God.

Mary remembers the devastation, hopelessness, and agonizing days she once lived after losing Zach and has found great comfort being in the presence of other bereaved parents, including during zoom groups. She knows that even though she can’t remove the pain a parent of child loss feels, she can at least help them by feeling less alone in their grief.

Mary has hope, with Christ as her Savior, that she’ll reunite with Zach again in heaven.