Jamie Grace
Jamie Grace Overcomes Pain of Tourette's to Sing the Gospel
By Amanda K. Wyatt
ATLANTA— Jamie Grace had reached her breaking point.
She was only 16-years-old then, but the last half of her life had been a whirlwind of doctors, tests and medications. The once carefree child was emotionally, physically and spiritually drained. She felt like a “guinea pig” as her doctors struggled to treat her for a serious neurological condition—Tourette’s Syndrome.
Since the age of eight, Jamie Grace had experienced “tics”—involuntary movements and sounds that are a hallmark of Tourette’s. In the years that followed, she began experiencing an intense, obsessive need to repeat certain behaviors, and she often found herself repeating everything that she heard others say.
It soon came to her attention that she not only had Tourette’s, but also Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Echolalia. It was almost too much to bear.
But one day, Jamie Grace heard a speech that changed the course of her life. She went to see singer/author Tammy Trent speak at a Christian festival for teenage girls, and by the time it was over, Jamie Grace had emerged a changed young woman. “I heard [Tammy] speak and I thought, ‘I’ve cried enough. It’s time to accept my joy,’” she recalls. “It was just the long process of finally realizing that, even with Tourette’s, I still have something to do with my life. I...Read More
