At 38, Jane Park has long ended her journey on the LPGA Tour. During her prime, she came close to winning on quite a few occasions, but in the last few years, Park has been completely focused on raising her daughter, Grace, who has intractable epilepsy. She often shares their journey on Instagram. But she doesn’t always get positive responses. In her most recent series of stories, Jane revealed some surprising messages she received from one of the followers.

The user named henlo.png browsed through Jane’s social media and was surprised. They accused her of turning her daughter’s illness into a publicity stunt and trying to make money off of it. On another post, Park expressed her deep underlying feelings about her daughter and her mental struggles to being able to connect with her. To that, they commented how they were disgusted at how she could even think like that about her child, and hoped that she had grown to love Grace now.

In response, Jane sarcastically wrote, “You’re right. I’m making money not working and taking care of my kid full-time without compensation. My apologies for speaking honestly about what our family was going through when she almost died. Apologies for being human and feeling emotions. And I hope you never feel that way about your child ever, as well. All the best to you.” Clearly frustrated by the outrageous claims, she didn’t hold back.

After taking a breather, Park had a moment of self-reflection as she expressed how her past posts might be “drowned in heartbreak and negativity” when her daughter was close to death. She mentioned how things changed drastically from recording her joyous moments to seeing her lifeless in the hospital. Jane did mention how things have changed over the last four years, confessing that there was a point where she was quite depressed to the present, when Grace brings her a lot of joy.

As a closing statement, Park expressed her gratitude towards everyone so kind and supportive towards her on social media. She mentioned that her followers have had a huge impact on their lives, and she and her family are immensely grateful to them. Lastly, she leaves a beautiful message dedicated to her daughter, “And make no mistake… I’d choose her in every lifetime and every universe over and over again.” A loving mom would choose her daughter all over again, but the horrid night of Grace’s discomfort still haunts Jane.

Panic struck Jane when she found Grace almost unconscious on her chest. They hurried her to a nearby children’s hospital, and the drive was the “longest ride” of her life. When Grace arrived at the hospital, the physicians soon found that she was suffering from ongoing, subclinical seizures, which damage the brain but don’t result in apparent convulsions. Within a few hours, Grace was undergoing a series of tests, including a lumbar puncture, MRIs, and EEGs. The diagnosis was catastrophic.

Grace’s brain had been severely damaged, with the damage reaching deep into the gray matter. Remembering this, Park once said, “That day was the last time I saw Grace pre-brain injury. I went from being a mom on tour to… am I gonna have to plan a funeral here?” Grace spent a month in the ICU after this. “She was like a mushy potato… There was nothing on her face that said, ‘I’m still Grace,’” Jane once remarked. “I just knew that everything that we had known about her to that point was gone.” 

Anything that has happened to Grace has not demotivated Jane, despite some hard days. Their happy lives are going on, and Jane is a very lucky and loving mother.

Jane Park & Grace’s life over the years

On September 5, 2020, Jane Park and Pete Godfrey welcomed Grace to their family. For the first 10 months, the family had many blissful moments as seen all through Park’s Instagram. However, since that unfortunate night, Jane has shared many videos and pictures of her daughter growing up and discussed their struggles together.

Initially, Grace had quite a few health scares that led to her mother feeling helpless. However, her condition has drastically improved over the years. While she did experience a major battle in the hospital a few weeks ago, it’s evident that she is doing much better now. And Park’s posts have also been a lot more positive and encouraging recently. Being a new mother, watching her daughter struggle the way she did must have been extremely difficult for her. But Jane Park is undoubtedly doing an amazing job raising her with a smile.