In 2020, Jane Park gave birth to their daughter, Grace, with her husband, Pete Godfrey. Their happiness, however, was short-lived as their once-healthy 10-month-old kid experienced a string of seizures and brain expansion, landing them in a Dallas hospital enduring a nightmare. As a full-time caregiver for her daughter, Grace, Park says, “I really do not take a single day for granted with her.”  Park has emerged as a strong advocate in the disability and epilepsy groups since quitting golf. She shares passionate and unvarnished updates on social media and in open interviews, and this time was no different.

Jane Park’s tearful account of Grace’s medical crisis

In a heartbreaking episode of Welcome to the Par-Tee with Tisha Alyn, Jane Park broke down as she described the day that her life and the life of her daughter Grace were forever altered. Grace had been sleeping soundly on Park’s chest, but as time passed, Park became conscious that something was wrong. She remembered, “She was very still on my chest, and I thought it was weird. But it wasn’t anything alarming… She didn’t have a fever.” Upon attempting to wake Grace for her bottle, Park saw her daughter unconscious, groaning faintly, and grimacing in discomfort.

Panic struck. They hurried Grace to a nearby children’s hospital, which Park claimed that the drive “was the longest ride of my 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. Park’s voice trembled as she remarked, “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 was in the intensive care unit for a month, spending a large portion of that time in a medically induced coma to manage her constant seizures. Park was confronted with a devastating scene when she eventually awoke. “She was like a mushy potato… There was nothing on her face that said, ‘I’m still Grace,’” she remarked. “I just knew that everything that we had known about her to that point was gone.” One of the most heartbreaking parts of the interview was when Park revealed emotions that no parent ever wants to face. She stated that at a given point, she was so detached that she did not even want Grace and thought, “I felt like it would be better if she passed away.”

Park continued to be open and honest. She talked candidly about the emotional distance she had throughout the initial stages of Grace’s recuperation. Park recounted experiencing a moment of intense anguish when she held her daughter for the first time in two weeks. “Her body was so stiff… she used to fit so perfectly in my little nook,” she said. “I just remember letting out this guttural cry… I’m sure everyone in the ward could hear me just sobbing.” The path ahead was—and still is—a difficult one’.

You see, Grace needed full-time care after suffering a brain injury that rendered her nonverbal. After a successful career as a professional athlete, Park now had to navigate a new world of medical language, therapy sessions, and restless nights. Despite the despair, Park has discovered meaning. As Grace battled for her life, Park was forced to confront emotions no parent should ever have to face.

The ongoing struggles and small victories of the Park Family

Following Grace’s diagnosis, Jane Park has become a full-time caretaker. Her days now consist of therapy sessions, doctor’s appointments, and the ongoing attention to detail needed to manage Grace’s illness. Park uses her platform to spread awareness about intractable epilepsy and the realities of raising a child with significant impairments, and she finds comfort in sharing their journey on social media despite the difficulties.

One of the most moving moments Park described was cuddling Grace in a hospital bed and observing how her daughter’s pulse rate calmed down, which is an uncommon sign of solace in an otherwise chaotic life. Even while these triumphs are brief, they give Park the courage to keep fighting for her daughter and other people going through similar struggles.

Park may no longer be playing on the LPGA Tour, but her new position has given her a new sense of purpose. She continues to raise awareness of the occasionally disregarded difficulties faced by families of children with epilepsy using open discussions and moving posts, transforming personal sorrow into a source of awareness and hope.