Yearning for Normal

Susan Busch remembers her son Mike as sensitive, observant, and determined to do things that did not come easily to him. Born with the complex neurodevelopmental condition 22q11.2 deletion syndrome but not diagnosed until he was 13, Mike experienced medical emergencies, learning difficulties, and later severe psychiatric symptoms. For Busch, a nurse, raising him meant navigating healthcare and school systems while repeatedly questioning whether she was making the right choices. Busch, author of the 2013 Yearning for Normal, reflects on her son’s life, the isolation and self-doubt of caregiving, and what it means to love and support a child whose life doesn’t follow the path a parent imagined.