The story of the GRACE Wellness Foundation began nearly three decades ago, when founder Brian Burk faced the long, uncertain journey of raising a daughter with complex special needs. From her earliest years, she struggled to hear and process the world around her. Chronic ear infections, left undiagnosed for too long, had caused significant hearing loss and delayed the formative stages of her speech development.

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When she finally underwent corrective surgery, her parents hoped the hardest part was behind them. But years of muffled sound had already shaped the way she spoke and learned. She worked tirelessly in speech therapy; which was seven years of effort, persistence, and progress measured one sound at a time. Yet, even as her words improved, her challenges in understanding and retaining information persisted. Teachers and doctors offered explanations that never quite fit, and she was repeatedly misdiagnosed with ADHD. Through it all, she endured the teasing of classmates who mimicked her “accent,” and yet she never stopped smiling.

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Brian and his family sought answers everywhere. They met innovators such as Robert Beson of Progurt, and specialists at the Amen Clinic, where advanced SPECT imaging finally revealed what traditional assessments had missed. The scans, along with a detailed SSS evaluation, proved that ADHD was not the problem. The real breakthrough came later, with a diagnosis of Irlen Syndrome, a visual processing disorder that made reading and learning painfully difficult. With the right interventions, the fog began to lift. For the first time, she could see, read, and learn comfortably.

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That discovery changed everything. It was both heartbreaking and illuminating, proof that her struggles were never about capability, but about being misunderstood. The years of frustration, confusion, and searching had revealed something larger: the gaps that exist when systems treat symptoms instead of seeking causes.

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Out of that realization came a quiet resolve. Brian understood that if pathways to healing didn’t exist, they needed to be created. Over the past decade, he has dedicated his time to helping others find what was missing in their own stories by listening, researching, and guiding families toward real understanding and restoration.

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That personal journey of love, persistence, and discovery became the seed from which GRACE Wellness Foundation was born.  A commitment to ensure that no family would ever again feel as alone, unseen, or unsupported as his once did.