PT Grads Open Hearts, Home, and Even Family to Impact Our World

When Greg Nicholas ('97, '00) and Amy Essner ('98, '01) met at Rockhurst as undergrads, little did they know how their lives would change…and how many kids’ lives around the world they’d change together.

After completing their undergraduate degrees, the two finished physical therapy school at Rockhurst and got married. They've spent a life in service ever since, though selflessness has always been a part of who they are.

“That’s why we chose RU,” Amy said. “The values we got from Rockhurst deepened that need for service.”

“Physical therapists are that kind of people.”

They started their respective careers as PTs in the St. Louis area, and not long after Amy was working with a baby in the child’s birth home. The little girl ended up in foster care at the age of 2, blind, and in a wheelchair due to Spina Bifida.

She needed a forever home and family. Amy thought she and Greg could provide that for her.

“I told Greg, 'We can handle this. Who else can handle this better than we can?’ We are open to doing this kind of service.”

So they adopted Gabby, who later welcomed sisters Claire and Maura into their family. That heart for service didn’t stop there, and went far beyond St. Louis.

Claire, who will graduate from Rockhurst in 2023 with a degree in International Business, describes the situation that led to the family opening their door to more kids from more places.

“My mom works with special needs kids for a school district and one of her co-workers needed a wheelchair and she asked why they needed a wheelchair. She found out that her co-worker’s mom had two little girls from Haiti and she actually needed two different host parents because they were getting too old to take care of the little kids. So one of the little girls, Lorencia, came home with us.”

Children’s Medical Mission West is an organization that identifies children with deformities or significant orthopedic surgical needs in developing countries and coordinates travel and medical care for the kids to come to the U.S. The children undergo one or multiple corrective surgeries and live in host family homes. They will stay with the family for weeks or sometimes even several months to a year while they receive care, including physical therapy.

The Nicholas family felt like they were a perfect fit as they could provide PT care out of their home. They integrate the kids into their local schools and communities and take them to all necessary appointments to help in recovery. Their responsibilities start when picking them up from the airport until they put them back on a plane to return home.

Most have never been out of their home countries, such as Haiti, Cote d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso, and don’t know English.

The Nicholas family has had several kids in their home multiple times, and they have become quite close. The family has a wall mural with the kids’ photos and a connecting piece of string to their home country on a world map. The family can remember them when the kids are back in their home country.

“The moment they get off that airplane, we are now all they have and we're a stranger, but we very quickly become their parents and the girls become their sisters,” Amy said. “I really feel emotionally attached to them as if they were my own children the whole time they are here.

“Taking them back to the airport is really one of the hardest things, because this is now my child – some of them just called us mom and dad, some of them called us Mom Amy and Papa Greg.”

The values of serving others and impacting our world have been passed down from Greg and Amy to their daughters, who realize how fortunate they are to have the life they do. Seeing their own lives through the eyes of their host kids provides a different perspective.

“They're really a light in the room,” Claire said. “They make everyone happy. They just appreciate the little things, which is a big thing.”

Everyone in the Nicholas’ lives has been affected by the host kids.

“It's been a really good thing, even for the community, the people in our church, the people in the school where the kids go,” Amy said. “Everyone has really taken a piece from this.”

Sometimes finding opportunities for service present themselves unexpectedly and it’s just a matter of saying yes to the chance to impact someone’s world. It starts with a heart for others.

“When doors open, they open for a reason,” Greg said. “Sometimes you just gotta take it. Go through that door and take things as they go and it'll all kind of work out.”

Pictured at top, left-to-right: Maura, Claire, Greg, Zenabou (Burkina Faso), Amy, Soumaila (Burkina Faso), Gabby. 

Note: As of June 2022, Zenabou and Soumaila are home in Africa, but will return to St. Louis next year for further surgeries. The Nicholas family is currently hosting Lorencia (Haiti), but she will return home shortly. They will welcome a 4-year-old from Cote d'Ivoire, Grace, this summer for her second stay with the family.