Actor and YouTuber Atticus Shaffer’s mother spent years caring for him through fractures, surgeries and chronic pain; now, Shaffer is caring for her.
“There are many times in this life where God does not give a direct answer immediately. Sometimes He doesn’t give a direct answer at all. But we as Christ followers are in need of still pursuing the upward call of Christ, despite what we may or may not understand, because we need to remember who God is and who His character is,” he said on the “Jesus Calling” podcast of watching his mom walk through her own health struggles.
He described how a childhood full of hospital rooms shaped both his career and his understanding of compassion long before audiences knew him as book-loving Brick Heck on THE MIDDLE.
Shaffer was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, an inherited bone disorder that can cause bones to fracture easily and ranges from mild to severe. His mother and brother also have the condition, he said.
“Osteogenesis imperfecta has resulted, for me, in a lot of pain, a lot of medical challenges, ranging from fractures to repair surgeries for those fractures, to corrective surgeries, to even intravenous treatment to treat the condition,” he explained. “My experience with my condition has helped me to be more empathetic and more compassionate.”
His mother homeschooled him and stayed beside him through years of treatment. When Shaffer served as a hospital poster child, his speeches at banquets and a charity football game revealed an ease before crowds that eventually helped point him toward acting.
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That path led to his best-known role on ABC’s THE MIDDLE. Yet, behind the show’s warm family comedy, Shaffer said the long days on a dark soundstage limited his mother’s activity and coincided with a steep decline in her health.
The woman who had carried him through injuries and pain began facing serious struggles of her own, he said. Their roles gradually reversed, despite her wish to remain the caregiver.
“My respect for her as a nurturer, as a caretaker, and quite frankly, that of those who truly and genuinely are caretakers and have a nurturing spirit within them, has only quadrupled because of the work and the care and the dedication and the love that is truly had,” Schaffer explained.
Shaffer also remembered how an injury during his early teenage years changed the direction of his spiritual life. On the first day of a hiatus from THE MIDDLE, he fell in his living room, broke both legs and cracked a shoulder blade.
After surgery, Shaffer turned on the television while waiting for pain medication to take effect. A Christian pastor was explaining what it meant to know Jesus personally, and Shaffer listened.
“And so I prayed along with the pastor on the TV, and I gave my life to Christ in that moment,” he recalled. “The next day when we came home from the hospital, she gave me my first Bible, and thus began my journey of reading the Word of God for myself and being able to cultivate my relationship with Him.”
That moment began a new rhythm at home. Shaffer said he and his mother made Scripture and “Jesus Calling” devotionals part of their routine during his years on the show.
Shaffer continues working as a performer, including voicing Morrie Rydell in Focus on the Family’s ADVENTURES IN ODYSSEY. His latest testimony, though, is less about a Hollywood résumé than the faithfulness he saw at home.
“My mom has done nothing but live the Christian life when it comes to me, and my brother for that matter,” he said. “She has sacrificed for our wellbeing — sacrificing her time, her energy, and her emotional well-being.”
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