I have always wanted to write a book. As far back as I can remember. They say “write about what you know.” Spinal cord injury was very low on my list of things I wanted to know about. But life didn’t ask for my opinion.
One fall day in 1994 I was in an auto accident. I suffered a traumatic brain injury and a spinal cord injury. The spinal cord injury rendered me a quadriplegic, but fortunately incomplete. It took me some two years before I was functional again. I managed to go back to work in my previous profession after much determination recovering from the brain injury. I had to relearn many, many things.
I did pretty well for several years. But I had complications from the spinal cord injury, which resulted in two additional operations involving my spinal cord. I ended up more paralyzed than I started. But I was determined to put my life back together.
I kept looking for a book that would help me put my life back together after a spinal cord injury. But I couldn’t find the book I wanted. I looked for twelve years. So I finally decided since I couldn’t find it, I’d write it. I didn’t want any other spinal cord injury survivor, family, and friends thereof, or even medical professionals to go through the same frustration of not being able to find information to allow a person to know what to expect both physically and emotionally after a spinal cord injury.
A Complete Plain-English Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury: Valuable Information From a Survivor has just been published. It is available on http://www.amazon.com and other online booksellers around the world.
I didn’t write it for the money. I wrote it to help people. I said if it helps one person, then my injury has been worth it. I know of two people it helped even before it was published.
So my injury had a purpose after all.
