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Having never read a book that talked about a personal experience with Traumatic Brain Injury, I found myself unable to put the book down. My god-daughter recently sustained a head injury from being thrown from an All Terraine Vehicle (ATV) and I found so much of Cathy Crimmins' story right on the mark. This book can be a difficult book to read because of the deeply emotional subject, but is a touching memoir told with a great deal of humor, and most of all... honesty.

Reading this book will touch anyone who has ever known someone who has sustained a TBI. It's also a book that should be shared after reading it. I congratulate the author for sharing her story; one that shares the heartache and explores the mystery of dealing with a loved one who survives a serious head injury. It's a world that I hope my family is spared from ever knowing firsthand.

I guess we never know how we will respond to a life changing event, and Cathy Crimmins shows the human side - the ups and downs with a rare openess. This is not anything like the Harrison Ford movie, Regarding Henry, where he wakes up a sweet guy afer a serious accident. This is what really happens! This is a must read.

This is a wonderful book. I read it in one sitting and found myself moved to tears many times. The book shares the experience of coping with a loved one's severe brain injury and recovery process. It deals with what it's like to be with someone whose personality, whose "self," has been altered and in many ways diminished. The book explores the question: What does it mean to love someone? We have the idea that we love another person, particularly our spouse, based on the totality of who that person is: character, personality, our shared experiences with them, etc. This memoir gives lie to that notion. In reality, loving is the process we go through in being with and caring for another person. I am grateful to Cathy Crimmins for allowing me to be reminded of this truth without having to experience the lesson first-hand.

When someone close to you suffers an accident, and ends up in a hospital bed in a coma, the world around you collapses. This happened to us on April 6th 2003, when Mickey was involved in a car accident and was in a coma for over 2 months.

This book has been incredibly helpful. It contains a lot of priceless information, information you CAN understand, complementing it with loads of personal experiences.
Thanks to the very easy language (it can be read as a novel) it has allowed everyone in my family to understand and accept the choices and changes we wnet though and are still going through with a TBI survivor. It has also helped us understand and help Mickey in his recovery process.

I have cried and laughed on endless nights with this book.
I have underlined passages and read them over and over (something I dont do very often)
I have shared this book with the rest of my family, friends, Mickeys friends and caregivers and even some doctors....

Thank you Cathy Crimmins for helping US stay confident, focused, and happy....

This book opened my eyes and warmed my heart.

To anyone going through this terrible ordeal... there IS HOPE at the end. Dont despair!