Product Description

Traumatic brain injury can interrupt without warning the life story that any one of us is in the midst of creating. When the author's fifteen-year-old son survives a terrible car crash in spite of massive trauma to his brain, she and her family know only that his story has not ended. Their efforts, Erik's own efforts, and those of everyone who helps bring him from deep coma to new life make up a moving and inspiring story for us all, one that invites us to reconsider the very nature of "self" and selfhood. Ruthann Knechel Johansen, who teaches literature and narrative theory, is a particularly eloquent witness to the silent space in which her son, confronted with life-shattering injury and surrounded by conflicting narratives about his viability, is somehow reborn. She describes the time of crisis and medical intervention as an hour-by-hour struggle to communicate with the medical world on the one hand and the everyday world of family and friends on the other. None of them knows how much, or even whether, they can communicate with the wounded child who is lost from himself and everything he knew. Through this experience of utter disintegration, Johansen comes to realize that self-identity is molded and sustained by stories. As Erik regains movement and consciousness, his parents, younger sister, doctors, therapists, educators, and friends all contribute to a web of language and narrative that gradually enables his body, mind, and feelings to make sense of their reacquired functions. Like those who know and love him, the young man feels intense grief and anger for the loss of the self he was before the accident, yet he is the first to see continuity where they see only change. The story is breathtaking, because we become involved in the pain and suspense and faith that accompany every birth. Medical and rehabilitation professionals, social workers, psychotherapists, students of narrative, and anyone who has faced life's trauma will find hope in this meditation on selfhood: out of the shambles of profound brain injury and coma can arise fruitful lives and deepened relationships.

Keywords: narrative; selfhood; therapy; traumatic brain injury; healing; spirituality; family crisis; children

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1137236 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 236 pages

From Library Journal
A teacher of literature and narrative theory at the University of Notre Dame, Johansen (The Narrative Secret of Flannery O'Connor) uses her literary skill to tell the story of her 15-year-old son Erik's recovery from traumatic brain injury after a car accident. Not knowing at first whether Erik would live or die, family members found themselves trying to understand and communicate with the medical world. Once Erik emerged from the coma, the family, with the help of medical and rehabilitation specialists, social workers, educators, and psychotherapists, sought ways to communicate with this young man, who had lost all sense of self and of everything he knew. As Erik struggled to relearn basic activities, his family and friends told him stories to help him regain his sense of self. Johansen's account of these events draws us into a world of confusion and terror and a search for understanding. The result is a deeply moving story of a struggle to selfhood and of the many contributions that make recovery from traumatic brain injury possible. Jodith Janes, Cleveland Clinic Fdn.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Honestly and somewhat philosophically, Johansen testifies about her son, Erik, who suffered severe brain injuries at age 15. She describes Erik's treatments in detail, reflecting, sometimes negatively, on hospitals' staff and administration and recounting setbacks as well as progress. She interpolates the poems she wrote to relieve day-to-day tensions and acknowledges the relief that support from Erik's classmates, family, friends, and even some outsiders offered her entire family. Her and husband Bob's focus on Erik came to have negative effects on their daughter, Sonia, three years' Erik's junior, and so they had Erik move to a rehabilitation institution. That action and later, happier moves to high school and college Johansen relates lovingly as well as realistically. Besides the history of Erik's "reconstruction," Johansen pursues questions of justice, compassion, and responsibility, and reflects on her and Bob's attitudes and actions without trying to sugarcoat them as things they did only for Erik's benefit. Such candor is rare enough to distinguish this book from similar accounts of families dealing with stricken children. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"An extraordinary story that you will pick up and finish in a few hours of remarkable reading. The account of her son's and her family's regeneration is simply inspiring. It will be instructive to any family with a child with a disabling condition. But as the account of a transfiguring experience and the sensitive interpretation of how it came about, it speaks to all of us."-Arthur Kleinman, author of Writing at the Margin; "A searching, reflective exploration of the ultimately social nature of healing, Ruthann Johansen's loving account of the aftermath of her son's traumatic brain injury is an extraordinary book."-Janice Radway, author of A Feeling for Books; "This book clearly asks the question: Who speaks for the traumatically brain injured? It should be required reading for all neuroscientists who are providers of care or who are diligently conducting research to find a therapy that truly produces recovery of function."-David A. Hovda, Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Brain Injury Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles

Customer Reviews

Very good read
I am a survivor of a horrific TBI. I have been reading many text books and personal stories in the last 5 years. I am 21 years post. I have no memory of my accident and even months following. Reading this book made me want to cry at times for my mom. This is a good book because it shows the importance of family. I am better off than what was ever expected of me. This is one of my favorite personal story books on TBI. (traumatic brain injury for all you "outsiders.")