Cracked: Recovering After Traumatic Brain Injury

by Ely Percy Calderwood

Overview

'I didn't even recognize my own face in the mirror. Nothing felt right. Dazed. Paralyzed by fear, my first instinct was to run but I had nowhere to hide...Voices echoed, ricocheting across the room. I wished they sounded familiar.'

At the age of 14, Lynsey Calderwood suffered a traumatic brain injury that left her physically unmarked but destroyed her memory. Thrust back into an apparently nonsensical world of which she had no recollection, Lynsey spiralled downwards into depression and eating disorders as she became socially ostracized.

This is the story, in her own words, of Lynsey's quest to discover her identity and, eventually, to come to terms with her disability. She faces devastating setbacks and her sense of loss, grief and rage is movingly recalled. Courage and perseverance, coupled with her engaging sense of humour, see her through; and her tale will be an inspiration to anyone who has faced similar obstacles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846421747
Publisher:	Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Publication date:	11/15/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Lynsey Calderwood is a student of creative writing who has had many pieces published. She also has theatrical training and writes performance poetry and scripts for community theatre.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Dr Robert McCabe. 1. How I Felt in the Beginning. 2. The Behavioural Unit. 3. Diagnosis. 4. The Mental Hospital, Rebellion + Bullying. 5. Back to School + More Bullying. 6. New School + New Friends. 7. Anorexia, the Gym + Exercise Addiction. 8. My Gran. 9. The Brain Injured Community. 10. Sexual Identity. 11. Rehab + College. 12. Work. 13. Inspiration + The Road Ahead.

Editorial Reviews

This is a remarkable and unique narrative by a woman who has suffered a brain injury when she was 14 years old, and covers an 8-year post-concussion time span. She has lost all childhood memories, and her new learning is limited and inconsistent...The stigma and lack of understanding associated with having a hidden disability is conveyed evocatively. Nevertheless, the book is not intended to elicit sympathy but to allow her expression of both the frustration and the ironies of coping with a brain injury...Clinicians who work with clients who have brain injuries will feel humbled and can but learn from this book...It is rare for anyone with or without a brain injury to accomplish such an excellent book.

Journal of Mental Health

It's written by a young person, in a young person's language, however it will still hold appeal across the board to people who have been affected by brain injury, and should be a must read for all professionals involved in the care and support of children and young people.

Encephalitis Society Newsletter

Imagine it, if you can. Well, you probably wouldn't get close to imagining how dreadful it could be to find your brain has suddenly messed up big style after a head injury. This revealing story tells what happened to one not so ordinary adolescent in November 1992... This is her story. The account of a reconstructed identity. Read it and experience the regrowth of an adolescent spirit.

from the Foreword by Dr Robert McCabe