On November 30, 1987, on a dark, cold night, the phone call every parent dreads came to us. Wendy, our twenty-seven year old daughter, was in a car accident. Something shattered her skull and crashed into her brain. Wendy lay in a coma for six weeks. Her physical recovery from coma and paralysis took months but her ability to speak, to write her thoughts, and to read, is her ongoing life's work.
 

Preface

Every parent has experienced their son or daughter becoming ill or getting injured and needing support and nurturing. The need to protect, love and support a son or daughter is as natural as giving birth. Some parents have also experienced the incredible feeling of helplessness that comes from being totally unable to assist their child through the illness or injury. Mufty Mathewson describes what every parent feels, or would feel, if their daughter was injured like Wendy. Her description of living with the news of the accident, the coma, the initial recovery, the vicissitudes of life after brain injury is poignant and gut wrenching.

I have had the opportunity to interview hundreds of families living with the effects of an acquired brain injury as part of my research on the topic. Each family's story is unique. Here, there are common elements that many families face when living with the effects of acquired brain injury. I am sure that most families would appreciate knowing about these common elements early after the injury. Families want to know what they may face and how other families have coped. This book will be a tremendous help. This book will also help families that have endured the changes, as the Mathewson's have. These families will cry with Mufty and Wendy and they will laugh with them as well. These stories are true to life and articulately described.

Mufty describes the events of the years since Wendy's auto crash, in simple, yet descriptive terms. You admire the strength of the family as they cope with the effects. You understand the reactions the family has to the return of an adult to a childlike, dependant state. You cheer for them as Wendy takes giant steps toward self determination. You admire Wendy's courage and Mufty's love. The book will fill a need for everyone living with the effects of serious injury to a loved one. It is written in such a readable fashion that everyone can enjoy it and learn from the Mathewsons.

Barry Willer, Ph.D is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Rehabilitation Medicine at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is an adjunct Professor at Brock University, in St. Catharines, Ontario Dr. Willer is a board member of his local head injury association (Fort Erie) and the national organization (Canadian Brain Injury Coalition). In 1997 he served as interim Director of the Ontario Brain Injury Association. Dr. Willer has published widely on brain injury and the effects on the family. He has lectured extensively on the topic of acquired brain injury and has offered courses on brain injury rehabilitation in four different countries.
 

I realized as I was reading Courage After Coma that I had stopped breathing and had to put it down for a while. Then it came to me that survivors of brain injury and their families can't "put it down." Nancy Brine, Executive Director, Northern Alberta Brain Injury Society

If you read Courage after Coma you will be able to say "yes" to life. The hard earned hope demonstrated by this family in the context of brain injury, models not only the heroic moments, but those of humbling humaness. Dr. Ronna Jevne, Author of It All Begins With Hope and No Time For Nonsense
 

About the Author

Mufty Mathewson, BPT, physical and occupational therapist, teacher, and photographer lives in Edmonton with her husband Bill. They have four children and three grandsons.

Mufty has taught at McGill University, at the University of Alberta, and at the City Arts Center.

Mufty has published many articles on rehabilitation and photography. She has had several one-woman photographic art shows, and markets her photography through Photo Search Ltd., in Edmonton.

Her passion is making photo-essays on psychosocial issues. The best known of her projects are "Raising Kids is Hard: When You're Alone Its Harder," "Look Beyond" (award winner in International Year of Disabled Persons), and "Health and Healing in Photography."

She is past president of the Northern Alberta Brain Injury Society, of Images Alberta Camera Club, and serves on the board of the HOPE Foundation in Edmonton.

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Price: $16.95 + $3.05 shipping and handling, an extra $.50 shipping and handling for each additional copy.

A percentage of each sale goes to NABIS (Northern Alberta Brain Injury Society)

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