I don’t often read non-fiction memoir but was intrigued to understand what had happened to cause Nikki Rodwell to break her back and also I wanted to read her story of hopeful recovery.
It is very clear from the outset how shocking this injury was for Nikki and her family, and how they couldn’t talk about what had actually happened. Indeed, the reader is left with many questions during the first part of the book. Even when these are answered I found it difficult to understand, and worrying. I didn’t know such a thing was possible, and that it could come out of nowhere. A trigger, that’s all that is needed.
Rodwell charts her initial trip to hospital, the terror of the whole thing, very well. She sets out clearly her progress, or at times lack of it, from then on. I thought her, mostly, positive attitude served her well as did her visualisation techniques for dealing with her incontinence issues. I’ve heard of this being used in cancer cases before with similar results.
Nothing is held back in this book. Rodwell is honest and incredibly open in her thoughts throughout her writing, which flows very well by the way, and I enjoyed her interaction with staff, other patients and of course her family, especially Martin. He managed to hold together running the café as well as deal with the trauma of everything Nikki was going through, and still kept a smile. Seems like a pretty amazing man to me!
I think this book would be a really useful read for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation and is looking for something inspirational as well as practical, because there are loads of useful tips in here of how to organise yourself, and the sorts of things you can get to help you along the way.
