I'll Carry the Fork! Recovering a Life After Brain Injury

By Kara L. Swanson

Book Overview

In January 1996, a van speeding through a red light ended the life Kara Swanson had known. She suddenly joined the 2 million Americans who suffer brain injury each year. It was like being thrust into... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0933670044
• ISBN13: 9780933670044
• Release Date: January 2020
• Publisher: Rising Star Press
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Real, humorous and helpful

Kudo's to a brave woman for sharing her pain, insights and laughter with all of us. Recommended for survivors, caregivers and health care professionals. Do not let the light-heartedness of these stories fool you. This is the real thing from someone that has been there and lived to tell. I am so thankful for Ms. Swanson's book as it has helped my own family to better understand my personal closed head injury journey through the writings of this amazing author!

I can relate!!

How is it possible that the author of this book was able to provide our family with such a level of comfort and wisdom through her personal experiences? Her disability and that of my son's were entirely different. She suffered a head injury and my son became a high-level quadriplegic following a diving accident at the age of seventeen. The two disabilities are very different and yet the wisdom and level of comfort she has been able to offer our family through her gift of writing has been a blessing to us. I highly recommend this book to ANYONE who has had to personally deal with a life-changing disability themselves, within their family or circle of friends. This book should be in hospitals, rehabilitation centers and in local libraries nationwide!!

I'll Carry the Fork!

It's amazing that Kara has been through so much yet remains adamant to keep her life as "normal" as possible. Her motivation to help others through sharing her hardships and lessons-learned is truly inspiring. She enlightens those who are not aware of the day-to-day struggles that people with closed head injuries endure.Kara has compiled an effective "guide book" for others, who like her, have experienced this life-changing injury. She describes the road to recovery as painfully slow and full of unexpected "potholes", and the importance of celebrating each of the small successes along the way.We've given copies of this "survival" book to friends who have a family member who may be the victim of both head injury and the ignorance of others about this. Hopefully, they will be inspired and comforted by her candidness and her triumphs.Through her delightful humor and dogged determination, Kara brings hope to many. We wish her continued success on her courageous journey!

Courage To Recover

Being a head injury survivor myself, Kara's book, "I'll Carry the Fork" was a turning point in my own recovery. With Kara's ability to put into words, what I had kept in my injured mind, helped me to let go of the feelings of worthlessness. Through her book, Kara helped me laugh at my frustrations and forgetfulness..I learned that to laugh is to heal and see the human side to my perfectionistic past. To read her words, gave me comfort of being understood..and to be understood gave me the courage to recover. "I'll Carry the Fork" expresses everyday challenges for head injury survivors, and changes the focus of feeling defeated by our trauma; to find the strength within us, to accept ourselves as the "chosen people" to teach others, head injury or not, that life is what you make it. Every day is a gift. Kara shows us all that we should be brave, face our fears, and never give up on our yesturdays, todays and our tomorrows. After reading her book, your life, your thoughts and your daily outlook will be changed forever. This is a powerful book. I am a better person because of it. I challenge everyone to read it..enjoy the words of wisdom...then read it again.

The most compassionate, encouraging book I've read.

Kara has written a book that describes with reality the everyday struggles one with a head injury experiences. What I found so refreshing was it was done without preaching, self-righteousness or self-pity. I found myself in these pages, found myself nodding my head in astonishment (there is a reason why I feel this way), found myself laughing (I've also thrown things, a toy wagon through a glass window for one), and found myself in tears (finally someone who knows what it's like, I'm not insane etc.). The most surprising adjective I found to describe this book is, hope. There is hope after a devastating change in a person's life. One can go on with great dignity, different than before the injury, limited in ways and yet more mature, compassionate, willing to look a little deeper than most people at what's inside a person. My sincere thanks to Kara for being able to put into words with such eloquence what has been felt by more than just a few people, their caretakers, friends and families.