“It’s Penguin Shooting Day, a true account of the first weeks living with brain injury”, will soon be available in paperback.
The eBook version is currently available in Amazon stores worldwide. If you don’t see the link to your local Amazon below, please search for ‘Penguin Shooting Day’ in the store.
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.com.au Amazon.com.ca
I dedicated this book to my brave daughter. During the initial days after her husband’s accident and throughout his long recovery she was, and still is, an inspiration to us all.
You kept us strong my darling, even when your heart was breaking; you found the courage to uplift us with your tireless positive attitude.
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I kept this diary for a number of reasons. Firstly, my nature is to put everything down on paper, from shopping lists to seating plans. Secondly, I needed to channel my emotions. Setting it down in black and white helped contain the threatening avalanche of emotion, and made it easier to focus on what might lie ahead. Thirdly, it was going to be a bloody long flight, and if I didn’t do something, I would be out of my mind before my jumbo got off the ground.
I was about to set out on a familiar 30 hour trip, but this time, I didn’t have the anticipation and flurry of pretty butterflies in my tummy to shorten every minute of that journey. Instead, the lonely, panic filled, hours stretched endlessly before me, and I felt as if a dozen fruit-bats with scratchy claws were doing aerobatics in my insides. I had no one to share my distress with, and couldn’t face idle chit-chat with fellow travelers who were innocently going away on holiday.
Over the following weeks, my diary became my confessor and confidant, my dumping ground for sorrow and a place to share the joys and laughter when there was no one else around. It became the saver of my sanity, and I hope it will now give hope and maybe a little inspiration to others who may find themselves in a similar situation.
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The phone call that parents dread came on the 29th June 2008 at 11am. Natalie’s voice shook when she told us, ‘Mum, Simon’s had a car crash, he’s in a coma.’
Compounding this awful news was the fact that my family lived at the other side of the world in Australia. Within hours I boarded my flight to be with them and began the diary that would describe Simon’s journey back to us.
I started the diary for a number of reasons. Firstly, I’m a writer and my nature is to put everything down on paper. Secondly, I needed to channel my overwhelming emotions. Thirdly, it was going to be a bloody long flight and if I didn’t do something, I would be out of my mind before my jumbo got off the ground.
I was about to set out on a familiar 30 hour trip but this time, I did not have the anticipation and flurry of pretty butterflies in my tummy to shorten every minute. Instead, the panic filled hours stretched before me and I felt as if a dozen fruit-bats with scratchy claws were doing aerobatics in my insides. I had no one to share my distress with and couldn’t face idle chat with fellow travellers who were simply going on holiday.
Over the following weeks, my diary became my confessor and confidant, my dumping ground for sorrow and a place to share the joys and laughter when there was no one else around. It became the saver of my sanity and I hope it will now give hope and maybe a little inspiration for others who may find themselves in a similar situation.
From Simon’s point of view, he wakes in a bizarre place full of strangers and does not know why he is there. His yesterday is ten years ago and the only memories he has between then and now are hazy fragments.
Amazingly, his emotions are still intact, even though his memories don’t support them. He has no recollection of his wedding day, or of his daughter’s birth, but the love he feels for his wife and child are overwhelming in their intensity.
So we use Simon’s emotional strength and Natalie’s inspirational positive attitude to help him through the first traumatic weeks and try to set the foundations of a future we can only begin to imagine how to build.
The bizarre title came from Simon’s fuddled brain. When asked if he knew what day it was, a few days after emerging from coma, he replied, ‘It’s Penguin Shooting Day.’
This diary is now available in Amazon as a Kindle eBook, and will shortly be released in paperback.
Pearl A Gardner 