Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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!

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!

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!!

My brother suffered a brain injury last year and I read everything I can get my hands on, about brain injuries. I thank Kara for sharing her story through humor and sports analogies. My heart goes out to all of those suffering a brain injury.

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.

The thing that really touched me in this helpful, insightful "how to" manual is the fact that although Kara Swanson lost her life as she had known it, she fought with quiet dignity to regain what abilities she could. Kara pushed herself beyond what was safe or recommended in order to maintain the independance she had embraced before her accident. The auther shares her frustration with her acquired limitations, the medical profession and dealing with brain injury in a respectful and empowering way. She teaches us that often, there is no manual to read to get us through tragedy, but instead of complaining, we can all write our own manual which is exactly what Kara did. In addition, she managed to find skilled compassionate professionals to help in her recovery and to pass on information to the many brain injury survivors without a manual.

I applaud Kara Swanson on an honest account of a devastating time in her life and the compassion and forward thinking she showed in thinking of others who may need the help, guidance, advice and support that she so needed.

On the 1 year anniversary of my own brain injury, I wanted to salute the 1 and ONLY book that made sense to me on my journey! I'll Carry the Fork! is written easily, yet not condescendingly. It is written with compassion and humor. It is honest and insightful. Most importantly, it has given me the courage to know that I am not alone!

I wanted to write to Kara and let her know immediately last summer how much her book meant to me. Instead, like a crazed rock star fan, I tracked her down at a conference. I met her, cried with her, laughed with her, hugged her, thanked her and have become great friends with her!

Kara's book has supported not only myself, but my family as well. Thank you, Kara! You have written the one and only book one needs on their journey through traumatic brain injury!

I, too, am carrying a fork......PROUDLY!

A delightful book which takes the author from a tragedy and life change to making her new life the best it can be. A wonderful message for those of us having a family member who is a recent traumatic brain injury survivor. It is written with humor but with a valuable message. The chapters are short and written in a manner our TBI survivor is able to read and comprehend it. Thank you for this book.

Kara Swanson has not only helped others that suffer from TBI but by her candid and delightful style has empowered anyone that compassionately desires or just simply finds them self in the position of being a caregiver to a loved one. her willingness to share her personal story in a no holds barred manner makes this an easy read . Kara's story is real, and she brings the reader along on her journey back from victim of a tragic accident to survivor. This book is definately an inspiration and has helped me deal with many of lifes low points, it is a book to read and shared. I thank the author for empowering me to be a better person and to find strength for living when the lights are dim . Look forward to hearing more from Ms Swanson as she continues to travel along her lives journey as a loving caring empowered woman