Customer Reviews

Eleven Seconds: A Story of Tragedy, Courage & Triumph

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read many stories of "inspiring" people with spinal cord injuries, but never one as honest and emotionally open as this one. Roy shares not only the medical details of his injury, but his deepest feelings about what happened to him; and how he continues to deal with it on a day to day basis.

Instead of just giving uplifting blather about having a relentlessly positive attitude, he admits to bouts of self-pity; he talks about how other "well meaning" but patronizing people sometimes make him feel. It gave me a lot of insight into the difficult life of a quadriplegic, and definitely made me want to reach out more when I see someone in a wheelchair, and not to treat them as if they are invisible, which is often what happens in our society.

I had read another book called [I think], "Miracles Happen," by Brooke Ellison, who was rendered a ventilator dependent quadriplegic at age 11, and went on to graduate from Harvard. While I found Ellison very inspiring, her sugar-coated, surface description of her life and emotions somehow left me cold. In contrast to that, Travis Roy lays it all out there: everything he was and is thinking and feeling, whether or not those thoughts and feelings were "admirable."

He even talks about how awkward it is to be an "inspring" celebrity just by virtue of breaking his neck; and how he'd trade places any time with a normally abled anonymous person.

This is a fast read, and I would highly recommend it.

The emotion of Travis Roy's account of his struggle with paralysis does not slip into undue sentimentality. For instance, he says "Recovery from spinal-cord injury has nothing to do with how hard a patient, or how dedicated he or she is to walking again. Everyone who's ever been paralyzed will do anything to walk again. But for most of us, we may as well be trying to fly."

I'm a paraplegic so I know the feeling.

He tells about the pain of returning to college as a quadriplegic: "That was the hardest thing about returning to college: finding myself unable to interact with the other students because of my disability."

He learned to take the good with the bad: "Because for my parents to understand the situation, for us to really come together as a family, I need to tell them what's going on inside my head. Good and bad."

Roy was helped by the collaboration of Sports Illustrated hockey writer E.M.Swift to write a moving and uplifting story.

On Oct. 20, 1995, two of my friends and I gleefully took our seats in Walter Brown arena. We'd saved up the money to purchase season tickets (huge money for undergraduates), and couldn't wait to see the triple crown banner be raised. The beginning of the night was all of the heartpounding celebration it could be.

And then only a short time later, that all changed--That night of joy became one of profound sadness as we watched a (then) unknown freshman player fall to the ice, motionless. It was the first and only time I've personally witnessed someone injured so severely.

Since that night, I've kept up from time to time to see what Travis is doing, how he's doing, and am constantly amazed at how he's fighting. He is an inspiration, and his book should be on anyone's reading list.

The Travis Roy biography, Eleven Seconds, is a great book for hockey lovers, players, fans, or anybody who likes to read about triumph in the face of tragedy. The book starts out just like a biography of a superstar, like Steve Yzerman or Gordie Howe's begin. Travis' dad runs a skating skills camp, so Travis is advanced compared to the other skaters his age. Through high school he is one of the best players on the team. He transfers to prep school with a great hockey team. He shows off his skills and earns a spot on the BU hockey team, but eleven seconds into his first shift of division one hockey he goes headfirst into the boards and becomes a quadriplegic. For the first few months he can't talk due to hoses and cords running in his mouth. All his dreams of playing hockey in the NHL are over. What will his life be like? Who will take care of him? How will he live from now on?

This amazing young man leaves nothing out, the good the bad and the ugly. Truly a remarkable person and with the strength to share his life so that others can see a glimpse of a wonderful heart and true spirit .

I went to Boston University with Travis and seeing him every day uplifted me because he was so upbeat about life. This books chronicles what none of us ever wish to go through. Travis is a wonderful person who I have come to greatly admire. He has become an idol to me in the fact that I was in a wheelchair for a while after a brain surgery and he was my inspiration. I kept his book by my bedside and said to myself daily "If Travis can do it, so can I." This book is inspiring and not drawn out. If you are remotely interested in sports, hockey, or this story itself, I reccommend you read it. I have a signed copy from Travis himself and have read it numerous times. It's hard to put down once you begin to read it!

Eleven Seconds is a remarkable book that shows the strength one needs to deal with a life changing blow in such a short time. While you have changed on the outside, you are still the same person on the inside. Having to deal with the physical changes is a feat within itself, but to deal with the emotions that accompany getting back into your daily life, that is the mountain of recovery. Travis deals with his accident in a matter of fact way in Eleven Seconds, and shows his readers what it was really like to go back into the world after his accident. I too am a quad, though a lower level, which means I can move my arms more than Travis and I can propel a manual chair, but I have been through the same emotions that Travis has been through. This book is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to understand to the best of their ability, how life truly changes after an accident leaves you with quadriplegia or paraplegia.

Being an intercolligate athlete myself reading Travis Roys book gave me a geat deal of inspiration. I can't remember the last time that I sat down and thouroughly enjoyed reading a book to the extent that I could not put it down.

The book is not about hockey it is about someone's mental journey. Well I read the book because we were required to for school. Travis went to Tabor Academy where i am currently being educated. We read it over summer vaction. He then came and spoke in the fall to us. So for anyone who wants to know how he's doing read this. He is very confidant that he will walk again. He thinks that technology will let him. He has more mobility that I thought he would have in his right arm. He looks good and recently the new hockey rink was dedicated to him where he also spoke. I even got the oppertunity to speak with him. Great person and i think it is amazing he was able to live with what happened to him.

This book grabs your attention from the very first page. Travis does such a good job of telling his story, you feel as if you are right beside him. The true love for the sport of hockey shines through and his honest description of his accident and recovery will leave you in tears at times. I would reccomend this book to anyone. Although Travis gives his family credit for his recovery, he should also commend himself for having the strength and the bravery to go on with life, something many of us would be unable to do if faced with the same situation. I thank him for sharing this part of his life with us, as hard as it has been, and hope things start to go his way. Again, this book was excellent. Amy Hockett, Brookings, SD