The following publications are available from many local and online book sellers or organizations; selecting a link will take you to  the chosen publication on an online resource. Closing the window will return you to this page.

Eleven Seconds: A Story of Tragedy, Courage, & Triumph
by Travis Roy with E. M. Swift
Within the 11 seconds that inspired this memoir, Travis Roy realized his dream, then smashed into his nightmare. On an October night in 1995, Roy, a talented young hockey player, skated onto the ice for his varsity debut with Boston University. Eleven fateful seconds later, he was paralyzed from the neck down. Aided by the sure touch of Sports Illustrated hockey writer E.M. Swift, Roy's moving account of his accident and his rehabilitation avoids the maudlin. Instead, Eleven Seconds is filled with grit, hope, humor, and a thoughtful young man's introspection on the meaning of sports and the adjustments that follow when the ability to play them is taken away. View excerpts from Travis Roy's book.

Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life

by Christopher Reeve

A sequel of sorts to Reeve's bestselling memoir, Still Me, Nothing is Impossible is a concise, meditative companion to the earlier book. Each of its nine chapters is devoted to some aspect of successful living (humor, faith, hope) or addresses a major life issue (parenting, religion, recovery). Although Reeve draws on his experiences prior to his spinal cord injury in 1995, it's clear that his views on life have evolved dramatically in the seven years since. Clearly of most obvious value to those facing the challenges of physical paralysis, this book also serves as inspirational primer for otherwise able-bodied individuals who may be thwarted by mental rather than physical wounds. In additional to his personal message, Reeve is also a blunt proponent of medical insurance reform and government research funding.

Still Me

by Christopher Reeve

Says Reeve, "Lindbergh made it across the Atlantic [where he was feted by Reeve's grandma]; Houdini got out of those straitjackets; with enough money and grass-roots support, why shouldn't I be able to get out of this wheelchair?" Part Hollywood reminiscence, part scientific detective story, and part soapbox speech, Still Me explains the tantalizing but quite real possibility that Reeve (and a quarter-million other paralyzed people, plus 49 million disabled Americans) may get back on their feet. Bobby Kennedy once tried to bolster Reeve's faith by saying, "Just fake it till you make it. The prayers will seem phony, but one day they'll become real." Christopher Reeve has more than a prayer, he has a program. He isn't fake, and he just might make it, leading a cast of millions.

Genesis: A Portrait of Spinal Cord Injury

by Stephen Thompson

Not long after Indiana University had won the NCAA championship in 1981, a young man of twenty was hurriedly riding his bicycle in order to make it on time for a tennis tournament. He had plans for returning to the game after having been sidetracked with the “college life.” Although he expected to attend graduate school, he was hoping to play professional tennis one day. He never made it to that tournament. A head-on collision with an automobile had crushed his dreams and also his neck, resulting in a cervical spinal cord injury. As he lay in the intensive care unit unable to move, he listened to music on his Walkman to distract him from his terrible predicament. His favorite tape, “The Lamb” by Genesis, seemed to help keep his attitude positive and hopeful. The following months are torturous and frustrating and he prays for a miracle; near-death experiences that seem too mysterious to comprehend show him that there is life beyond human existence. Then, after finally making it to the rehabilitation unit, he meets other young men in similar situations and they all struggle together to increase their functional abilities. In this rare and candid memoir, Stephen Thompson shares his many tribulations as he experiences new beginnings, both physical and spiritual, and strives for the ultimate goal of any spinal cord injury victim: to walk again.

Journey to Well: Learning to Live after Spinal Cord Injury
by Margie Williams

The author, Margie Williams, suffered a severe spinal cord injury at the age of 53, just when she was making plans for the rest of her life. She presents a close-up view of what life is like during and after such an incident, including her experience with institutional medicine and insurance companies (for better and for worse), and her determined -- and ultimately successful -- effort to rehabilitate herself and reconstruct her life. Journey To Well is well-written, funny in some parts and heart-rending in others, but completely absorbing throughout. The comprehensive Resource Guide included in the Appendix is itself well worth the price of the book for those dealing with spinal cord injuries as patients or as caregivers.

Inside the Halo and Beyond: The Anatomy of a Recovery
by Maxine Kumin
From a celebrated poet and horsewoman, the journal of her astonishing recovery after a nearly fatal accident. In July 1998, Maxine Kumin suffered a terrible accident when her horse bolted at a carriage-driving clinic. Ninety-five percent of such victims die before reaching the emergency room. Of those who do survive, ninety-five percent are paralyzed for life. But Kumin, less than a year later, was pronounced "a miracle." This is the journal of her astonishing recovery. Though at first words threatened to elude her, writing (at first by dictating) became a way of maintaining her sanity. Kumin tells of her time "inside the halo," the near-medieval device that kept her head immobile during the weeks of intensive care and rehabilitation. During the long evenings she gets hooked on the Red Sox, muses on the state of the world, and forms lasting "rehab" friendships. She salutes the loving family who always believed she would heal and who "kept the garden going as a way of keeping me going." Maxine Kumin is the kind of person about whom it is said "they don't make them like that any more." She swerves from despair to hope to unshakable determination as this harrowing yet heartwarming story of a fighter and survivor unfolds.

Meaning of a Disability: The Lived Experience of Paralysis
by Albert B. Robillard

Albert  Robillard, a sociology professor paralyzed as a result of motor-neuron disease, explores his daily life from a different perspective.

The Body Silent: The Different World of the Disabled
Robert Francis Murphy

Robert Murphy was in the prime of his career as an anthropologist when he felt the first symptom of a malady that would ultimately take him on an odyssey stranger than any field trip to the Amazon: a tumor of the spinal cord that progressed slowly and irreversibly into quadriplegia. In this gripping account, Murphy explores society's fears, myths, and misunderstandings about disability, and the damage they inflict. He reports how paralysis—like all disabilities—assaults people's identity, social standing, and ties with others, while at the same time making the love of life burn even more fiercely.

Rescuing Jeffrey: A True Story

by Richard Galli

On a sunny July 4th afternoon, Richard Galli and his family were celebrating the holiday at the home of some friends. The kids were playing in the pool and the grown-ups were relaxing. Then the unthinkable happened. Galli's seventeen-year-old son dove into the pool, struck his head, and nearly drowned. Jeffrey's parents jumped in, heaved their son out of the water, and Galli saved his life. But Jeffrey had suffered a devastating spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Rescuing Jeffrey is a compelling look at the next ten days. With disarming honesty and stark emotional intensity, Galli confronts these facts: His son will never be able to walk. He will never be able to use his hands. He will never be able to breathe without mechanical help. Jeffrey will be dependent on others for the rest of his life. Suddenly, Richard Galli is forced to see a future he never imagined for his son and has to decide whether to "rescue" him again-this time by removing Jeffrey's life support. "I had brought my son back to life," he writes, "and then I had to find a way to kill him." Galli presents a case to end Jeffrey's life - to his wife, to the doctors, and to the hospital ethics committee. But, in the end, he comes up against a force greater than any argument he can make. Battered by bad luck, unable to even move a finger, Jeffrey reclaims his own life. Rescuing Jeffrey is a story about adversity, strength, and the support an anguished community shows at a time of crisis. It's a story that asks what, after all, is a life worth living?

Moving Violations : War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence

by John Hockenberry

In 1976, Hockenberry was left a paraplegic after an auto accident and has now spent half his life in a wheelchair, a "crip," as he puts it. After college, he worked for National Public Radio for 12 years and in 1993 joined TV's Day One as a reporter and commentator. His account of life as a handicapped American at home and abroad should interest all. A realist, he has long since recovered from any self-pity and chronicles the gamut of reactions he has encountered in his native land, ranging from averted heads to staring to moist eyes to the opinion-expressed not to him but to his relatives-that if he wanted to commit suicide, people would understand. He now feels closer to other minorities of "walled-in ethnic, racial and economic enclaves," sympathizing with their pain and their rage. He conveys as few other writers have the anomalous position of being the insider who is also an outsider.

Never Give Up!: How Tragedy Taught Me That Life Is An Attitude

by Ron Heagy, Donita Dyer (Contributor)

Handsome, robust, and strong, with a full college scholarship awaiting him, the star athlete seemed invincible - until tragedy stopped him, taking away everything he desired, but leading him to something far greater. This is Ron Heagy's true story. This book will inspire, encourage and challenge you in your life. It is a wonderful depiction of his life and hardships and what God has done for him despite everything he has been through and will eventually go through.

Still Lives : Narratives of Spinal Cord Injury

by Jonathan Cole

New publication scheduled for 2004 release. In writing Still Lives, Jonathan Cole wanted to find out about living in a wheelchair, without having what he calls "the doctor/patient thing" intervene. He has done this by asking people with spinal cord injuries the simple question of what it is like to live without sensation and movement in the body. If the body has absented itself, where does the person reside? He describes his method in the first chapter: "I have gone to people, not with a white coat or a stethoscope...[but] to listen to their lives as they express them," and it is the candid and powerful narratives of twelve people with spinal cord injuries that form the heart of the book. Asking his simple question, Cole discovers that there is no single or simple answer. The twelve people with tetraplegia (known as quadriplegia in the US) or paraplegia whose stories he tells testify to similar impairments but widely differing experiences. Cole employs their individual responses to shape the book into six main sections: "Enduring," "Exploring," "Experimenting," "Observing," "Empowering," and, finally, "Continuing." Each concludes with a commentary on the broader issues raised. Still Lives moves from a view of impairment as tragedy to reveal the possibilities and richness of experience available to those living with spinal injuries. More universally, it offers new perspectives on our relation to our bodies. In exploring the creative and imaginative adjustments required to construct a "still life," it makes a plea for the able-bodied to adjust their view of this most profound of impairments.

My Soul Purpose: Living, Learning, and Healing

by Heidi Von Beltz, Peter Copeland

In 1985, Heidi, the 25-year-old daughter of Brad von Beltz, a veteran actor in westerns, was working as a stuntwoman and was on her way to a successful Hollywood acting career. Then, on the set of Cannonball Run, she broke her neck in a car crash. Written with journalist Peter Copeland (She Went to War), this inspiring account details Heidi's rehabilitation, which was achieved despite the gloomy prognosis of doctors, who predicted she would remain a quadriplegic and die within five years. Her parents found a pioneer in spinal surgery who fused their daughter's neck, and with their unwavering support, Heidi embarked on a series of rigorous alternative treatments and spiritual journeys that enabled her to regain movement in her arms and legs and to sit and stand with support. Optimistic and energetic, Heidi today surrounds herself with loyal friends, including actress Melanie Griffith, works on healing herself and reaches out to others with severe physical injuries.

Finding Peace in Troubled Waters

by Art E. Berg

Thrown from an automobile just five weeks before his wedding, Art Berg was left a quadriplegic. In Finding Peace in Troubled Waters, he shares his experiences and describes ten concepts that have permitted him not only to survive his paralyzing accident, but to be successful and live well and happily. Berg provides a life preserver for those who, like he was, are struggling to keep from drowning in sorrow or self-pity while battered by waves of adversity.

Home Bound: Growing Up With a Disability in America

by Cass Irvin

When I was growing up, I learned that if you were a girl you went to school and college, then you married, became a wife and had a family. . . . When I became disabled, my journey, I was pretty sure, was not going to take me in those directions. What was I supposed to be? What kind of life was I supposed to have?" Once polio had made her a quadriplegic, Cass Irvin didn't know where she fit in or what would become of her. Neither did her parents, teachers, counselors, or rehabilitation therapists. And so began her search for a place to call home.

What Now: A True Story About Overcoming Incredible Challenges

by Kelvin Taylor

This is the amazing story of Kelvin Taylor, a young man who suffered a paralyzing neck injury in a devastating accident. In his own words we learn of the challenges and triumphs of this young man. Following the accident, Kelvin finds himself in a hospital unable to move or feel anything from his neck down. He is forced to ask himself, "What now?" Kelvin’s story shows that with our Heavenly Father’s help, we can face any obstacles and reach our goals. It also shows that faith in Him can help ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things. This book will inspire all who read it to overcome their trials and never give up on their dreams.

Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story

by Scott Brown, Sam Carchidi

Adam Taliaferro had it all: smarts, an easy-going personality, and incomparable athletic ability. None of that seemed to matter, however, on that fateful September day when his father was given startling news: Do not expect your son to walk again. Ever. Since that numbing day, Taliaferro, the Penn State freshman cornerback who was paralyzed after tackling an Ohio State running back, has defied the odds. Before he had spinal-fusion surgery, he made a vow to his mother: "Mom, I'm not going out like this." Three months later, he walked out of a Philadelphia hospital on crutches, determined to complete his amazing recovery, making the name "Adam Taliaferro" synonymous with courage and perseverance.

A Slide Through Time

by Eddie W. Hunt

This book presents an account of the life of a quadriplegic. The book was written as a type of therapy to work through the devastation, anger, and heartbreak to understanding and coping. This book is a testament to what is possible to anyone absorbed by faith, confidence, family support, and love. This book is meant to serve others who have suffered similar situations, and their families.

Tumbling After: Pedaling Like Crazy After Life Goes Downhill

by Susan Parker

Suzy Parker and her husband, Ralph Hager, spent every free moment together biking, skiing, and hiking. All that changed in a split second when a freak cycling accident left Ralph permanently paralyzed below the shoulders. In that moment, Suzy’s old life fell away and her new one began. In Tumbling After, Suzy chronicles her transformation from carefree outdoorswoman to full-time caregiver, and paints a loving portrait of the impromptu, oddball family of concerned neighbors and friends who become her new lifeline. With Jerry, the tender ex-con; Momma Scott, a guardian angel and force of nature in a feather boa; and Harka, the culture-shocked Nepalese, at their side, Suzy and Ralph weather the loss of old friends and learn to embrace a new way of life with hope and a healing dose of the absurd. This astonishing memoir, devoid of self-pity and told with breathtaking candor and a wry sense of humor, is an inspiring journey that is ultimately a story of survival and second chances—and the unexpected joy and love that can grow out of grief if given the slightest encouragement.

Be Not Afraid: Ben Peyton's Story

by Peter Rennebohm

Ben Peyton's story began on Sunday, December 22, 1996. On that fateful day, while playing hockey for the Edina Junior Gold team, he collided with a player from the opposing team and lay motionless on the ice. His parents, John and Nancy, observed the horrific collision and experienced every parent's worst nightmare. Doctors offered little hope that the seventeen-year old would ever regain use of his limbs. After two emergency surgeries to repair crushed vertebrae and fuse his spine, Ben was paralyzed from the neck down. His story is more than a simple tragedy. His was a study in courage, fortitude, and inspiration. From the day of his accident, BE NOT AFRAID proceeds to describe in detail Ben's struggles with life-threatening pneumonia, a collapsed lung, and his extraordinary will to regain some--any--use of his limbs. It concludes on March 26 - the day he leaves the Sister Kenney Institute. Portions of the proceeds from the sale of each book will be donated to: The Morton Cure Paralysis Fund.

From There to Here: Stories of Adjustment To Spinal Cord Injury

by Gary Karp

From There To Here: Stories of Adjustment To Spinal Cord Injury is certainly about hope - but not by way of mere inspiration. These essays are the stuff of whole human lives and illustrate the real and complex process of how people respond to sudden and overwhelming change. They start from trauma and confusion, their vision of the future challenged to the core, and ultimately arrive at a place that each of them in their own way calls "adjustment." A place that none of them could have imagined when they were There. The heart of these stories is what happened in between - the actual journey to adjustment, acceptance, meaning, and possibility. The journey to Here.

How I Became a Human Being: A Disabled Man's Quest for Independence

by Mark O'Brien, Gillian Kendall

How I Became a Human Being is Mark O'Brien's account of his struggles to lead an independent life despite a lifelong disability. In 1955, he contracted polio and became permanently paralyzed from the neck down. O'Brien describes growing up without the use of his limbs, his adolescence struggling with physical rehabilitation and suffering the bureaucracy of hospitals and institutions, and his adult life as an independent student and writer. Despite his weak physical state, O'Brien attended graduate school, explored his sexuality, fell in love, published poetry, and worked as a journalist. A determined writer, O'Brien used a mouthstick to type each word. O'Brien's story does not beg for sympathy. It is rather a day-to-day account of his reality-the life he crafted and maintained with a good mind, hired attendants, decent legislation for disabled people in California, and support from the University of California at Berkeley. He describes the ways in which a paralyzed person takes care of the body, mind, and heart. What mattered most was his writing, the people he loved, his belief in God, and his belief in himself.

Letters from the Edge: A Travelogue through the Looking Glass of Paralysis

by J. Michael Kanouff

On December 12, 1993, I died. Within one second, I was given a second life, a journey as a quadriplegic. Thus began my travels in a wheelchair, through totally new terrain. Graced by the compassionate support of my family and community, I avoided a terrifying tailspin into depression, loneliness and poverty. I also wrote a few letters along the way. View excerpts from this book.

Roll Models: People Who Live Successfully Following Spinal Cord Injury And How They Do It

by Richard Holicky

Roll Models not only answers the question why do some SCI survivors succeed after injury and others spiral into inactivity and depression, but also provides valuable how-to's on that road to success. 232 pages of questions, answers, information and resources, all the essential building blocks necessary to make success in the broader sense - work, marriage, material comfort - a reality. These stories hold possibility, vision and hope for the 30 people who sustain spinal cord injuries each day in the US. Straight from the horse's mouth, 53 survivors explore their experiences with disability and answer many questions those in rehab are asking, divided into chapters: Early Thoughts; The First Years; Changes, Obstacles and Solutions; Finding What Works; Salvations, Turning Points and More; SCI and Meaning.

Just An Accident

by Amy Montgomery

There was no blood at the scene, not even a cut on his body. Yet on May 25, 1999, when the top of a massive beech tree snapped off and slammed into 33-year-old, Adirondack logger Scott Remington, his bones exploded. The terrain was unforgiving and the area too remote for cell phones. So the fact that paramedics reached him and got him out of the woods is a miracle. So is the improbable aftermath of a freak accident whose outcome felt like death to a woodsman who never knew how to sit still. "In this well written and extremely compelling book, Amy Montgomery draws us into the essence of living with a spinal cord injury through Scott Remington’s moving story. Her portrayal of his struggle to survive and live a meaningful life makes us care as much as the members of his family. "In an instant both Scott and I became members of a club that neither of us would ever have wanted to join. But instead of self pity, Scott has demonstrated relentless energy, drive, and willpower that no disability can diminish. Montgomery has captured not only the drama of an accidental tragedy but the power of the human spirit to overcome it." - Christopher Reeve

The Strength Within

by Barbara Hansen

Life hands us dirty deals. No one knows this better than Barbara Hansen -author, college professor, and paraplegic since age eighteen. When she talks about clawing through life's lousy times, every page rings with authenticity. And when she talks about finding peace and joy despite life's dirty deals, every page shines with hope. Her experience forms the core of this guide to healing and wholeness, together with stories of her former and current students, her friends, her readers, and her workshop and lecture attendees. From all these sources she's developed practical strategies for finding true happiness. Happiness comes from choices and attitudes, anchors that form an inner strength that remains solid despite life's roller-coaster ups and downs. Hansen reveals what these choices and attitudes are and how to cultivate them till they become habits of joy. A paraplegic since age eighteen, Barbara Hansen was the first person in a wheelchair licensed by the state of Indiana to teach. She later received her Ph.D. and has been a professor of English for thirty-five years at Ball State University and the University of Cincinnati, her hometown. Her other books include Picking Up the Pieces: Healing Ourselves after Personal Loss.

A Complete Plain-English Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury: Valuable Information From a Survivor

by Carolyn Boyles

An invaluable resource for anyone touched by spinal cord injury-newly injured patients, longtime survivors, friends and loved ones, and medical professionals-A Complete Plain English Guide to Living with an Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury offers a survivor's perspective on the physical and emotional journey from the time of injury, through the entire recovery process, and on to living a full and happy life. This thorough, down-to-earth manual delivers solid, factual information and real-world advice from someone who has been there. Carolyn Boyles, a long-term spinal cord injury survivor, translates medical jargon into plain English, and helps you understand everything you need to know about living and thriving with an injured spinal cord.