I Married A Thrill-Seeker: A cautious wife's memoir of her husband's risk-taking and their long road to recovery

by Danielle Kaplan

Overview

When Kaplan’s husband Steve decides to take one last road trip on his BMW R1200GS Enduro, from Toronto, Ontario to near Fairbanks, Alaska, his life changes in an instant. The treacherous stretch of road between Carmacks and Watson Lake in the Yukon called the Campbell Highway was incredibly dangerous in the rain. Steve hit a pothole and crashed–and what follows is a true testament of luck, love, and incredible fortitude as his injuries leave him with a less than one percent survival rate.

In this honest, open memoir Danielle Kaplan explores the toll Steve’s trip took on her family, his accident and her husband’s incredibly long recovery took on her family. As a former speech pathologist, Danielle becomes her husband’s greatest ally–fighting by his side the entire time, through every step forward and step back, as Steve regains his health after the tragic accident.

From the moment Steve leaves the driveway until the night of the fateful call, Danielle has mixed feelings about the trip. And from the months they spend in the hospital to her husband’s eventual recovery, she reveals her truthful, mixed emotions about everything from the life saving measures used to keep him alive to the unbearable decisions she had to make about their family. This heartfelt, raw story contains the essence of the human spirit, and is filled with both determination and love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781738670208
Publisher:	re:books
Publication date:	11/22/2022
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

DANIELLE KAPLAN is a speech-language pathologist and movement specialist. She grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa and holds a Masters Degree in Speech Pathology. She and her husband Steve emigrated to Canada, where she spent twenty years working in acute teaching hospitals, in the area of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and spinal injury. Danielle gained a certification in Pilates and then went on to train further in movement while achieving her Personal Training certification (CanfitPro), Ballet Barre for fitness training and then received her Rehab Exercise Specialisation certification. The mother of two, she lives with her husband Steve and their two fur babies in Toronto, Ontario. I Married a Thrill-Seeker is her first book.

Table of Contents

Prologue ix

Chapter 1 Two weeks before the Canada Day trip (July 11, 2011) 1

Chapter 2 The day, the accident 8

Chapter 3 Alaska or bust… 23

Chapter 4 Two days later; the surgery 32

Chapter 5 July 20 40

Chapter 6 Night of July 20 and day of July 21 52

Chapter 7 From July 23/ forty-eight hours on ECMO and surgery to remove the ECMO, to July 27 63

Chapter 8 July 28, back to Vancouver, his buddies arrive and who all leave by August 1 72

Chapter 9 A few days pass 81

Chapter 10 Early August (1 and 2) Two steps back 87

Chapter 11 Still Sunday Reflection 96

Chapter 12 A week later / progress 99

Chapter 13 Almost four weeks after the accident / The end of second week in August (August 11) / Standing on his own two feet 104

Chapter 14 Almost one month since the accident, August 13/14 / wind in his face 109

Chapter 15 Home soon and melt-down (August 14) 111

Chapter 16 August 15 to 18-emails and trips 116

Chapter 17 Five weeks later. The trip home 126

Chapter 18 Another spine surgery, counting red cars: August 24 to September 07, Sunnybrook 132

Chapter 19 September 09 138

Chapter 20 Two months later / onto rehab (September 15) 143

Chapter 21 Eleven weeks later / home / September 23 to January 2012 151

Chapter 22 Fifteen months following his accident. Life goes on 157

Chapter 23 Almost two years later May 2013 to July 2013. Heart surgery to heart broken 163

Chapter 24 December 2013 to April 2014 surgery, life, death 169

Chapter 25 July 16, 2015 Four years later 174

Epilogue 181

A note to the reader 185

Glossary of selected medical terms 186

Acknowledgements 191