Getting Better by Will Carter

Genre: Adult, Memoir
Source: I won a copy from LibraryThing. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I have known three people with traumatic brain injuries in my life. All three were involved in terrible car accidents. My cousin was thrown from the car her boyfriend was driving and the car landed on her. She had to learn to walk and talk again.  A guy I dated in high school was hit when a drunk ran a stoplight on New Years Eve. The third was an sixth grader I taught.  He had been in an accident the year before. He wasn't wearing a seat belt. The accident threw him from the backseat, through the windshield onto the roadway. Every day I would meet him in the office.  He was embarrassed with having to use a walker. His grandfather asked if I would talk to him. He was endangering himself. So I showed up the next day with a walker. His eyes got real big. I told him we were in this together. I informed him that I was going to have to have both of my knees replaced and I was running a risk each day NOT using my walker. So I told him I need to learn to be brave like him and use my walker. We walked to class each day.  No I had not lied to him. I had fallen twice at school when the knees just gave out. I asked him about his therapy and encouraged him. I was to miss the last three weeks of school for my surgery. All of my students gave me hugs and gifts for the rehab facility I would go to. They gave me words of encouragement. This young man stepped up and said the following: "This is going to be the toughest thing you have ever done. It is going to hurt, but you work through the pain. Don't lie, if they ask you what your pain level is, tell them, they know how to help you better. Most important don't give up.  You can do this. It is a mental game you have to play until you believe it. Don't worry, I will be here to support you next year like year like you did me."  Both he and his grandfather came to visit me in rehab. So much love and support from a young kid who had to learn to read, write, walk and talk again. I was told before the accident he had an extremely high I.Q. and was in the gifted program. His story of recovery  is one of the reasons I wanted to read Will Carter's book.

This is Will Carter's story. His senior year in high school he was involved in an accident. With all of his sever injuries he was put into a coma to give his body a chance to heal. With such a traumatic brain injury he had to learn to walk and talk all over again. He tells you right from the beginning that these are his memories of that time and he can't be one hundred percent sure how accurate they are. This is a story of perseverance and becoming a new and best you.

The majority of this story takes place during Will's senior year. He talks about his different therapies. He talks about the challenges of going from a straight A student to someone who has trouble remembering what was said just a few minutes before.  The theme that ran throughout this book and is a part of the title is the theme of getting better, and what exactly that means.  At what point  do you realize and accept the definition of  getting better?  This is a very inspirational book and one I will proudly put on my shelves at school.