Rating: 
Summary: The book that goes where Regarding Henry didn't.
Review: Unfortunatly Cathy Crimmins has led my life. Fortunatly she tells the story in the loving way only a spouce could. Ms Crimmins tells the story of head inury and its effect on all concerned with the accuracy of a journalist blended with the compasion of a wife.
Rating:
Summary: It opened my eyes and warmed my heart
Review: When someone close to you suffers an accident, and ends up in a hospital bed in a coma, the world around you collapses. This happened to us on April 6th 2003, when Mickey was involved in a car accident and was in a coma for over 2 months. This book has been incredibly helpful. It contains a lot of priceless information, information you CAN understand, complementing it with loads of personal experiences.
Thanks to the very easy language (it can be read as a novel) it has allowed everyone in my family to understand and accept the choices and changes we wnet though and are still going through with a TBI survivor. It has also helped us understand and help Mickey in his recovery process. I have cried and laughed on endless nights with this book.
I have underlined passages and read them over and over (something I dont do very often)
I have shared this book with the rest of my family, friends, Mickeys friends and caregivers and even some doctors.... Thank you Cathy Crimmins for helping US stay confident, focused, and happy.... This book opened my eyes and warmed my heart. To anyone going through this terrible ordeal... there IS HOPE at the end. Dont despair!
Rating: 
Summary: Moving, thoughtful, if unsatisfying personal account
Review: Where is the Mango Princess? is a truly touching but tragic account of Traumatic Brian Injury (TBI) and its impact on a family. As much as I respect Anne Lamont, I wonder at her comment, at least as it appears on the book cover blurb, that this is a story of `recovery.' What exactly has been recovered? And how redemptive has this been in the lives of Cathy Crimmins and her husband Alan? Surely Cathy has had to address her once `hands-off' approach to marriage and has chosen to become a truly sacrificial wife, in the process shedding much of the enlightened independence she had so highly prized. In this way, she has somehow backed into a richer `covenantal' attitude to her husband (reflected in the traditional vows she, no doubt, took). She is living much more for him, even when he does not appreciate it, realize it, or have as much to offer in return. The picture is sad but beautiful, and highly instructive. Her world is a far more blessed place as a result of her response to this tragedy.
And yet, has she `recovered?' What exactly did she `lose' and what does she have back now? Her `wellness?' Her `humanity?' Maybe it is his that is recovered? I am not sure. Because her beautiful story remains largely fruitless for her life. After much struggle, she has learned to `cope.' Her story, filled with potential power, is ultimately a lovely tragedy.
This is instructive to anyone who might seek to minister to someone who has suffered TBI and to their family. I have ministered to a few, and wish I had read in advance the Mango Princess (particularly through the lens of chapter 5 of Edward Welch's Blame it on the Brain). I think of one person in particular. Looking back I realize neither she nor I coped with the results of her injury adequately. I did not really understand the ways her injury legitimately impacted her, because it was clear that she was being so willfully selfish and hurtful. And she in turn wanted to blame her sin completely on her injury. The big issue I wish I had seen better in the past: her TBI did create some very significant hidden weaknesses that needed to be recognized and accounted for in trying to help her deal with her struggles.
Families in these circumstances face special heart obstacles, as Crimmins so thoughtfully illustrates. Like Alan, the victims very often heal outwardly in a short time, causing the families frustration at not seeing a similar recovery in their mental, emotional and behavioral issues. He is walking again; he is talking again; his wound is healed up; he looks all better; so why can't he start acting more like he used to? He's not a vegetable, and he can seem like his `old self' sometimes, so why does he have to acts so impulsive or socially inappropriate? Why is his sense of humor so `weird?' Why doesn't he respond to things the way we used to (reasoning, prayer)? And if so, why can't they just do some surgery or give him a pill that will `fix' him?
The real physical impact of the injury needs to be understood if the mundane duties of living are to be carried forward, and if the heart of the person and his family and friends are to be challenged to greater spiritual maturity. Perhaps the hardest thing to grapple with (something Crimmins seems to miss) is the truth that the best explanation of post-injury behavior is pre-injury character (See Ed Welch, p. 90). Welch suggests the difficult but potentially liberating truth that, "The cognitive impairments of those who were previously committed to biblical living will rarely lead to the same frustrating changes that are obvious in those who were not" (p. 90). That the injury can act as `truth serum' to its victim can be revealing to those ministering to him. It can be deeply discouraging, but it also can be redemptively potent as people gain more open access to what was truly in the person's heart all along.
TBI calls for special care and love. A superficial attitude by loved ones can unwittingly contribute to the complex problems.
Crimmins provides a very thoughtful, sensitive, moving (if somewhat unsatisfying) account of her own deep experience.
Rating:
Summary: Tells the truth
Review: With wit and humor, this book provides a horribly accurate depiction of a TBI and its aftermath, as well as a surprising amount of insight into the functioning of both healthy and damaged brains. Guess what? The 1 in 20 figure (percentage of TBI survivors who get all the help they need) is not only true, but a likely overestimation. I was sent to the prestigious Sister Kenny institute, but my jaw literally dropped when I read about all the followup care this TBI survivor received (which I didn't.) I was shocked to read the exact same problems I experienced. The subject of this book was lucky enough to have caretakers who at least had some idea of what they were getting into-- well, at least somebody was told something, I certainly wasn't. I had more respect for myself than ever before after reading this book. I survived, too. This book may not be such an intensely personal experience for you, but you will be glad you read it! Everyone needs to be educated about TBI!!
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