Eleven Seconds: A Story of Tragedy, Courage & Triumph

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Summary: amazing
Review: A amazing book,that you dont even need to know alot about hockey to read.

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Summary: inspirational
Review: 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.

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Summary: Great book to teach kids that winning isn't everything.
Review: Brought new perspective to my kid's life. He learned to enjoy the game, regardless of how poorly he played. I think this a great book for people/kids that have difficutly accepting defeat.

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Summary: Life Changes in a Second, Yet It Stays the Same
Review: 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.

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Summary: Long live Travis!
Review: Eleven Seconds is the true story of college hockey player Travis Roy, from the time he was born, to his making first string at BU. Up to then it is the story of the all American boy, good athlete, good student. Then tragedy struck Roy in the first 11 seconds of his first game, and his life turned upside down. The story from then on is one of courage, willpower, and never giving up, even in the darkest times of life. For Travis is a C-2 quad which means he has only limited movement of one hand/arm. Of course this seems nightmarish to able bodied persons, but Travis actually has it better than Chris Reeve who is C-1...cannot even breathe on his own, much less move his hand, and arm. The story details his inital stay in the Boston hospital he was taken to, and we are with him as he finds out the tragic truth of his situation, that he may never be able to move again. We are with him through tough re-hab, and are there as he miraculously re-gains some use of one arm. we are there as the community of Boston, and the whole sports world wanted to lend a helping hand to the Roy family. And we are there as he courageously continues on with his life, from taking his girlfriend on dates, to his Big sister's wedding, to his going back to BU as a quadraplegic student. All along, the athlete inside him never dies, and this guy does not know how to quit. His body may be broken like the sticks on the cover, but his spirit remains strong, and the reader hopes he wins the game of life in the end...Highly recommended.

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Summary: Travis Roy is a inspirational young man!
Review: Even if you are not a fan of the sport of hockey, you will be able to relate to this story of tragedy, courage and triumph. Travis Roy shows us that every cloud does have a silver lining, you just have to look for it. I laughed and cried with the author as he takes us through the life of Travis, from a young boy shooting pucks for hours on end at the ice arena where his dad worked, to the freshman at Boston University getting ready for his first college game. The determination and courage to overcome, is a lesson in life that we can all learn from.

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Summary: read it to gain a new perspective
Review: I am a hockey player myself. After reading this book I will never again complain about having to lace up my skates and hit the ice - no matter how tired I am, how early it is, how likely my team is to lose, or how cold it is in the rink. Reading this book reduced me to tears of sadness for what Travis has lost - and tears of gratitude for being able to do what I love....play hockey.

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Summary: In the mind of a Quad
Review: I am a homecare social worker. I have worked with quadraplegics for years. However, this book TOOK me into the mind of a quad...the fears, pain , struggles, frustrations and triumphs. Every professional working with persons with disabilities should be required to read this book! Travis had great courage to write this book!

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Summary: An Amazing Young Man, and A Fast and Fascinating Read.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Absloutely amazing
Review: I live right by the town where travis roy grew up which i think is the thing that made the book so powerful, i've skated in all the places he has the same memories of, i know all the places to the school where his mom teaches to the rink at NYA, i've met his father after one of my games and was amazed at the courage and confidence his whole family has. Being a female hockey player this book not only taught me that you can reach your goals but overcome any obsticales thrown on you with a smile on your face.