A Mind of My Own: memoir of recovery from Aphasia by Harrianne Mills

Born in Japan and raised mostly in the American South, Harrianne Mills spent much of her childhood learning languages, playing the piano, and traveling abroad. After receiving a BA in history and doing graduate work in classics at Stanford, Harrianne spent 12 years teaching classical languages and history at Kenyon College in Ohio, working as an archaeologist on the Isthmia excavations in Greece, and publishing her research. After her accident, she worked for two Stanford research centers and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She now works at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology and is also editorial assistant for the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Harrianne has eclectic interests and enjoys traveling , reading and writing, and exploring new worlds of knowledge. She lives with her lifetime-companion, Tom Davidson, in Mountain View, California.

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I'm posting this review of my daughter's book for my friend Elmer West, who has no email: This book is the detailed, personal account of Harrianne Mills' recovery from serious physical injuries and devastating brain damage following a motorcycle accident in Greece in May 1985. She was rushed to the hospital, quickly examined, declared to be dead and sent to the morgue. Only then was it discovered that she was in a coma. The coma lasted only 12 hours but her recovery took an agonizing year as she slowly began to recognize family members, remember her own identity and learn again how to walk, talk, think and read. Harrianne's recovery was the result of good medical help, much of it related to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, and the loving care of her mother through most of that staggering journey toward normalcy. Beyond everything else, it was due to her indomitable will to get well. She tells her own story in stark detail, buttressed by medical records and input from family and friends. For twelve years before the accident she was a college professor of classical languages. Now she is on the staff of the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology. This story has the thrust of a beyond belief novel; except that it is the true story of an amazingly bright, free spirited woman who never gave up!