Catch Me if I Fall: How mental health broke my back but didn't break me: How mental heath broke my back but didn't break me

Great read, brave, strong, positive woman, an inspiration. I'm a great believer in positive thinking and also us visuals to help and heal, this is a prime example that it works.

I bought this memoir because I've got to know Nikki on Twitter and wanted to support her, and also because I wanted to read about how she recovered from a devastating spinal cord injury. I expected to find it moderately interesting, but it's riveting, from start to finish. It's written in such a chatty, engaging way; Nikki definitely has plenty of storytelling talent. I couldn't stop turning those pages.I did not realise until I began the book that Nikki has a severe mental health problem - and no, I don't mean the sort that is claimed in many a social media post every time someone has a bit of a bad day or feels a bit anxious. She suffers from psychosis, something I knew very little about. Her account of the incident that culminated in her spinal cord injury was harrowing to read about, though more shocking in a different way was the blow-by-blow account of her slow, painstaking recovery.I'm fascinated by all things psychological, less so by the medical, but I was still gripped all the way through this. It's written in a very 'warts and all' fashion - now and again it was a bit 'TMI', but my goodness, I take my hat off to anyone who has been through an ordeal like Nikki's and come out smiling. At the same time, I wondered if she realised how much she has told the reader about herself; for instance, she talks about her daughters frequently not speaking to each other or not speaking to her, as if this is something quite every-day, and, although she talks a little about her relationship with her father, I wondered if she sees how much it has influenced the rest of her life.There was just one thing missing - pictures! Nikki talks a lot about the photos she posted on Facebook, throughout, and it would have been so great to see them in the book. However, if you look here on her blog, there are many posts under 'Hospital 2019' that show some of them.I so admire Nikki's guts in getting through this life-changing period, whilst turning negatives into positives and using the experience to re-evaluate her life. I think it should be read by anyone who is going through a long recovery of this type or suffers from psychosis and the stigma attached to severe psychological problems; I hate to use the ghastly buzzword 'inspirational', but it really is. I highly recommend it anyway, even if you don't think a medical memoir will be your sort of thing. You won't be able to put it down either, I guarantee!

I don’t often read non-fiction memoir but was intrigued to understand what had happened to cause Nikki Rodwell to break her back and also I wanted to read her story of hopeful recovery.It is very clear from the outset how shocking this injury was for Nikki and her family, and how they couldn’t talk about what had actually happened. Indeed, the reader is left with many questions during the first part of the book. Even when these are answered I found it difficult to understand, and worrying. I didn’t know such a thing was possible, and that it could come out of nowhere. A trigger, that’s all that is needed.Rodwell charts her initial trip to hospital, the terror of the whole thing, very well. She sets out clearly her progress, or at times lack of it, from then on. I thought her, mostly, positive attitude served her well as did her visualisation techniques for dealing with her incontinence issues. I’ve heard of this being used in cancer cases before with similar results.Nothing is held back in this book. Rodwell is honest and incredibly open in her thoughts throughout her writing, which flows very well by the way, and I enjoyed her interaction with staff, other patients and of course her family, especially Martin. He managed to hold together running the café as well as deal with the trauma of everything Nikki was going through, and still kept a smile. Seems like a pretty amazing man to me!I think this book would be a really useful read for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation and is looking for something inspirational as well as practical, because there are loads of useful tips in here of how to organise yourself, and the sorts of things you can get to help you along the way.

I so wish I could like this book more than Indo. Nikki Rodwell is obviously a remarkable lady but from this book I cannot like her. At the end she acknowledges her unbelievable husband and at last seems to care as much.for her daughter than her dogs. This may just be that she didn't feel able to reveal everything but it doesn't make her overly likeable.I chose this book because although I'm considerably older, facing similar but different physical.challenges, I thought this book would stiffen my sinews. The author's inability until the end to face up to her mental health issues (as an objective outsider I would have thought.largely caused by her parents and upbringing) to infuriated me. Nevertheless, her iron determination was extremely impressive and made me want to brace up even more!No, I didn't particularly like the book but for people facing life changing health issues, it is a good, thought provoking read.