Life story by nurse Helen Ross Lee shines spotlight on the amazing power of brain neuroplasticity
Helen Ross Lee is living proof that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
In 2008 the former high-achieving female hang-gliding competition pilot from Queensland, Australia, suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
The sportswoman, nurse and mother’s life was changed forever.
Over the past 12 years, Lee has slowly re-networked her brain to think, talk and walk plus found love again.
But one of her greatest rewards has been publishing her life-story book The Phoenix Rising.
“In writing my book, I have learned the art of survival. It has not been easy,” Lee said.
“I’ve learned some valuable things and I’ve had to let go of some things that were holding me back.
“I’ve learned that there’s a vast difference between knowledge, understanding and wisdom.”
So keep reading to find out more about Lee’s inspiring and extraordinary life-story journey …
Starting The Phoenix Rising
In 2012, we were visiting long-standing friends in Victoria and one of them hadn’t heard I’d had an accident.
So he was blown away when the other friends and I explained what had happened.
Indeed all three were the first to suggest I write about my experience.
Certainly I had always been good at English and writing.
For example, I topped the year in my Higher School Certificate in English for my final year of high school.
And I had also dabbled in writing books ever since my Year 6 teacher set our class an assignment of writing our first book.
Mine was called The Old House. My mother typed up all 64 pages and I hand drew the cover!
And I think I received good marks for it.
Therefore, my mother, two sisters and most of the friends who stayed in contact thought it was good for me to be filling my empty days writing.
But I don’t think any of them thought I would ever get The Phoenix Rising traditionally published.
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The writing process
I think I started drafting The Phoenix Rising in early 2013.
Next I was encouraged to self-publish in 2016 by a Sydney businessman.
He was a therapist who I had come to know well.
As a result I received many good reviews.
However, I had the book assessed for traditional publishing and was advised it needed professional editing.
Therefore, when I sold my house – which I’d been struggling to hang onto after the accident – I spent a good deal of money having a professional editing team from Melbourne work with me.
Indeed we spent a full year working on the manuscript together from long distance.
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Ups and downs of writing The Phoenix Rising
Overcoming challenges
The hardest part was finding a publisher who understood the complex scientific facts about neuroplasticity.
Firstly, I submitted my professionally edited manuscript to Australian publishers and literary agents – one after another – for about a year.
Eventually I was ready to give up.
But I thought I couldn’t be the only person who had experienced knockbacks.
After all, I was a typical Aussie battler simply trying to help others in the world, who had suffered traumatic brain injuries or had strokes!
So I researched ‘brain injured authors’ and found a woman in the United States who I emailed.
However, the chief editor of her publishing company Loving Healing Press replied.
Certainly he was impressed by my writing detail and accuracy about traumatic brain injury and recovery: “This type of high-quality, holistic memoir is quite rare.”
Finally, in September 2019 I signed a traditional publishing contract with Loving Healing Press.
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Amazing rewards
The most rewarding part of The Phoenix Rising has been having people believe me.
Especially validating that it was a 100% true account of my circumstances.
For example, my father-in-law – who has a brain the size of a planet – recently read my book and commented: “I thought while reading, this hasn’t been written by a person with a brain injury. The author of this book has obviously re-networked her brain!”
Another endorsement came from the director of clinical and hospitality services of a private hospital on the Gold Coast, Queensland, where I worked before my accident as a registered general nurse in the emergency department.
Indeed, she said my story was “required to be told to the world”.
Most importantly, the book has been supported by Professor Niels Birbaumer who has spent the past 50 years researching and writing about the human brain.
“The book is an astonishing document of self-determination and self-regulation and will become a model text not only for the many hundreds of thousands brain-damaged people in the world and their families but also as a document for the scientific research of brain plasticity and brain recovery,” Professor Birbaumer wrote.
Finally, I also have a favourite part of the book.
This is the love story of how Wayne and I met, how he cared for me, believed in me and how we married.
But the best part is what is happening now after my book ends!
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Final say: The Phoenix Rising
Lee’s life-story book is very different to most.
Most importantly, this is because many of the events were still unfolding and happening to her as she wrote.
“It has been such a difficult turbulent time,” she said.
Now Lee is working hard to promote The Phoenix Rising and spread its core message.
“Whether you’ve experienced an acquired brain injury such as a cerebrovascular accident (stroke) or whether you’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury (like I have), the human brain is capable of neuroplasticity,” Lee said.
“It is able to re-network itself and people are able to regain both motor and cognitive functions, the degree to which, depends on how much effort they put into working on their recovery.
“So much is yet to be understood about the human brain.”
Go to Lee’s website to find all the links about where to buy print and digital versions of her book.
“To my incredulity, everyone who has read it so far, loves it!”
Happy writing!
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This article first appeared on the website Forever Young Autobiographies.com.
