In the summer of 2005, Karen Gonzalez and her husband receive the one phone call every parent dreads: their beautiful daughter, Bianca, who risked injury every time she competed in equestrian jumping has instead been in a horrific motorcycle accident, and she hadn't been wearing a helmet. As an R.N. working surgery, Karen is only too aware of the extensive brain damage that can come from this type of accident-if the victim even survives. Suddenly it is her child receiving extensive life-saving measures, being taken into ...
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In the summer of 2005, Karen Gonzalez and her husband receive the one phone call every parent dreads: their beautiful daughter, Bianca, who risked injury every time she competed in equestrian jumping has instead been in a horrific motorcycle accident, and she hadn't been wearing a helmet. As an R.N. working surgery, Karen is only too aware of the extensive brain damage that can come from this type of accident-if the victim even survives. Suddenly it is her child receiving extensive life-saving measures, being taken into emergency surgery, and then fighting the day to day battle to even pronounce a word or move her limbs. They quickly exhaust their options in their local Kansas town, and Karen takes extraordinary measures to have Bianca admitted to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, Florida. The six weeks that Bianca and she are there is eye-opening and life-changing. In the midst of her own troubles, Karen still finds time for the stories of the other patients residing there, including the female victim of a drug lord's sadistic violence. But is she the victim or the drug lord? Karen is only vaguely aware of the ominous forecasting of Hurricane Katrina as the storm barrels down on the Gulf coast. Although Miami only receives a glancing blow, it is still enough for Karen to find herself scrambling through a flood of water on the lower floor of the hospital. Then the patients from the New Orleans Superdome arrive and Karen is shocked by the accounts of what really went on in that shelter during the midst of the storm and the days after. Through all this, she is focused on Bianca. Will she move? Will she ever talk? Is there any hope at all of finding her daughter somewhere deep inside this helpless being? By the end of their Six Weeks at Ryder, Karen will have her answer."
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