Larry and Joanie Kerpelman would have been hard-pressed to say what more they could have wanted out of life until a freak fall caused Joanie to sustain a traumatic brain injury that threw their equilibrium off course. It took three emergency room visits, two hospitalizations, one brain surgery, and months of rehabilitation to enable her to regain her lost capabilities.

In Pieces Missing: A Family’s Journey of Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury, Dr. Kerpelman tells Joanie’s story as it happens, based on journal entries and e-mails he wrote at the time. You will watch and feel as she is hospitalized, faces dysfunction and possibly death, undergoes emergency surgery, and then, over the course of a year—with her family’s support and encouragement—recovers the pieces missing from her memory, speech, confidence, and joy of life.

This is a story of how a marriage and family persevered and survived the biggest crisis of their lives, showing that the human spirit and love can not only help a family overcome a devastating health challenge but also gain from it. Yet it  is more than a recounting of one person’s recovery from a brain injury. Woven into it are discussions of shortfalls within our health care system along with information about traumatic brain injury that can serve as a valuable resource for anyone dealing with such an injury and its aftermath. Whether you or a loved one has been affected by traumatic brain injury, or want an inside account of how health care is delivered, or wish to see how the human spirit deals with adversity, you will be touched and inspired by this memoir of love, hope, family, healing, and recovery.