After the Crash

by Martin Spinelli

In the pit of my stomach, as I kissed my four-year-old son Lio and my darling wife Sasha goodbye, I knew something was up. By that evening, the police had told me about the crash.

Lio's bright and talented mother was killed that day, and he narrowly escaped the same fate. But instead of it being an ending for us, the crash was a beginning.

Lio's miraculous recovery from severe brain damage and a coma defied medical science. As I witnessed his astonishing journey - from intensive care bed to 10 Downing Street - and fought to pull him through horrific injuries and the loss of his mother, I found real purpose and meaning for the first time in my life.

After the Crash is the heart-rending true story of how one man's love for his son saved both their lives. Much more than a moving personal story, the book is a guide for not just surviving disaster, but mastering it and using it to transform your life for the better.

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2012

About the author

Martin Spinelli began a career in radio as a teenager. In his twenties as a reporter, anchor and producer in Buffalo, New York, he produced award-winning news features for National Public Radio as well as the nationally acclaimed literary series LINEbreak. In the mid-1990s he produced cutting-edge pieces heard on innovative stations around the world, as well as on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Both his benchmark radio art series Radio Radio and LINEbreak are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Television and Radio in New York while all of his radio work and writing are archived in the Martin Spinelli Collection at the University at Buffalo Library.

Martin holds degrees from the University of Sussex and Virginia Tech as well as a PhD from Buffalo. He was the founder of the Academic Radio Program at the City University of New York at Brooklyn College where he produced the AIDS-informational soap Welcome to America broadcast on Radio Africa International. His many essays about media art and history have been published in anthologies as well as journals like Postmodern Culture, Convergence and Object.

In September 2006 Martin’s life was transformed when his wife was killed and his son nearly killed by a truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel. Martin’s first book, the memoir After the Crash, tells the story of their recovery. He now writes inspirational stories and is a part-time lecturer in Media, Film and Music at the University of Sussex. But his most important and rewarding occupation is father to the most amazing boy in Britain, Lio Spinelli.

Reviews

[Hazel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing. I was mesmerised by this account of Lio(and his father's) struggle after his mother was killedin a car crash with a lorry. Lio aged 4 was the boy badly injured and practically 'dead' as one might say. It tells of his father's optimism and the Lio's zest for life being the defining factor. I posted a comment on Lio's website and today got a reply thanking me from the author of the book himself.

[Lisa Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad story luckily the little boy makes a miraculous recovery. What I didn't like about this book was the dad. Sad to say, but I felt a lot of the time was spent preaching about the "right" way to bring up a child in these circumstances and I felt that other parents in similar circumstances if they were to read this book would feel judged.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A powerful story of tragedy about a Renaissance scholar who died too young (thus me being interested in it). But something about it felt off, and I wasn't always a fan of the tone. Maybe this kind of story is just impossible to write?

[Richard Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fascinating. However, I found some of the inner spirituality rather weird and off-putting somehow (which may say more about me than the author). The story became repetitious, but so is recovering from physical and emotional trauma. I cared about all the people, especially Martin and Lio. And, I would read a volume 2 from later in the recovery phase. I wonder what their lives are like now that Lio must be around college age. Is university still a destination? Did he do anything with the piano? Can he climb mountains? None of these questions are answerable from the book because it was written so close to the crash that it lacks some perspective. It was slightly depressing to see the disappointing neurological numbers at the end of the book, indicating a theme throughout the book. This recovery will be measured in years.

[Simone Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult story to read,alot of material is repeated

[Tyler Gooding · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a deeply moving book that will effect anyone who has ever experienced a loss. But it's not just a book about surviving tragedy (of which there are many); it's and extremely gripping and well-written book where the pages just fly by. I couldn't put it down and finished it three days. It's as poignant as it is inspiring. You feel the author's hope, pain and happiness with him as he's struggling to find his way through a terrible situation and figuring out who he is and what really matters in the process.

[Alexa Blackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking yet so uplifting. I couldn't help but get caught up in the lives of Lio and Martin (and Sasha) as they make there way through a terrible moment in their lives and come out the other side with a new perspective on what's valuable. The pages really turn.