Looking Up: A Humorous and Unflinching Account of Learning to Live Again With Sudden Disability

by Tim Rushby-Smith

Tim Rushby-Smith is six foot two and highly active, with a love of high places and the great outdoors. Three years ago, with a booming garden design and landscaping business and his wife five months pregnant with their first child, Tim fell six metres out of a tree and broke his back, confining him to a wheelchair. As he came to terms with his injury, treatment and rehabilitation, Tim faced an entirely new life, in which suddenly many of life's simplest tasks became monumental challenges. This is Tim's very human story of learning to live with disability, from overwhelming feelings of anger and despair, to learning how to face the future head on, and watching his daughter take her first steps. Emotional but never self-pitying, this is his unflinchingly honest account of how he built a new life; as a man, a husband and a father.

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 3, 2008

Reviews

[Bob Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest and insightful

Honest and insightful book that is well written and talks about things able bodied people would not know of think about.

[Eric Grounds · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very candid look into the impact of sudden disability. I learned a huge amount

[Louise Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written from the heart and has given me great insight into the emotions that come with a spinal injury. It also gives a totally differant experiance to what i know and shows that recovery is not just down to the individual. Thanks Tim.

[Katherine Hayward Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this in my local library and decided to read it as soon as I read the synopsis and realized it was a real-life account. The book resonated with me despite the fact I was born with a disability and mine was not caused through an accident. Tim has a natural way of talking about his life and one which makes the reader want to know more and read on. I also felt I could identify with Tim's experience, also being a wheelchair user. It was interesting that Tim's story was based in areas of England with which I was familiar, having had family living in those areas. This and all the other things that made me identify with Tim's story made the book all the more moving and interesting for me. I love real- life stories anyway. More importantly, the book helped me glean information and advice to help me through periods in my own life, and because of that it was extra special. When I returned the book to the library I was determined to get a copy and downloaded the ebook.