Everyone’s personal story has the potential and power to motivate, connect, inspire, and move us. Here, the spotlight shines on stories told by the amazing humans who live next door.
In 1995, Jonathan was thrown from a vehicle travelling 120kms per hour. His head met the pavement first, and while he was lucky enough to survive and even go on to thrive after the accident, he lost every memory he had of the first 22 years of his life. His brain injury also left him […]
In 1994, I was involved in an incident in Ottawa where I was stabbed thirteen times. I suffered two severe leg injuries and ten wounds on my back. The muscle in my leg had to be reconstructed as the muscle was torn in two. After the surgery was over, I had a doctor assess me […]
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, by age forty, approximately fifty percent of the population will have experienced mental illness or injury. My husband, Jeremy, and I both made the cut. Both of our health issues stem from our work. While serving in Afghanistan in 2004, Jeremy contracted a parasite. In 2005, he was […]
On January 26th, 1990, I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I was then taken into my community in North Preston where I’d imagine I was surrounded by my large and loving family. As a baby and young child, I was quiet and didn’t show much interest in playing with other children. If there […]
My name is Richard Erdmann. I am a husband, father, retired elementary principal and, more recently, a terminally ill cancer patient. It was in early August 2019 that I got my most recent personal identifier: cancer patient. That was the month that changed my and my family’s life path forever. What started as a simple […]
The afternoon of March 21, 2004 was when we first looked in to her eyes and held her in our arms. She was 7 days old and she was our miracle. Scott and I were married at 21 and immediately ready to start our family. We had so much love to give but by age […]
At age 14, I first became ill. I heard voices over a course of 9 months. I became extremely disoriented and withdrew into my own world, thinking students and my parents were plotting against me. Taken to hospital, I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I was in and out of hospital throughout high school. I […]
Have you ever wondered what you would do in a horrible situation like a tsunami, or if you lost your legs, or were trapped in rubble after an earthquake? How would you react? Do you wonder whether you would be strong enough to handle it? I was faced with a horrible situation. I was blindsided. […]
The end of the year always forces me to do a little family introspection no matter how many miles away I am from home. As the eldest of 3 boys, there were always high expectations of my own accountability, leadership and path. Lifetime projections that eventually swayed me into traveling the world. Despite the distance […]
Connection, Courage, Inspiration, Moving Forward, Resilience, Strength
My name is Dave Matthew Boddy, and I am a survivor of 15 concussions from the ages of four or five years old to twenty-five years old. When I inform people about how many concussions I have had, they always seem so surprised. However, in the past it was not really a big deal as […]
Forgiveness, Moving Forward, Perspective, Self-love, Strength
My name is Andrea and I am known as the Bipolar Babe. It is quite a story how I earned this catchy nickname and it began in 2004. My past personal challenges always lay at the forefront of my mind and they form a story that I will tell others for the rest of my […]
I was born on May 23, 1986 in Brantford, Ontario. I didn’t have any major traumas, experience any abuse or have any defining moments as a child which are often pointed to as a cause for addiction and mental health issues. The only significant issue I can point to as a child was my western […]
