BEYOND THE LEGAL LIMIT

A personal, candid, and powerful memoir about surviving trauma and living with disability.

Henman had a busy life as a singer, actor, concert and theater director, and mother of three teenagers, which was upended suddenly on a sunny summer day on June 9, 2013. She and her 19-year-old daughter, Maia, were driving home to Nelson, British Columbia, from a weekend visit with relatives in Calgary, Alberta, where Maia had just completed her first year of university, when a drunk driver crashed into them head-on. Both women suffered horrific injuries, multiple surgeries, long hospitalizations, PTSD, chronic pain, and disabilities that necessitated the use of wheelchairs. Over the next three years, they also contended with complicated, slow criminal and civil legal proceedings against the driver in a system that, as Henman depicts it, often makes victims feel powerless. The author tells her story in straightforward, matter-of-fact language and with great honesty, as when she tells of weeping tears of joy the first time she’s able to shower, and even some humor, as when she calls recurrent abscesses “little bastards.” She’s also thoughtful and empathetic about her struggles to come to terms with the crash and its consequences. The loss of music in her life is particularly poignant; she was unable to listen to it for the first year, due to brain injury, and damage to her vocal cords altered her voice. Her account of living with an ileostomy offers a new perspective on disability, and she argues persuasively that driving under the influence should be treated as a violent crime. The first two-thirds of the narrative focus mainly on her recovery process, highlighting the support of the author’s family and community, while the latter portion deals with legal aspects in more detail and the help she received from Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada, for which she’s an active volunteer. An epilogue describes Henman’s eventual return to creative work, her ongoing advocacy for crime victims, and Maia’s graduation, budding career, and advocacy for people living with chronic pain.

An insightful and moving account of survival and recovery.