Title: Starfish Sky
Author: Timothy A. Slykhuis
Publisher: Baico Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 1927481554
Pages: 333
Genre: Memoir
Reviewed by: David Allen
Pacific Book Review
If you missed The Who’s rock opera Tommy, this book gives you a chance to catch it on the rebound. If you or someone you care about has about been seriously impaired by illness or injury, this book will provide hope and a new sense of purpose. If you are generally interested in the human condition, and want to be impressed by the resiliency and heroism that can stand us proud – well then, this book is for you.
Timothy Slykhuis gifts us with his true-life tale of going down so low that he almost never makes it back again. Thirty days into an exciting new relationship, Tim has a near fatal accident while biking to work. When he awakens from coma, he finds himself woefully damaged. His memory is faulty, he is mostly unable to speak, and his days as an athlete and work out champ may have come and gone.
Tim becomes the focus of months’ long medical exertions in Toronto, Canada; life-saving surgery, life support, physical vocational and psychiatric therapy. His girlfriend, a nurse named Aileen, loves him enough to assume the burden of his care, with open arms and a caring heart. As a TBI (traumatic brain injury) patient, Tim must relearn, step by painful step, some of the basic activities and transactions of daily living that we mostly take for granted.
Tim’s Herculean task will be familiar to any who have navigated medical and surgical care in the United States or Canada. So will his checkered experience of getting back on the beam and reclaiming his life. He does so but on wholly different terms. The automobile driver who ran a light and smashed him up must settle him up: the jury trial results in a settlement that allows Tim to travel extensively and savor the world as he never did before.
Tim locks horns with adversity time and time again. The relationship with Aileen ends. His brother dies an untimely death. He falls in love again, this time with a woman called Valerie, who turns out to be incapable of emotional intimacy.
That’s not all. Hold on to your hats as Tim surprises himself and the reader with one amazing comeback after another. He spends over a month in Bangladesh, humbled by the squalor and misery he finds endemic there. He explores the jungles of Costa Rica, piloting a small aircraft. He faces his fear and gets back up on the proverbial saddle – in his case, a bicycle seat. He rides across America, Europe and parts beyond. His mouth-watering descriptions of locale and cuisine in Tuscany, Paris and Holland document his personal renaissance and return to life.
Timothy A. Slykhuis’ book helps explain the universal appeal of Tommy and similar profiles in courage. I hope Pete Townshend gets to read it. Starfish Sky should be required reading for those in the neurological field as well as families of those facing disabling injuries, and anyone who could use a dose of some strength and wisdom. Slykhuis’ story is one of change, triumph and new beginnings.
