The Shame of Losing

“A book about the brutal realities of a traumatic brain injury; but it is also about a young mother trying to save her own life. Honest, poetic.” ―Ann Hedreen, author of Her Beautiful Brain
On the morning before Halloween in 2007, Sarah receives a phone call from her husband’s arborist colleague. Matt, her spouse of seven years and father of their two small children, has been severely injured by a falling tree branch while working in a neighborhood east of Seattle. Visions of their future go dark as she learns to care for the man she depended on for support. Faced with choices about how to behave through this unexpected journey, she takes as many steps back as she does forward and begins a rite of passage she never imagined. The Shame of Losing “is an unforgettable story of a ‘full-time witness’ to trauma and its aftershocks. With refreshing candor and a brilliant sense of humor, Sarah takes us through the maze of caring for a loved one who has suffered a traumatic brain injury and reckons deeply with what her own recovery should look like” (Leigh Stein, author of Self Care).
“A major strength of this memoir is Cannon’s passionate release of her voice, her shame.” —Punctuate
“Sarah Cannon’s memoir navigates trauma’s juggernaut in a way so compelling the reader witnesses the opening catastrophe first-hand through the lens of her experience … With fierce unflinching grit she faces the unrelenting learning her struggle demands and emerges with discerning hard-won clarity. Her courage is palpable and inspires.” —Joan Fiset, author of Namesake