Heaven Is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph, and Everyday Joy
Stephanie Nielson
Language: English
Pages: 320
ISBN: 1401341799
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Go on an unforgettable journey, with a woman who has unimaginable strength.
Stephanie Nielson began sharing her life in 2005 on nieniedialogues.com, drawing readers in with her warmth and candor. She quickly attracted a loyal following that was captivated by the upbeat mother happily raising her young children, madly in love with her husband, Christian (Mr. Nielson to her readers), and filled with gratitude for her blessed life.
However, everything changed in an instant on a sunny day in August 2008, when Stephanie and Christian were in a horrific plane crash. Christian was burned over 40 percent of his body, and Stephanie was on the brink of death, with burns over 80 percent of her body. She would remain in a coma for four months.
In the aftermath of this harrowing tragedy, Stephanie maintained a stunning sense of humor, optimism, and resilience. She has since shared this strength of spirit with others through her blog, in magazine features, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Now, in this moving memoir, Stephanie tells the full, extraordinary story of her unlikely recovery and the incredible love behind it--from a riveting account of the crash to all that followed in its wake. With vivid detail, Stephanie recounts her emotional and physical journey, from her first painful days after awakening from the coma to the first time she saw her face in the mirror, the first kiss she shared with Christian after the accident, and the first time she talked to her children after their long separation. She also reflects back on life before the accident, to her happy childhood as one of nine siblings, her close-knit community and strong Mormon faith, and her fairy-tale love story, all of which became her foundation of strength as she rebuilt her life.
What emerges from the wreckage of a tragic accident is a unique perspective on joy, beauty, and overcoming adversity that is as gripping as it is inspirational. Heaven Is Here is a poignant reminder of how faith and family, love and community can bolster us, sustain us, and quite literally, in some cases, save us.
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made. Her company kept the fear at bay, but she saw the desperate look in my eyes when it was time for her to leave. When I was alone the worry would take over, an unrelenting cycle of anxiety. “Stephanie, would you like someone in the family to stay here with you every night?” Page asked. “There are certainly enough of us, I think we could do it.” I was hesitant at first because I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone, but the thought of having my siblings come and stay with me was instantly
looked a lot like the skin on my arms, scarred and blotchy. I kept going. I looked at my chin, then my lips. Could those be my lips? They were huge. When I got to my nose, I cried out and put the mirror down. My nose was completely different, smaller and misshapen. I was unrecognizable. Unrecognizable. The weight of that word settled heavy on my chest. I took another deep breath. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, I thought. I’m overreacting. It wasn’t so bad. Determined, I picked up the mirror again. It
this had backfired. Horribly. I felt like I had been ambushed. Seeing my children had gone as terribly as I had feared it would. I had never hoped it would be perfect—I knew better than that. Like looking in the mirror, I had just hoped if we could give it enough time, it would somehow be easier on the children. When my nurse came back to check on me she brought drawings that my sisters had left for me. They were colored-pencil pictures Claire and Jane had drawn. In one, Jane and I were holding
that I’d made it through another day and praying for another good day tomorrow. Christian read the scriptures to me, and though I tried to focus, my mind wandered to thoughts of being home—my first full day out of the hospital. It had been a good day. And a hard day. And tomorrow would be exactly the same. Painful and dependent. Would my new hospital staff—Christian, Page, and the rest of my family—feel as enthusiastic in the days to come as they had today? I hoped they had more resolve than I
Ollie and meant that Christian could stay in bed just a little longer. I needed to go to the bathroom next and I usually had help, but this time I did it by myself. I realized that the only way I was going to learn to do things again was to actually do them. I needed to have the courage to try and to work hard. I had to be willing to fail and then try again. And keep trying and failing until I got strong enough to succeed. Jane still hadn’t looked me in the face since her first visit in the