The Pain Project: A Couple's Story of Confronting Chronic Pain

(Paperback)

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Ten years after her husbands catastrophic injury, author Kara Stanley embarks with him on a journey to understand his chronic pain and find pathways into joy and relief.

Kara and her husband, Simon, are at a desperate crossroads. In 2008, Simon fell off a scaffold, causing severe injuries to his brain and spinal cord. He made a remarkable recovery, eventually adjusting to life in a wheelchair and returning to his career as a musician, but he continues to suffer from debilitating pain that is beginning to strip away his selfhood. On the ten year anniversary of the accident, Kara and Simon decide to confront Simons pain head on. They commit to spending one year researching, interviewing experts, reading self-help books, and trying new and alternative methodologies to deepen their knowledge and bring ease back into their lives.

As they navigate a difficult year, both as caregiver and as patient, Karas tenacity and Simons wit shine through in their honest conversations, insightful journal entries, and affectionate banter. Throughout, they ask profound questions about the nature of suffering and pain:

• Is it helpful to conceptualize pain as a disease, or not
• What does it mean to understand that pain is always a creation of the brain
• How does pain manifest, from the micro level of our individual genetics, to the macro level of climate change, pandemics, and inequality
• As difficult as pain is, it can also provide us with an opportunity to question our current course. What can we learn when we confront our pain head on

Honest, deeply researched, insightful, and ultimately hopeful, The Pain Project is a must-read for anyone looking for a greater understanding of pain as a phenomenon and in their own lives.

Author Bio

Kara Stanley is the author of Fallen: A Trauma, a Marriage, and the Transformative Power of Music and the novel Ghost Warning. She lives on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. Simon Paradis has been a working musician since he was fifteen years old. A serious fall in 2008 resulted in life-altering injuries, but after a long rehabilitation process, he has returned to music again. He lives on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia.