The Ride - Dean Mahon

The cases are a staple of doctor shows. A patient is out. But are they really disconnected from our world? Is their body still receiving signals, and is the brain processing them?

Dean Mahon has gone through a real life situation which rivals the strangest TV show plot. One minute he was traveling the world on business, attending conferences in Russia. The next he was in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital, fighting for his life against a baffling set of symptoms. The doctors, unsure of what was causing the problem, struggled to keep Dean alive. They tried everything from ice baths to a plethora of drugs. It was touch-and-go for eight long weeks.

Throughout this all, Dean's body was aware of what was going on.

I want to make clear, again, that this is TRUE. This is a real life account of what Dean survived.

Yes, he was unconscious. However, his body received the stabs and jolts, the freezing cold water and the murmur of voices. Those signals were passed along to his brain. And his brain, amazingly, did the best it could to get the information into the depths of an altered reality where Dean's consciousness held on until his body was healthy again.

The book goes back and forth between what the doctors and family saw on the outside, compared with what Dean was experiencing on the inside. To Dean, this was not a "dream" he was in. It was a different reality, one very much grounded in real-life sensations. Which, of course, was true. He really WAS freezing cold, due to the ice bath. He really WAS being stabbed, but by nurses. The outside world's inhabitants had little idea he could feel the things they were doing to him. But deep within himself, Dean was aware.

A fascinating look at how the human mind copes with challenges. A must-read for those interested in how the brain's varying levels of consciousness hang on despite almost insurmountable difficulties.

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