Book description
On a Saturday morning in May 1980, Melanie Bowen, a pretty fifteen year
old, ran down the stairs of her parents' home in Port Talbot, grabbed
her leather jacket and crash helmet, yelled a goodbye, and then walked
out of the front door into the sunshine for what was to be the last time
in her life. Never Say Die is the true story of what followed…
Since the motorcycle crash that left her paralysed from the chest down,
Melanie's life has been one of extremes. On the down side, she has
endured 5 horrific months of despair and indignity in rehabilitation,
undergone a colostomy at 23, been in another serious car crash, suffered
syringomyelia and the terrifying prospect of full quadriplegia, been
diagnosed with breast cancer and broken several bones.
On the plus side, however, she's won medals in athletics for Wales,
been humbled and inspired by Falklands veterans at RAF Chessington,
raised thousands for charity, become a major disability poster girl in
America, dabbled with the film world and been screen tested for a movie,
met the Queen, and set up her own rehabilitation charity, whose patrons
include the acclaimed actor Michael Sheen, Dame Tanni Grey Thompson and
former Welsh Rugby captain, Gwyn Jones.
She has also, against all the odds, found lasting happiness, having
fallen in love with and married the surgeon who 25 years earlier told
her she would never walk again. At the age of fifteen Melanie Davies
was involved in a motorcycle accident that left her paralysed from the
chest down. Since then her life has never been the same, and in the
years that followed she endured a huge amount of pain and suffering.
However, she has also, against all odds, won medals in athletics for
her country, raised thousands of pounds for charity and set up her own
rehabilitation charity.
Lynne Barrett-Lee was born in London and became a full time writer
shortly after moving to Cardiff in 1994. She is the author of seven novels.
She is a regular guest broadcaster on BBC Radio Wales and also writes a
popular weekly column for the Western Mail Newspaper's Saturday
Magazine.
