If not now – When? A story about Geoff, a gentleman who fell down the stairs.

In September 2008 Geoff fell down the stairs and incurred a massive head injury and a stroke. We do not know if the stroke caused the fall or the fall the stroke – he only ever remembered ‘just falling’. This is the story of the year afterwards.

We, as a family, began documenting the events of our lives starting from the night of the fall capturing everything in the form of text, photographs and drawings. This documentation continued until a year after Geoff’s death in January 2013.

What originally began as a coping mechanism for our family has become an incredible insight into what it is like living with a devastating illness/ injury – taken from the perspective of the sufferer and their surrounding family.

I made a conscious effort to keep both the light and darkness in this book as sometimes you have to laugh until you cry uncontrollably and sometimes you want to throw your shoe out of the window and scream; both are acceptable.

This book gives the reader a chance to really stop and look into the window of a home of a family who lives with a life changing incident and welcomes you inside rather than letting you just keep on walking by - blissfully ignorant.

This will appeal nationwide to anybody interested in real-life stories and who may be going through similar medical issues.

About the Author

Annie Fielder is a creative artist who is based in Derbyshire. Annie was born in Suffolk and has spent her life growing up between Suffolk and Derbyshire and now lives in a little village outside of Matlock.

Annie co-owns a small company called Whiffle Pig which makes bespoke orders out of up cycled materials and uses the profit to run creative workshops, for free, for local charities – primarily working with head injury and dementia sufferers.

Geoff loathed how much his accident changed him, knowing his story will help others will mean that it was not all in vain. Annie wants to tell Geoff’s story properly to help others in a similar situation find solace.