traumatic brain injury

“I bought the Kindle version to read on a trip, thinking there might be a moment here and there when I could relax with a book. Well. I was immediately absorbed and compelled to read it every chance I had. I am so glad you were able to get it out there. It’s not only a very good read, but a very important investigation of a faulty system, which you so skillfully exposed. It is a poignant personal story that will resonate with many, I’m sure, but also a journalistic tour de force.”

front cover of book with words in white against a blue background "No Such Thing: A True Story of "Mild" Traumatic Brain Injury and My Twenty-Year (so far) Recovery"

“Lynne Malcolm’s [sic] life changes when a chair she has been asked to sit in during a parent-teacher interview collapses and her head crashes into something hard. The resulting traumatic brain injury changes her life. What I loved about this book is how the writer combined the very personal story about her injury, how it affected her work, her relationship and her daily life with research about traumatic brain injuries. These types of injuries are not uncommon and they are serious. This book informs and supports people who have experienced traumatic brain injuries and helps explain to those of us lucky enough not to have had this kind of injury what others are going through. An excellent read.”

“I literally couldn’t put this book down. I read it in one day (with breaks). It combines compelling storytelling, great research into current physical and psychological knowledge, and deep understanding of the human side of illness and pain. The denial and minimization of a head injury, from the moment it happened, shows how poorly our society deals with accidents, illness and pain. I found the actions and behaviour of many of the people the author encountered shocking. Her honesty and vulnerability in telling us how this affected even the core of her life is refreshing. It stands in stark contrast to the dishonesty and lack of empathy among educators, doctors, and lawyers. I’m sure this book will help thousands of readers.”

“This is very compelling read detailing the arduous personal journey of recovery from concussion, a poignant story that will resonate with many who have experienced the frustration of an ailment that is not properly recognized. It is also an important investigation into the failures in our justice system which put immense barriers in the way of successfully obtaining compensation from parties whose actions have resulted in personal injury.”

“This excellent read shared a deeply personal experience with thoughtful and comprehensive research. Anyone who has a traumatic brain injury or knows someone with a traumatic brain injury would benefit from this book.”

“I finished this book in three reads. Although the content wasn’t an easy read, the writing certainly was. I enjoyed the style, going back and forth between personal memories and research. In some books, this can make it difficult to follow, but not so with your book! Congrats!”

“Lynne Melcombe’s telling of her concussion journey is generous, heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring. At a parent/teacher interview her chair falls apart and so does her life. No Such Thing shows with devastating detail how a single concussion can do enormous damage to any one of us, be it from a simple fall, a common car accident or (as in my case) a few seconds of street violence on a sunny afternoon. Concussions are often called invisible injuries. Lynne’s brave struggle to overcome hers is a revealing insider’s view.”

“This is an important book that deserves a wide audience. Beautifully written with raw honesty, No Such Thing is a blessing for concussion sufferers and a vital call for empathy and understanding from friends, family and anyone working in health care, insurance, education or policymaking.”

“One day in the middle of an ordinary life, [Lynne Melcombe] went to what should have been an unremarkable meeting and made a random choice. No Such Thing: A True Story of “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury and My Twenty-Year (so far) Recovery is her harrowing account of what followed that random choice—from the gaslighting, indifference, and ignorance of healthcare professionals to the gotcha tactics of shareholder-driven insurance company lawyers. No Such Thing is a painfully personal but powerful memoir of Melcombe’s struggle to heal from a so-called “mild” brain injury, but it is also a well-researched indictment of medical, legal and political failure. It’s a must-read for anyone who might one day make a random choice in the middle of an unremarkable meeting. Which is to say all of us.”

Purchase your book or add your review to my comment section, my GoodReads page, or one (or more) of my book sale pages, below.

Paperback: Indigo.ca Amazon.ca Amazon.com Barnes & Noble
Ebook: Rakuten Kobo ebooks.com Kindle.ca Kindle.com iTunes nook

Published August 2026 by Iguana Books.

To buy a copy, visit: Amazon.ca Amazon.com Barnes & Noble

To purchase the ebook, visit: Kobo Kindle (.ca) Kindle (.com) iTunes nook

image of book cover — To read excerpts, click on the image.

“I’ve often idly wondered why people make some of the smallest decisions: Does it matter which cookie I pick up from the plate or which stall I choose in a public bathroom? Will my choice change the course of my life?

“On November 27, 2003, at 3:30 p.m., I make one of those random choices. I work at my desk until about 2:00 p.m. At around 2:45, I run a brush through my hair and swish a dollop of toothpaste around my mouth. By 3:00, I’m picking up my younger daughter from her elementary school. At 3:15, we’re rushing into her big sister’s high school, unaware that by 4:30 I’ll be signing in at the emergency department of the local hospital….

“The door opens at precisely 3:30. The teacher says goodbye to the previous parents and hello to me. I follow her across the room, where she seats herself on one side of a table and motions to two chairs on the other side.

“I choose the nearest, and that choice changes my life.”

All too often, this is exactly the way a brain injury starts—not specifically with a parent-teacher meeting or a chair, but with a random action at a random time. Contrary to common belief, most concussions—the lay term for mild traumatic brain injury—do not happen to professional athletes or occur in motor vehicle accidents. Most mTBIs happen to random people doing random things at random moments in their lives.

I can’t review my own book, but I can give you a sample of what you’ll learn if you read it:

In Canada, 400,000 people aged twelve and older sustained at least one mTBI in 2019.
While 70–85% of mTBI sufferers recover within days or weeks, at least 15% and as many as 50% have symptoms for months or years.
It is not necessary to lose consciousness or have amnesia to have had an mTBI. In fact, only about 10% of mTBIs include loss of consciousness.
It is not necessary to have taken a hit to the head to have had a concussion. The problem is not what happens externally, but what happens when the brain is bounced around inside the skull, and that can easily happen during any rapid acceleration-deceleration (whiplash-type) event.
Despite facts like these, people who suffer so-called mild traumatic brain injury are often treated dismissively, even by their own physicians.

Facts like these—and many more—gave rise to my book’s title. As concussion experts who are far more learned than I have noted, there’s no such thing as a “mild” traumatic brain injury. I support this contention with research on mTBI that I updated roughly annually and on the challenges of taking such an injury through a personal injury lawsuit, which are even greater now than they were when I was doing so.

No Such Thing is a must-read for anyone who might one day make a random choice in the middle of an unremarkable meeting. Which is to say all of us.
Stephen Kimber

I believe my book is well written and compelling, but rather than taking my word for it, read these words from Stephen Kimber, the award-winning journalist and author who co-founded and formerly directed the Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Nonfiction Writing at University of King’s College in Halifax, from which I graduated in 2015:

“One day in the middle of an ordinary life, Lynne Melcombe went to what should have been an unremarkable meeting and made a random choice. No Such Thing: A True Story of “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury and My Twenty-Year (so far) Recovery is her account of what followed that random choice—from the gaslighting, indifference, and ignorance of healthcare professionals to the gotcha tactics of shareholder-driven insurance company lawyers. No Such Thing is a painfully personal but powerful memoir of Melcombe’s struggle to heal from a so-called “mild” brain injury, but it is also a well-researched indictment of medical, legal, and political failure. It’s a must-read for anyone who might one day make a random choice in the middle of an unremarkable meeting. Which is to say all of us.”

Published August 2026 by Iguana Books.

To buy a copy, visit: Amazon.ca Amazon.com Barnes & Noble

To purchase the ebook, visit: Kobo Kindle (.ca) Kindle (.com) iTunes nook ebooks.com

For more on health, illness, and injury:

One Strong Girl: Surviving the Unimaginable—A Mother’s Memoir, by S. Leslie Buxton

Conspiracy of Hope: The Truth About Breast Cancer Screening, by Reneé Pellerin

Impact: Women Writing After Concussion, ed. by E.D. Morin and Jane Cawthorne