Jean-Dominique Bauby was a regular french writer who had two children and was divorced. However, on December 8, 1995, everything changed for him. Jean and his son Théophile were enjoying a drive together when suddenly Jean started having a stroke. He was rushed to the hospital, where he slipped into a coma for three weeks. As he woke up, he was completely paralyzed, and the doctor diagnosed him with locked-in syndrome. He was paralyzed from the neck down, only was able to move his left eye.
Despite his condition, he wrote a book called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking when the correct letter was reached by his caretaker slowly reciting the alphabet over and over again using a system called partner-assisted scanning. He composed the book on his head by remembering each paragraph and dictating one letter at a time. And it only took 200,000 blinks.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a short memoir of Bauby living after the accident. He expressed what it feels like to be "trapped inside" his body. The diving bell represents the traditional heave diving headgear, which is pretty heavy and impossible to move. The Butterfly represents his wild imagination floating around. Because of the "Butterfly," he could go to China, go to a museum, or recall his favorite meal.
It is a fantastic book filled with joy and sadness. What is fascinating is his ability to be creative and memorize a book; it is also fascinating some of the stuff that he appreciates that some people may take for granted or not care at all. What is sad to me is that he is always lonely and cannot do anything without someone else's help (even going to the bathroom). However, he keeps himself busy through his imagination. And the only form of communication with the outside world is his left eye blinking each time a letter comes, which would take some minutes just to compose a simple sentence.
We all have disadvantages in our lives, but Bauby has taught me never to give up. Always complete your goals. As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, "If you can't fly, run if you can't run, then walk if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward." Just because your life is disadvantageous from someone else, doesn't make a good excuse not to do something. And it doesn't matter how long it takes. Just do It !!. Even though it took Bauby 10 months to complete his book, he just kept going. There may be some bumpy roads along the way, but that doesn't mean to give up. It just means that you need to overcome them. To complete your goal, you also need to ask for help. Bauby, unfortunately, couldn't do it on his own, so he had to ask for help, and he composed an excellent work. Overall, if you need some hope and might feel down, I recommend reading The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. You won't regret it!!!
