Deborah Quinn was living a fairy tale life. Married to the man she loved and cherished, financially secure, and set to move her life from Massachusetts to Florida to help grow her own successful business, everything was wonderful. But in February of 1989, as Deborah and her husband Bob were on a long drive, tragedy struck. Due to a blown out tire, their car careened off the road, rolled over four times, and ended up in a ditch. The results of the accident were tragic; Bob was dead and Deborah was in a coma. When she came to, she not only learned the fate of her husband of nine months, but also that she had suffered a tremendous brain injury. Healing would be a difficult process. While the doctors felt most of her recovery would be based on physical needs, Deborah soon discovered numerous ways in which she could no longer think or remember clearly.
As the realization of everything that she had lost hit, Deborah went through months of depression. Not only Bob, but the whole life she had enjoyed so much was gone. She could no longer do many of the things she once did. Whether it be the simple task of getting out of bed, or the management of her business, Deborah suffered through physical pain and dizziness. She had to wear a huge cage-like contraption on her head to keep her neck from breaking while her spine healed.
Over the course of just a few months, Deborah Quinn’s charmed life turned into a nightmare of doctors, lawyers, insurance agents, and creditors. Worse, some friends who Deborah had long trusted took advantage of her, thinking she would never survive or function normally again. One of these “friends” went so far as to embezzle over $40,000 from her business and caused its bankruptcy. To make matters worse, Deborah’s mother-in-law, with whom she had a tenuous relationship with from the start, wanted to claim that Deborah was to blame for the accident. As a result, almost all of the insurance settlements were put on hold as lawyers battled for two years over Bob’s estate and settlement money. In the process, Deborah saw the $2 million estate she had built, over ten years dwindle away to nothing, and she nearly became homeless.
So life became a struggle for survival. While Deborah worked to keep her business alive and endure the physical and psychological therapy, many of her friends and family could not understand her struggles because she appeared to heal physically after a year. Despite confusion, dizziness, headaches, and memory loss, Deborah forged on, wanting to overcome the past and become self sufficient again.
Conquering The Darkness is Deborah’s story. It takes you through the pain and darkness she initially experienced and how she overcame it all to become the person she is today. The book was not written for your sympathy, but to help others who have suffered brain injuries learn how they, too, can recover.
DEBORAH QUINN lives in Florida. She is now the owner of her own business, Ingenuity Products, Inc., which is involved in financing, developing, and marketing a golf ball retriever and other golf accessories. She is also active in helping brain injury patients and their relatives through personal referrals, working with them in sharing her own tips for recovery. Before her own brain injury, she was the owner of a Mail Boxes, Etc. area franchise and participated in numerous real estate development projects. Now 85% recovered, she still participates in various training and exercise programs to improve her physical and mental skills. \
