Join us for a free public talk with author Dr. Rikke Schmidt Kjærgaard.  Her book, The Blink of an Eye is about hope, family, and deadly microbes.  Bill Bryson calls it, “The most spellbinding and harrowing story I believe I have ever heard.”

It was New Year’s Day. Rikke, a young mother and scientist, was celebrating with family and friends when she was struck down with a sudden fever. Within hours, she’d suffered multiple organ failure and was clinically dead.

Then, brought back to the edge of life—trapped in a near-death coma—she was given a 5% chance of survival. She awoke to find herself completely paralyzed, with blinking as her sole means to communicate with the outside world.

The Blink of an Eye is Rikke’s gripping account, equal parts hope, thriller and scientific mystery, of being locked inside her own body, and what it took to painstakingly relearn every basic life skill—from breathing and swallowing, speaking and walking, to truly living again. Much more than an account of recovery against all odds—this is, at its heart, a celebration of love, family, and every little thing that matters when life hangs in the balance.