Picture this: you wake in a hospital bed. Searing pain courses through your body from your toes to your head. On your head, there is a hole where they’ve placed a drain to counter the effects of the terrible subarachnoid haemorrhage you’ve suffered. You open your eyes, and the botched blood still remains in the right eye, as does the appalling double vision. You struggle to pull yourself a little more upright and reach over to the table with trembling hand to get the eye-patch to cover the now weeping eye.There’s the hustle and bustle of the Intensive Care Unit beyond, and a TV plays in an adjacent bed. Every sound is muffled and distorted, like profound, dismal cathedral bells. This is hell. You struggle to sit up some more, pushing against the paralyzed right foot that slips helplessly against the sheets. You lean over again to hit the button for the bell that summons the nurse; more morphine is needed for the exhausting pain. Tonight, you will suffer a near-fatal catastrophic seizure brought on by blood seeping into the brain.Life, Death, Tai Chi and Me - My Brain Injury Journey is the incredible true story of an epic struggle to defy the odds and survive the most profound physical and mental trauma.If you've had a brain injury or know someone who has, if you've ever wondered what a near-death experience is actually like, if you've been intrigued by the power that martial arts can have on one's mental and physical resolve, if you question your own mortality and your place in the universe, or if you want to know what it's like to come back from the dead, then this book is for you.
Jason Riddington is a professional actor and teacher. He began his screen career playing Hareton Earnshaw in Peter Kosminsky's Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes. Major television performances followed including Dr Rob Khalefa in the BAFTA award winning series 13 of Casualty; South-African Ashley Davies in Inspector Morse opposite John Thaw and Kevin Whately; further TV appearances include Eastenders, A Touch of Frost, Berlin breaks, Bugs, Second Thoughts, The Bill, Family Affairs, Highlander and most recently, Luther with Idris Elba and Birds of a Feather opposite Pauline Quirke, Lesley Joseph and Linda Robson. Further film credits include Edmund in Brian Blessed's King Lear, Paul in Where There’s Smoke, and The Man in Jason Hreno's Wondering Eyes.
A classically trained actor at LAMDA, London, many major stage roles include the title roles in Hamlet, (the rehearsal process and performances being featured in Tony Lee's BBC2 documentary Playing the Dane) and MacBeth; Geoffrey in The Lion in Winter opposite Brian Blessed, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, and his first professional role as Peachum in The Beggar’s Opera with Nick Moran; and very recently with Nick Moran again (20 years later!) in Bill Kenwright's West End hit 12 Angry Men, playing a range of parts with, among the incredible cast, Martin Shaw, Jeff Fahey and Robert Vaughn - finishing the run in the leading role Juror 8. Jason wrote the original story for the award-winning short film Motherland, currently on Amazon Prime, in which he plays co-lead, opposite the captivatingly talented Sope Dirisu.
An experienced and highly qualified teacher of acting, until his SAH Jason combined performing with teaching at some of London’s top drama schools, he was also Head of Drama at prestigious Bedford Modern School 2003-2011. He has been a teacher and practitioner of T’ai Chi Qigong for 30 years.
He lives with his wife Faye in the beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside. They currently have four horses and two dogs! He has three grown up children Emily, Mikey and Phoebe and grand-daughter Leila.
On June 29th 2021 he suffered a massive subarachnoid haemorrhage and was admitted to John Radcliffe Hospital for emergency brain surgery. He suffered further life-threatening complications with a seizure on the 10th July 2021. After a total of four bouts of brain surgery he was discharged from hospital on July 29th 2021. He now focuses upon writing, his Personal Training business, T’ai Chi practice and teaching, and recovering from his brain injury.
Customer
Reviews
9 reviews
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A real insight of the early stages of recovery from a brain injury.
A must read for anyone in recovery and for anyone who has lost any form of mobility.
Tai chi is an amazing way to get back to fitness.
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This book is a compelling human story intertwined with life skills and Tai Chi. It's a compelling human story. This book is for anyone interested in Tai Chi Qi gong. I literally could not out this down best read of this year.
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I really enjoyed reading this fabulous story of Jason’s journey through his SAH. An honest to the point and fantastic read. It made me laugh, cry and relate to my own journey. Highly recommend this book. Thank you Jason for sharing your journey so openly and honestly.
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This book is astonishing in telling the true story of experiencing a very scary and massive brain aneurism which caused two near death events and significant injuries. The month long stay in hospital, struggles to define just what injuries had occured and discovery that his long practised Tai Chi exercises could be a way of achieving some physical and mental recovery is powerfully exposed. At first, going through these exercises in his head, then gradually in a physical form, the writer shows how this discipline provided a foundation for his amazing recovery. The injuries to his hearing and eyesight and development of his own methods of healing them are described with such clarity, I almost felt to be there and emotionally witnessing, the writer's struggles and triumphs. His eloquent description of the mental trauma such a brain injury caused for him conveys the hugely difficult journey that will probably challenge him for the rest of his life. Again the immense odds of finding ways through such challenges are made clear but, as his fight goes on dealing with insomnia, loss of memory, brain fog, fatigue, ability to concentrate etc., he shows how his methods of practising Tai Chi, riding horses, learning something new, writing this book and many poems have helped progression towards a spiritual strength of mind. Clearly, for him, the fight goes on. I think that this book is excellent and everyone should read it, brain injured or not, because it makes you appreciate the fraility of life and how important it is to treasure it and fight to save it no matter what adversity one faces. I hope that there will be a sequal to learn more about his incredible journey.
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It took me quite some time to get through the first part of this book, for all the right reasons - it is a raw, unfiltered and completely honest account of a healthy athlete/artist who nearly dies. As such, as well as being naturally inspiring, it is also deeply upsetting. It’s upsetting because the author, being an artist, is unusually honest - and such honesty resonates with and through all of us when we see and read it. It is beautifully human - warts ’n all. This is real art in its purest form.
The Tai-Chi section is excellent - such a simple and easy introduction for absolutely anyone and everyone of every age. And again, such an inspiration. I’ve tried and I can’t do half of the exercises like Jason can! Amazing. Through the rest of the book the author continues to take us on his journey of recovery - it’s like having access to someone’s open notebook as they try to not only deal with what has happened to them, but also find a new way to work with the past, present and future, with a slightly different (and not always compliant) brain! We all struggle with our minds - there is real insight here.
I think this book is an essential read for everyone. For those of us lucky enough not to have suffered a brain injury it is a thought-provoking workbook of ideas, thoughts and feelings on life and death, and the essential role of meditation in daily life. Furthermore, it has a sharp focus on what the Buddhist’s might call 'martial zen’ (i.e. meditation through martial arts), from a true and real survivor. And for those who have, unfortunately, suffered a brain injury, I’m sure this book is also an absolute must-read. It shows what can be done, even in the face of not just uncertainty, but in the face of death itself. Compelling stuff indeed. I look forward to the sequel.
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I was sent this book by Jason whom I represent as a voice actor. We were fully aware of the illness he had suffered, but less aware of how he came to recover so effectively. It's a remarkable true story of a wife saving a husband and how T'ai Chi Qigong and the focus it brings to the mind and body helped Jason to recover at an incredible pace, defying the odds.
It's an easy read, but it's informative, interesting and honest, and if you are intrigued by the power of martial arts, what a near death experience was like for one person, or indeed if you are interested about your own place in the universe, then buy this book, read it, and then read it again.
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I have the pleasure of representing Jason as his Theatrical Agent and am so proud to see "published author" added to his extensive list of skills! This is a compelling, brutal, funny and uplifting story, a real page turner depicting an honest account of the battle to recovery post a massive health trauma alongside the continued navigation of life with a brain injury. A must for anyone who has experienced similar or knows someone who has, or for those interested in learning about the healing properties of T'ai Chi Qigong. A heart-warming and humbling read, I couldn't put it down!
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This a beautifully written and deeply resonating book. You don’t need to have had suffered a life altering brain injury to be captivated by its warmth and love of those that surround Jason’s life. Paradoxically, this is not about what happened to one man but about humankind and how we can negotiate, navigate living life with some attainable and tangible sense of harmony. The interwoven stories and episodes of human experience grip you and make you want to carry the optimism into your own life, right here, right now. A book of renewal, of hope against the jaws of death. An astonishing account; told with humility, love and an integrity that leaves you in a better place. One of those books you want to go back to and pass onto others. Extraordinary.
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