A Fraction Stronger
Reviewed By Ian Banks March 10, 2022
Author Mark Berridge

Distributor: Major Street Publishing
ISBN: 9781922611284
Publisher: Major Street Publishing
Release Date: February 2022
Website: https://majorstreet.com.au
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Mark Berridge was a man who had it all; a stellar career, a lovely wife, three children and a group of mates he enjoyed going cycling with, until his ‘had it all’ came to an abrupt pause, as he found himself flying over the handlebars of his bike, crashing into a stormwater ditch, crushing two vertebrae in his spine.
His costly, actually marked down from $300 to $150, helmet saved him from a far worse fate. The helmet had a huge dent in the side where his head hit the ground with extreme force. In that pivotal moment so very much changed for Mark Berridge but that change, dramatic and drastic as it was, was to see him re-evaluate his life. In his words his ‘identity was fractured’, along with is body.
He could no longer continue with his international corporate career with a spinal injury and needed to rebuild on the skills he had gathered over a lifetime, but first he had to begin to rebuild himself.
A Fraction Stronger is his story; one that shows that from the very depth of despair there is a way forward, even though, at times there does not seem to be any choices left. As he says often, sometime the way forward is only a merest fraction, but it is there.
Looking for inspiration he drew on the story of Alan Marshall who wrote the much loved I Can Jump Puddles, about his life growing up in the Australian bush after having been afflicted with Polio, a crippling and often deadly disease.
This story along with many others helped him work that fraction longer, to regain some of the mobility lost. Berridge has designed his story to be read in segments, or when there is a need to find some motivation, not necessarily to be read from cover to cover.
As time has moved on so too has Mark Berridge, who now enjoys a life of doing what he loves best, helping to motivate people; to encourage them to go that fraction further, to help people understand that recovering from a serious injury takes time. To re-discover self-worth often takes longer but can, with help, kindness and acceptance along the way, be achieved.
A Fraction Stronger is a comfortable read that reaches out and helps everyone understand a little better, the enormous effort it takes on a daily basis, by someone recovering from a massive trauma, to be just that fraction stronger. A truly inspirational read.