A Second Wind
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley November 26, 2014
Author Philippe Pozzo di Borgo
Distributor:
ISBN: 978-1-47111-048-1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Release Date:
Website: http://www.simonandschuster.co.uk
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A film has been made of this man’s life, along with a documentary. Why, you may well ask. The story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo’s life is one that inspires while encouraging as well as highlighting the plight of the many who have become paralysed through a quirk of fate, or simply if you prefer, the wrong decision at the wrong time.
So was the case of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, director of one of Frances most prestigious champagne houses and descendant of two prominent French families. A simple misjudgement of time, place and speed while out flying with his paraglider caused him to become a quadraplegic, to large degree a recluse stepped in depression also having to come to terms with the added blow of his beloved wife diagnosed with terminal cancer.
This is also the story of hope, of life, of eventual acceptance to the hand fate often deals, told with a total honesty and frankness which allows you to experience, to some very small degree, the challenges that face quadriplegics on a daily basis.
Once Philippe’s condition stabilised he returned to his much altered townhouse in Paris and decided to hire a career for his daily needs, of which there were many. Out of the list of applicants the one who was most unaffected by his condition was an Algerian immigrant, Abdel, most definitely on the shady side of the law and who would not take no for an answer. So in short order Abdul joined the family.
And there began the most unlikely of alliances, which was to last almost twenty years and continues on today. One which was to save Philippe’s life on many occasions, his sanity on many more and added a certain unpredictability to his otherwise mundane existence.
Di Borgo tells of the slow failing of his Beatrice’s health in great details. The love felt for each other is very real in the telling: he talks of their frustration to be unable to carry a child full term and the adoption of their two children. We relate with him as he learns that within the terrible stillness that is that of quadraplegia there is a learning of silence, of reflection and of peace.
We laugh with him at the exploits he is dragged into at the hands of Abdul that help to give him a new found freedom and fresh take on living.
Updated to coincide with the release of the movie we are delighted to know that through all the sorrow Philippe meets and remarries, having more children and that the irrepressible Abdul finally meets his match.
Do Borgo has also let us know that although he had the money to be able to do many things, in the end it all comes down to the simple things in life that make the biggest difference.
Although initially written and released in French, the story while losing a little in translation, still tells a remarkable tale of the human side of suffering and rebirth.
Humble, funny, inspiring and a totally entertaining look into a different life, marching to a different beat.