Tracy Todd Heine is a South African who will touch your heart, inspire you and remind you to live every day to its fullest.
Mbombela, South Africa (11 August 2016) – Lives can be changed in an instant. For Tracy Todd Heine, that moment came in April 1998. She had walked out of her home with her husband, holding their baby on her hip and dragging a suitcase packed with beach clothes. Seven weeks later, she was pushed through their front door in a wheelchair, unable to move anything except her head.
Everything had changed.
In her candid, inspiring memoir, Tracy reconstructs the horrifying moments of the accident when for a split -second she took her seatbelt off to change her baby’s nappy, and her memory when she realised that her neck had broken and the realisation that from that moment on, everything would be different.
The book follows her through the first awful days and weeks of her rehabilitation when she began to learn that everything she’d taken for granted before was now beyond her reach: she couldn’t, at least initially, breathe without assistance, talk, or eat, or evacuate her bowels.
When, at her own insistence, she was put in a wheelchair, she fainted repeatedly. She hoped to die.
But eventually, she went home.
Ramps were built. Showers were adapted. Her one-year-old son learned that his mother was different.
And her husband at first rejected her and then abandoned her.
Against all the odds, Tracy chose to live – and to do so independently. Divorced, and living on her own with helpers, Tracy learned to turn what had appeared to be a life of humiliation and victimhood into one in which she took charge of her choices and learned what options were available.
Tracy lives in Mbombela and has become an accomplished and much sought-after public speaker, inspiring many with her story. She has played a significant and critical role in raising her son. And most significantly, she has found love and emotional fulfilment.
Her story, written using Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, is engrossing, emotionally engaging, humorous and sometimes frustrating, but it never fails to inspire.
“Brave Lotus Flower Rides the Dragon” is an honest and intimate memoir that looks into the life of a South African quadriplegic. Many people have never met a quadriplegic and have no idea how to respond when they do.
“All through life, we are encouraged to dream. When you’re suddenly paralysed from the neck down, you don’t expect to have any dreams left, other than maybe making a miraculous recovery. I dared to dream about writing a book, having it published and sold in bookstores.”
“Thank you Thundafund, for providing me with the platform to raise money for this project and turning my dream into a reality. An entire library wouldn’t have enough words to express my gratitude.”
Thundafund is a South African-based crowdfunding website used by everyday people to raise money for charity, personal goals and business plans. The aim is to build a supportive crowd of backers.
“Our commitment is to South Africa and Africa, and we believe that by activating our own communities, we can build prosperity.”
Tracy Todd’s goal on Thundafund was to raise 100K, which would cover a professional book editor, eBook creation and publishing the book into a hard copy. Since her Thundafund was started 105 backers helped Tracy raise over R 112,550.00 which meant her book could officially be published!
Tracy officially launched her memoir on the 23rd of February 2017 at the court in front of Exclusive Books, Riverside Mall in Nelspruit, and has gone on to sell thousands of books.
Tracy’s candid details of how she has coped, physically and emotionally, with various day-to-day activities like eating, reading, writing, communicating, bathing and going to the toilet, as well as her romantic and sexual experiences, lays it all bare.
She is a woman who will touch your heart, inspire you and remind you to live every day to its fullest.
To follow her journey, or order yourself a copy of her book, click here.
by 
Thank you so much. Your stories so often leave me feeling humble and very aware of how grateful we should be for living in such a caring society. Tracy Todd’s story especially is a wonderful testimony to strength, courage and love.