hurley bem

One moment can change everything-but it doesn’t have to define the rest of your story.

In If You Have Five Minutes to Spare, Dominic Hurley BEM delivers a raw, witty, and profoundly moving memoir of survival and reinvention following a traumatic brain injury at the age of twenty-one.

This isn’t a sanitised tale of overnight triumph. It’s the unvarnished truth of recovery: the bewildering memory loss, the gruelling physical rehabilitation, the strained relationships, the battles with work and family, and the quiet crises of identity in a society that often reduces disability to neat, inspirational boxes.

With sharp British humour and unflinching honesty, Dominic challenges preconceptions about what it means to be ＂disabled.＂ He explores society’s fixation on ＂normality,＂ the frustration of invisible injuries, and the slow, ordinary process of rebuilding a life when everything familiar has shifted.

From the fog of amnesia to moments of unexpected clarity, from laughter amid hospital wards to hard-won self-acceptance, this memoir captures the everyday resilience required to find meaning after trauma. It’s a story for anyone who has faced adversity, supported a loved one through brain injury, or simply questioned how we redefine ourselves when life takes an abrupt turn.

Warm, insightful, and often funny, If You Have Five Minutes to Spare reminds us that true recovery isn’t about becoming ＂whole＂ again-it’s about embracing the person you become.

If you have five minutes to spare, open this book. You’ll likely stay much longer.