What if the life you built disappeared overnight—and you had to create a new one from the ground up?

• Part memoir, part roadmap for resilience, You Might Live Twice explores recovery, reinvention and the extraordinary capacity of the human mind to adapt when life takes an unexpected turn. 
•  …and it can work for you as well. Whether you are facing illness, loss, uncertainty, career disruption or simply searching for greater meaning and direction, this powerful memoir offers a reminder that while we cannot always choose what happens to us, we can choose how we respond.

In 2004, Dr Simon Kirby was living the life he had worked decades to achieve. A successful facial plastic surgeon, husband, father, and lifelong high achiever, he appeared to be at the peak of his profession. Then a catastrophic vertebral artery dissection triggered a brainstem stroke that stopped his heart, left him in a coma, and stripped away nearly everything he had built. 

When he awoke, he could no longer function as the surgeon he had trained to become. His vision was impaired. His speech was compromised. Walking, eating, writing, and performing even the simplest daily tasks became overwhelming challenges. The future he had planned no longer existed.

But survival was only the beginning. Unknowingly, a second life had begun.

Drawing on his medical background, his understanding of neural networks, and an unwavering determination to rebuild, Kirby embarked on an unconventional recovery journey. Along the way he developed what he calls “smart neuroplasticity,” a personal framework that combined movement, mindset, self-awareness, faith, and deliberate adaptation to help him create a meaningful second life.

Your first life may end abruptly. Your second life may reveal your character. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

DR SIMON KIRBY is a Canadian physician whose career has spanned engineering, otolaryngology, facial plastic surgery, pathology, and medical leadership. Following a catastrophic vertebral artery dissection and brainstem stroke that ended his surgical career, he undertook an extraordinary recovery journey that led to the development of his personal “smart neuroplasticity” framework. Drawing on decades of medical training and lived experience, Kirby writes about resilience, identity, recovery, and personal transformation from the unique perspective of both physician and patient. He lives in St John’s, Newfoundland with his wife Vicki.