Back in 2002 Nicole MacLean was just an average twenty three year old. From a close knit family in suburban Melbourne, she had a job she loved, a wide circle of friends and enjoyed a busy social life. Having previously been to Bali, she was happy to go back for a relaxing break with some friends. Touching down on the afternoon of October 12th 2002, she hadn’t even finished unpacking when she made the fateful decision to go out to the Sari Club. Enjoying the music on the dance floor one minute, her life as she knows it is altered forever when the bomb goes off.
Nicole acknowledges that she would not be here today if it weren’t for the actions of her friend Nat, who risked her own life to get Nicole to safety and then managed to squeeze her on the back of an open ute that was going to a nearby clinic. Unaware of just how badly she is injured, Nicole only has fragmented memories of the horrific hours that followed until she is eventually loaded on a Hercules aircraft and flown back to Australia. Having told her parents she has a fractured arm and a sore leg, they are devastated when they arrive in Darwin to find she is on the brink of death. With her right arm hanging on by a thread and badly infected and a massive shrapnel wound on her thigh, doctors make the decision to evacuate her home to Melbourne where she can get the specialist care she desperately needs.
Stronger now chronicles Nicole’s long road to recovery and the aftermath of being involved in the horrific Bali bombings. After a desperate attempt to save her arm, eventually doctors are left with no choice but to amputate up near the shoulder. Nicole must also deal with shrapnel wounds in her back as well as the huge hole on her thigh. As well as that though, she has to come to terms with the mental aftermath of a near death experience and the senselessness of terrorist activity.
Despite all she has been through, Stronger Now is ultimately a story of hope. In the years following Bali Nicole gradually got her life back on track – driving, returning to work, getting married and having a baby. Through the traumas she has lived through, Nicole has come to realise that anything is possible with the right attitude and that there is still a lot of good in the world.
Stronger Now is an easy read in terms of language and readability, but confronting at times when detailing some of the things she experienced in Bali. Nevertheless it is ultimately an inspiring book that celebrates the human spirit and shows that anything is possible – even with one arm.
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