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The Friend From Mexico
Hello, my name is Apostolos and I was born again on the sixth of February 2009 in a hospital in Mexico. These are the somewhat intense memories from the first one and a half months of my new life.
The author had a mid-air collision with a fellow competitor at 10,000 feet while participating in the 2009 World Paragliding Championships in Mexico, as a member of the Greek National Team. Two thirds of The Friend From Mexico describes the author's near-death experience while in induced coma, and the rest of the book describes the important events while in an intensive care unit and his repatriation to Greece.
The author had a mid-air collision with a fellow competitor at 10,000 feet while participating in the 2009 World Paragliding Championships in Mexico, as a member of the Greek National Team. Two thirds of The Friend From Mexico describes the author's near-death experience while in induced coma, and the rest of the book describes the important events while in an intensive care unit and his repatriation to Greece.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2010
About the author
Apostolos Mavrothalassitis
2 booksParagliding was Apostolos' love and passion for over 20 years. He is a four time champion of Greece, and has participated in various international competitions as a member of the Greek National Team.
His final competition and final paragliding flight was in 2009 at the World Paragliding Championship in Mexico. On the final day of the competition he suffered a mid-air collision with another pilot and as a result was comatose for 12 days. In total, he spent a month and a half in intensive care where he survived against all odds. Following the best part of a year in various hospitals, he was again released to the world as a wheelchair user.
Three years since his accident he obtained the first license in Greece for a pilot with disabilities and happily flying ultralight aircrafts ever since.
His final competition and final paragliding flight was in 2009 at the World Paragliding Championship in Mexico. On the final day of the competition he suffered a mid-air collision with another pilot and as a result was comatose for 12 days. In total, he spent a month and a half in intensive care where he survived against all odds. Following the best part of a year in various hospitals, he was again released to the world as a wheelchair user.
Three years since his accident he obtained the first license in Greece for a pilot with disabilities and happily flying ultralight aircrafts ever since.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 16, 2013
'Futility's enemy is life itself.'
The passion for Paragliding as author Apostolos Mavrothalassitis lead him on a bizarre journey that he has been able to recreate in this fascinating, surreal book. From the first pages we realize that something very strange is happening as our author attempts to make sense of the sensations and perceptions of being in an induced coma state. Writing such as this can only be compared to the writings of the magical realists such as Günter Grass, Thomas Bernhard, Peter Handke, Italo Calvino, John Fowles, Angela Carter, John Banville, Michel Tournier, Giannina Braschi, Willem Brakman, Jorge Luis Borges and Louis Ferron. The major difference between the school of magical realism writers and our author is the fact that Mavrothalassitis is writing `reality' rather than fiction: his story is as he remembered observing the world in a brain altered state while he was hospitalized following a collision in the air while paragliding In the 2009 World Championship in Mexico.
The Friend from Mexico is actually the reborn author who survived terrifying odds, multiple surgeries and an extended induced coma to control the pain and to allow the healing in immobilized status. He saw imaginary gypsies, observed strange rituals, had a `front seat' in the manner in which ICU staff talk and function when they think a patient is unconscious and unable to hear the conversations! That part is a bit shocking....
Not only are we privileged to take the journey from near death through the ICU process but we also are able to observe the `resurrection' of Mavrothalassitis and the response of his family to his episode. Then at the end of the book there are excellent portions where the physicians and surgeons who cared for him explain in detail the processes he went through - very enlightening.
This is a rare book, the manner in which it is written (short one or two sentence paragraphs spread over the pages like random thoughts) adds greatly to the reader's response to the tale. He shows use that giving up is not an option and that message pours out of every page. And to prove his point even further, we discover that despite being wheelchair bound he has managed to become a pilot: he is the first person with disabilities in Greece to get a pilot's license with a specially modified hands-only airplane! No, this is not the great novel of the decade, but in its own fashion it is even more. Much of the success of this book must be assigned to the translator David J. Horn: it is a masterful job well done!
Grady Harp
The passion for Paragliding as author Apostolos Mavrothalassitis lead him on a bizarre journey that he has been able to recreate in this fascinating, surreal book. From the first pages we realize that something very strange is happening as our author attempts to make sense of the sensations and perceptions of being in an induced coma state. Writing such as this can only be compared to the writings of the magical realists such as Günter Grass, Thomas Bernhard, Peter Handke, Italo Calvino, John Fowles, Angela Carter, John Banville, Michel Tournier, Giannina Braschi, Willem Brakman, Jorge Luis Borges and Louis Ferron. The major difference between the school of magical realism writers and our author is the fact that Mavrothalassitis is writing `reality' rather than fiction: his story is as he remembered observing the world in a brain altered state while he was hospitalized following a collision in the air while paragliding In the 2009 World Championship in Mexico.
The Friend from Mexico is actually the reborn author who survived terrifying odds, multiple surgeries and an extended induced coma to control the pain and to allow the healing in immobilized status. He saw imaginary gypsies, observed strange rituals, had a `front seat' in the manner in which ICU staff talk and function when they think a patient is unconscious and unable to hear the conversations! That part is a bit shocking....
Not only are we privileged to take the journey from near death through the ICU process but we also are able to observe the `resurrection' of Mavrothalassitis and the response of his family to his episode. Then at the end of the book there are excellent portions where the physicians and surgeons who cared for him explain in detail the processes he went through - very enlightening.
This is a rare book, the manner in which it is written (short one or two sentence paragraphs spread over the pages like random thoughts) adds greatly to the reader's response to the tale. He shows use that giving up is not an option and that message pours out of every page. And to prove his point even further, we discover that despite being wheelchair bound he has managed to become a pilot: he is the first person with disabilities in Greece to get a pilot's license with a specially modified hands-only airplane! No, this is not the great novel of the decade, but in its own fashion it is even more. Much of the success of this book must be assigned to the translator David J. Horn: it is a masterful job well done!
Grady Harp
April 7, 2016
Paraglider
Very well written. The story of a champion stunt paraglider who nearly died in a paragliding accident and his progression back to health. Injured at the Mexican paragliding competition. Apostolos is taken to a Mexican hospital were he spends a month with various complications before being Air Evac'd home to Greece. He narrates his fears and joys of his recovery. At the happy ending, 3 years later, Apostolos is the first person with disabilities (paraplegic) to get a pilots licence with a specially modified hands-only airplane so he could do stunt flying.
Very well written. The story of a champion stunt paraglider who nearly died in a paragliding accident and his progression back to health. Injured at the Mexican paragliding competition. Apostolos is taken to a Mexican hospital were he spends a month with various complications before being Air Evac'd home to Greece. He narrates his fears and joys of his recovery. At the happy ending, 3 years later, Apostolos is the first person with disabilities (paraplegic) to get a pilots licence with a specially modified hands-only airplane so he could do stunt flying.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews