Underwater

Interview with Chris Maxwell, author of Underwater. Click the PLAY icon on the player below to listen to the interview!

About the Book:

Underwater: When Encephalitis, Brain Damage, and Epilepsy Change Everything

Encephalitis almost ended Chris Maxwell’s life. The scar tissue in his brain and life with epilepsy made him – and his family and friends – feel like the life they’d known changed suddenly and permanently.

For Maxwell and the staggering number of people facing traumatic brain injuries, epilepsy, or other painful encounters, life is experienced through a different lens. Names are tough to remember. Medication is a common acquaintance. Exhaustion, seizures, and mood swings are daily traveling companions.

Maybe you can relate. Maybe you know about encephalitis, epilepsy, or another type of brain damage. Maybe you’re a caregiver not sure how to come ashore yourself. Maybe your story is different, but the feeling is the same. Depression, disability or disease has changed everything.

Maxwell’s writing and the stories of others offers hope. Hope that you’re not alone, even when your experience underwater seems to change everything.

“If any neurologist looks at Chris’s MRI of the brain and then sees Chris, they can’t believe they are looking at the same person. Chris could easily have gone into a deep depression over his illness. His tenacity to stubbornly refuse to lose is what made him into the winner in life that he is today.

Don’t let epilepsy or your illness define you. You can succeed in life if you believe in what you are doing and are willing to fight for it. I hope this book will help you in your journey through life.”

Hal S. Pineless, D.O., FACN
President, NeuroCare Institute of Central Florida, Winter Park, FL

About the author:

Chris Maxwell joined Emmanuel College as Director of Spiritual Life and Campus Pastor after pastoring in Orlando, Fla., for 19 years. Chris and his wife, Debbie, who teaches at Royston Elementary in Georgia, have three sons: Taylor, Aaron and Graham. Taylor, a singer and songwriter, and his wife, Brittany, live in Denver, CO. They have two sons and a daughter. Aaron, who graduated from Emmanuel College in 2010, serves at a school in Dakar, Senegal. He is married to another Emmanuel graduate, Amber Evans Maxwell. Aaron and Amber have a son, Beckett. Graham also graduated from EC after four years playing basketball, and now is an assistant coach for the Lions.