Strong As Ev

When a six-year-old’s brain is under attack, hope fights back.

A true story of sudden illness, extraordinary courage, and the love that refused to let go.

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Strong As Ev

At six years old, Evelyn was a happy, energetic little girl. Then, without warning, a rare autoimmune attack began damaging her brain.

Within days, she could no longer walk, speak, eat, or respond to the people she loved.

Strong As Ev is the true story of one family’s journey through sudden illness, medical uncertainty, intensive care, brain injury, and rehabilitation. It follows Evelyn from the frightening first signs that something was wrong, through months at SickKids and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, and into a life forever divided into the Before and the After.

It is a story about a mother learning to advocate when there are no clear answers. About a father and younger sister trying to hold onto normal life while their family is falling apart. About doctors, nurses, therapists, friends, strangers, and an entire community refusing to give up on one little girl.

But more than anything, it is a story about Evelyn.

Her strength. Her determination. Her humour. Her small steps forward, and the extraordinary courage it took to make each one.

Evelyn’s recovery was remarkable, but recovery did not mean returning unchanged. Strong As Ev explores the complicated reality of surviving a childhood brain injury: celebrating the miracle of what has returned while grieving the parts that may never be the same.

It is an honest story of fear, faith, resilience, ambiguous grief, and the hope that carried one family through the darkest season of their lives.

Amanda holding Evelyn close during her hospital stay

Who Is This Book For?

Strong As Ev was written for anyone who has ever loved someone through a medical crisis.

It may especially resonate with:

  • Parents and caregivers of critically ill children
  • Families navigating encephalitis, encephalomyelitis, autoimmune disease, or acquired brain injury
  • Parents adjusting to the emotional and behavioural changes that can follow a brain injury
  • Doctors, nurses, therapists, educators, and rehabilitation professionals
  • Families living with an invisible disability
  • Readers drawn to true stories of survival, faith, community, and resilience
  • Anyone learning how to hold grief and gratitude at the same time

You do not need to have experienced a medical crisis to recognize yourself in this story. At its heart, Strong As Ev is about what happens when life changes without warning—and how love, hope, and community help us keep moving forward.

A Story of Survival—and Everything That Comes After

Evelyn survived.

She relearned how to sit, stand, walk, speak, eat, play, and return to school. Her recovery exceeded what her family once dared to imagine.

But survival was not the end of the story.

The Evelyn who came home was still funny, brave, loving, and unmistakably herself. She was also navigating changes in attention, impulse control, emotional regulation, and processing caused by her brain injury.

Her family had to learn that recovery can be both miraculous and heartbreaking. That it is possible to feel overwhelmingly grateful while still grieving. That a child can look completely recovered to the outside world while continuing to fight battles no one else can see.

Strong As Ev gives a voice to that complicated space—the place between devastation and healing, loss and gratitude, the person someone was before and the person they are becoming.

Amanda gently kissing Evelyn’s forehead in the hospital

About the Author

Amanda Hook, author of Strong As Ev

Amanda Hook is an audiologist, business owner, wife, and mother of two daughters.

When her six-year-old daughter, Evelyn, became critically ill following a sudden post-viral autoimmune attack on her brain, Amanda’s world changed overnight. She spent the following months beside Evelyn at SickKids and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, documenting the fear, uncertainty, heartbreak, and extraordinary moments of progress that shaped their family’s journey.

Amanda wrote Strong As Ev to help other families feel less alone, to honour the people who helped save and rebuild her daughter’s life, and to share a story of resilience, faith, advocacy, and hope.

She lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband, Mike, their daughters, Evelyn and Ellie, and their two cats.

Small Steps Forward Are Still Steps in the Right Direction

Strong As Ev is a reminder that strength does not always look fearless.

Sometimes strength is opening your eyes.

Squeezing a hand.

Saying a single word.

Taking one uncertain step.

And sometimes, strength is simply choosing to believe that the story is not over yet.

Purchase Strong As Ev

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