Helen O’Toole was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1968 and grew up in Mt Druitt, in Sydney’s western suburbs, in a large Irish immigrant family. While building a career in superannuation, she studied Arts and Education at Macquarie University at night. She lives in Sydney and is a mother of three. If I Ever Get Out Of This Place is her first book.

At eleven years old, Helen O’Toole’s ordinary childhood in a large Irish family in Sydney’s western suburbs changed forever when she was diagnosed with hydrocephalus.

The diagnosis meant brain surgery and a medical device implanted in her head that could fail without warning. Over the next five years, Helen endured hospital stays, bullying, disrupted schooling, lost friendships and, ultimately, twenty brain surgeries by the age of sixteen.

Just when life began to feel normal again, another medical crisis could send her straight back to hospital. Yet through the fear, frustration and uncertainty, Helen refused to give up.

During one of her hospital stays, she made herself a promise: “If I ever get out of this place, I will live my life fully.”

That promise became the foundation for the life she built beyond the hospital walls.

If I Ever Get Out Of This Place is Helen’s inspiring coming-of-age memoir about resilience, family, friendship and refusing to let circumstances dictate your future. It is a story of survival—but more importantly, it is the story of a teenage girl who decided that surviving wasn’t enough. She intended to live.