Following a devastating head-on collision with a drunk driver 44 years ago, Sigrid Macdonald has lived most of her adult life with chronic pain. In 2024, she underwent a knee replacement, hoping—after the success of a previous hip replacement—that she might finally reclaim simple pleasures like evening walks and a measure of physical relief.

That hope was short-lived.

The knee surgery failed, dramatically altering the course of her life. Sigrid now lives with extreme pain in her left leg, struggles to walk even with the aid of a walker, and was forced to give up her apartment to move into independent living. What was meant to restore freedom instead took it away.

Bent but Not Broken is Sigrid Macdonald’s raw, unflinching account of that journey—told with a surprising, quirky sense of humor and enriched with footnotes, medical research, and candid insight into living with chronic conditions while managing multiple medications. At its core, this is not just a story about an accident or a failed surgery; it is a deeply human story about loss, adaptation, and resilience.