Kristen Anderson didn't really want to die, but she couldn't cope with the emotional pain that life had brought her. Once a happy child, her world darkened after four teen friends and her grandmother died within two years. While reeling from these losses, Kristen was raped by a trusted friend. She sank deeper into depression. Kristen was seventeen years old the January night she lay across the railroad tracks not far from her parents' home. Before the engineer could bring the train to a stop, thirty-three freight train cars passed over her at 55 miles-per-hour. It was only after the train stopped that Kristen realized she was still alive. And after looking around, trying to figure out if she was just caught up in a horrible dream, she saw her legs about ten feet away. Intense pain set in. She was alive, and a living nightmare had just begun. Several years have passed since the night Kristen Anderson should have died. This young woman knows her survival is a miracle, yet her amputated legs are a daily reminder of the night she'd hoped to end her pain. The night she thought she'd go to heaven. Instead of death by suicide, God had a different story for her.
In Life, in Spite of Me, Kristen shares her journey from despair to hope, from wanting to die to having a purpose for living. Though she struggled intensely with depression and suicidal thoughts after losing her legs, she ultimately found lasting hope, joy, and fulfillment in knowing and serving God.