1. To be so affected by the accident that the mother withdraws into a “diving bell” and is only able to get out when the adolescent is neglectedThe initial shock increased immensely because the injury was so severe. If it had been an arm or a leg, the general expectation would have been that her son would recover fully and that life would continue as usual. Eve states, “I never imagined that it would be so extensive.” Eve often mentions the experience with the metaphor being in a “diving bell.” Being in a “diving bell” refers to being trapped and isolated from the world. You can look out from it, but you cannot intervene because of the bell's isolating capacity—the isolation implies more than just being isolated from people and world physically. The bell also drowns out noise. Inside, the sound is faint, you may have trouble hearing what is being said or even that it affects your consciousness. This opens for 2 ways of being in a “diving bell”; struggling to gain contact with a world that does not acknowledge your existence and meaning, or being inside not being able to mobilize any effort to claim contact, and not even caring about it. To explore the experience of “being the mother of an adolescent suffering from a spinal cord injury,” we can compare Jean-Dominique Bauby's story of his experience with his lived world after a stroke and explore the expression further in the film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” His story tells us more about not being able to address and get in contact with his outside world. This experience of being in a diving bell—isolated, alienated, powerless—may also explain Eve's lack of awareness of her own needs, and her blurred observations of people taking care of her, and not realizing that she would not have managed. Likewise, it may also explain Eve's experiences of not being acknowledged by the professionals. However, from time to time Eve came out of the diving bell. When the school system showed a lack of flexibility in relation to her son's wishes in this difficult situation Eve reacted, “I snapped out of the diving bell, I was in and intervened.” This upset her, and finally there was something she could do. Her son needed her help—help that no one else would give him.