A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving: Lessons on Love, Care, and Survival

若你深愛的人正在溺水，你會跳入水中嗎？你有能力將你們兩人都安全帶回岸上嗎？《開放水域救生指南》是一部震撼人心且極具共鳴的照護者告白。當伴侶遇襲遭暴力重傷後，作者扛起照護重擔，卻陷入體制冷漠與創傷深淵。她轉而考取救生與野外急救執照，將救援智慧化為生存心法。獻給所有身心俱疲的照顧者：我們無須獨自面對！

你所愛的人——或許是你這輩子最深愛的人——正在水中掙扎溺水。你會跳進水裡嗎？你有辦法把你們兩個人都帶回岸上嗎？

在某個深夜，維吉尼亞·尤班克斯（Virginia Eubanks）接到了我們所有人最深恐的噩耗。她摯愛的伴侶在離家僅幾步之遙的地方，遭受了極其殘忍的暴力襲擊。

她義無反顧地跳進了水裡。

尤班克斯縱身投入了照護者的重擔之中。在隨後的數週、數月乃至數年裡，她與伴侶 J. 艱難地在波浪般接踵而至的挫折中維持呼吸：警察的漠不關心、失效的醫療保險、匱乏的醫療照護、中斷的收入、離散的朋友、永無止境的行政繁文褥節，以及 J. 身上極其嚴重的創傷後應激障礙（PTSD）。隨後，第二個病例出現了——尤班克斯自己也罹患了所謂的「附帶性 PTSD（Collateral PTSD）」，這種症狀在照護者身上極為常見，卻鮮少有人提及。

她望向地平線，搜尋著救援的曙光。

身兼記者與社會活動家，尤班克斯轉向權威管道尋找指引：科學家、心理治療師、創傷理論家、社會運動者。然而，直到她偶然翻開一本古老的救生手冊，她才找到了真正發揮作用的建議。受這些救生課業的啟發，她報名參加了野外急救、獨木舟自救、冬日生存技巧、地圖與指南針定向、開路越野（Bushwhacking）以及救生員訓練。她走出去尋找他人的故事，採訪了從神經科學家到護林員等各界專家。她汲取技能與知識，讓自己感到堅定、稱職，並能更好地面對眼前的挑戰。

《開放水域救生指南》既帶著讓人放下防備的幽默，又蘊含著沉靜的睿智。這是一個令人心碎卻又無比引發共鳴的故事——記錄了一位女性如何竭盡全力拯救摯愛，並在此過程中體悟到，她同時也必須拯救自己。

本書交織著失去與連結，是一段動人且充滿希望的愛情故事，講述兩個人如何陷入屬於他們的荒野，並努力不僅要活下去，更要真正彼此關懷。它敦促我們重新審視自己照顧至親與對待自己的方式，並銘記那些支撐著我們的「照護共同體」。

它溫柔地提醒著我們：沒有人能獨自在荒野中存活。

Someone you love, maybe the person you love most in the world, is drowning. Should you jump in the water? Will you be able to bring both of you back to shore?

One night, Virginia Eubanks received the kind of news we all fear. Her beloved partner had been brutally beaten, just steps from their home.

She jumped in the water.

Eubanks dove into the responsibilities of caregiving. In the weeks, months, and years that followed, she and her partner, J., struggled to stay afloat as they faced wave upon wave of setbacks: police disinterest, suspended health insurance, inadequate medical care, lost income, lost friends, endless paperwork, and, for J., a serious case of post-traumatic stress disorder. Then, a second case. Eubanks herself developed what is known as collateral PTSD, a condition common among caregivers but rarely discussed.

She scanned the horizon for help.

A reporter and an activist, Eubanks turned to reliable sources for guidance: scientists, therapists, trauma theorists, social movements. But it wasn’t until she happened on an old lifesaving manual that she found advice that actually helped. Inspired by its lessons, she signed up for instruction in wilderness first aid, kayak self-rescue, Winter Survival 101, map and compass navigation, bushwhacking, and lifeguarding. She went out in search of other people’s stories and interviewed experts―everyone from neuroscientists to forest rangers. She gathered skills and knowledge that made her feel strong, competent, better prepared for the challenges ahead.

Disarmingly funny and quietly wise, A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving is the story―heart-wrenching and all too relatable―of how one woman tried to rescue her beloved and learned that she would also have to rescue herself. Built from both loss and connection, it is a moving, hopeful love story about two people caught in their own kind of wilderness, trying not just to survive but to truly care for each other. It asks that we reconsider the ways in which we tend to our loved ones and ourselves, and remember the communities of care that sustain us. It reminds us: no one survives the wilderness alone.