When Sophie Hardin collapsed at a Kansas City Royals baseball game, her life changed forever. “The Girl Who Stayed” is the beautiful, honest and raw story of her recovery.
Written with her mother, Melissa Hardin, and co-author Suzanne Gosselin, Sophie’s memoir is a touching portrayal of hope amid tragedy and loss. The book is divided into 12 chapters, each illustrating how God met the Hardin family where they were — from the emergency at the ballpark to the wandering land in between to the full-circle moments when they realized healing had begun. Together, they form a picture of trust in His plan that readers can draw inspiration from, even when life’s challenges seem impossible.
Sophie’s story starts in 2021, when an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM, sidelined her dreams of continuing to climb the career ladder as an interior designer. Though the Hardin family sought immediate medical treatment, the bleeding in Sophie’s brain led to a host of side effects, like seizures, temporary paralysis, vision impairment and memory loss.
After undergoing emergency surgery, Sophie describes waking up to a brand-new future — one where she had to learn to walk and talk again. Her life, which had once included living independently, spending time with friends and serving in church, no longer looked like the one she had worked so hard to achieve. Her family, too, wrestled with the “what-ifs” and the big questions, wondering why God had allowed this to happen to Sophie.
With tenderness, Melissa recalls the struggle of seeing her daughter in pain: “Looking back, I can work myself up if I think about what we might have done differently…These questions can be haunting, but they ultimately don’t serve us. And I can so clearly see the Lord's hand on everything that happened next. How could we doubt Him or His plan?”
Though Sophie faced an uphill battle, she fought back with resolve and tenacity, traits her family says have been with her since birth. With encouragement and support from her medical team, Sophie completed a full course of treatment at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska, three hours from home in Kansas City, Missouri.
These passages of the book may be particularly encouraging for readers who have struggled with body image or endured uncertainty about their role and identity after grief. Sophie’s vulnerability and honesty are heartrending and will meet readers where they are on their unique journey as she describes how she began to lean on God and her community in a new way.
The Hardins banded together to help Sophie rebuild — a process that took many months as they navigated a new normal. “I have experienced God’s help in ways I never could have imagined a few years ago,” Sophie writes. “Slowly, He is giving me new dreams…I believe part of my purpose in life is to comfort others with the comfort I have received.”
From its opening pages to the acknowledgments near the end, “The Girl Who Stayed” draws a map of hope and inspiration for readers enduring their own tragedies and losses. While the story doesn’t shy away from sharing the impact of Sophie’s struggles, it also doesn’t linger on the traumatic details of the story, making the book easily shareable with family and friends.
Coming in at 236 pages, Sophie’s testimony is a powerful reminder of the Gospel and the peace we find in faith when human strength fails. Order “The Girl Who Stayed” from K-LOVE Books or anywhere books are sold.
Bonus: Meet the authors in this behind-the-scenes interview with Sophie and Melissa Hardin.
