The Bear's Embrace: A True Story of Surviving a Grizzly Bear Attack

Monika Rohlmann is an environmental consultant in Victoria, B.C.

Patricia Van Tighem was a 25-year-old nursing student when she and her
husband were attacked by a grizzly bear during a weekend outing at
Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta. Born and raised in Calgary, Van
Tighem had always been an avid hiker and camper. She knew about bears
and had even worked one summer handing out bear-safety brochures to
tourists visiting the Rocky Mountain parks.

When the attack happened, Van Tighem did all the right things: she
dropped her pack and climbed a tree. But the bear did not respond in the
predictable fashion described in the pamphlets. Both the author and her
husband Trevor were badly mauled.

In the years following the attack, Trevor marched on with his medical
studies, refusing to dwell on the attack or what might have been. His
wife’s ordeal was far greater. She witnessed Trevor’s mauling. She
heard the bear crunching and slurping on her skull after it furiously
brought down the tree branch she had clung to 20 feet above the ground.
Van Tighem describes the attack in excruciating detail (17 years later,
the images still play over and over in her mind like a film reel). The
aftermath of the attack—the countless surgeries, the ineffective
psychological treatments, her journey into motherhood, and her
relationship with her husband—is a testament to the power of
fortitude, love, and courage in the face of physical and psychological
trauma. The Bear’s Embrace is an inspiring story, bravely and
passionately told.