Christine Helm has not been able to read a book since being involved in an automobile collision nine years ago.

But she has written one in that span.

In June, the West Hempfield Township resident self-published her first book, "Chicken Therapy."

"Chicken Therapy" is the story of how Helm regained a normal life by undergoing vision therapy and observing chickens and ducks her family was raising.

The book can be purchased at http://www.chickentherapy.com and in two stores in Columbia - HomeGoodies & Coffee, 336 Locust St., and Andy's Market, 310 N. 11th St. She also expects the book to be available on Amazon.

In 2016, the vehicle carrying Christine and her daughter, Jenifer, was hit head-on by a distracted driver. The Helms suffered seemingly minor injuries and were released from the hospital the night of the crash. However, Christine, experiencing a concussion and double vision, found that her condition worsened.

"I tried to go back to teaching, and then my vision would just get worse, and I had headaches and nausea," said Christine. "I wrote the book because I eventually ended up losing my job as a high school math teacher. My vision was so off that I couldn't function well at all."

Christine said she was ultimately diagnosed with damage in the nerves that control eye movements, and treatments did not work. "I didn't know what to do," she said. "I was in a deep depression. I couldn't function; I didn't know what to do with my life. So I called a concussion therapist who I really had liked, and she said, 'Why don't you try this vision therapy?'"

Nine months of vision therapy helped her strengthen some muscles around her eyes. "They taught my brain to comprehend what it was seeing that was now different than it used to be, and they just taught me how to cope with everything," Christine said. "Don't read for more than 20 minutes. Take a few deep breaths. If you're driving and you feel like your vision is getting bad, pull over."

She is faring well, all things considered. "I have times when I feel completely normal, but I am limited, and I've learned how to adjust my life," Christine said. "I take a break after working on a computer for 20 minutes. I can do it for a couple hours a day. But if I forget to take breaks and the double vision kind of gets worse, it's kind of like my muscles can only hold on for so long. But I'm living a very normal life because of the techniques that vision therapy taught me."

While battling depression, Christine recalled something that had previously made her happy. "I used to love to write, and I had chickens, and I was always writing stories about my chickens," she said. "The day I graduated from vision therapy, I didn't want to graduate because that's only (time) I felt normal again."

Christine decided that a light, funny story involving chickens would be an entertaining way to teach people about vision therapy. "That was kind of what inspired me to write it the book," she said. "First of all, I want people to learn about vision therapy in an enjoyable way and that maybe they could spread the word. This (illness) came from a concussion that didn't go away that caused a traumatic brain injury. And I think a lot of people go through things like this, and they can relate to it."

The Helms have approximately 25 chickens and 15 ducks. "I always spend a lot of time just sitting and enjoying them and observing them," said Christine. "But then I started writing about some of the things that they did, and I learned to slow down and actually watch them and live life."

Sometimes foxes would make an unwelcome visit. "I learned that you can't prevent the bad things from happening. You just kind of have to survive and maybe learn to grow and enjoy the moment anyway," she said.

Writing the book was a painstaking process that took seven years because of the limitations caused by concussion symptoms and vision issues. "I actually went to the beach two or three times, just by myself, and writing was all I did," Christine said. "And then my husband (Steve) had this idea that he's going to build me of those prefab sheds. And then I had everything spread out in there. So then I eventually got everything transcribed in the computer and put it in order."

It has been as cathartic and rewarding as Christine had hoped. "I had so much happiness when I was writing this book," she said. "I really enjoyed it, and I would love to write more books. I have a couple ideas, but trying to get this (first book) launched off the ground is very time-consuming right now. I wish I would have tried to be a writer years ago."