The First Month

Available for over a year

This is a deeply personal story of guilt – how to live with it, and its power to transform us. Four years ago, producer Dave Anderson caused a climbing accident that badly injured his partner, Cassie. In this series, Dave and Cassie try to piece together their very different experiences of what happened. Through difficult and intimate conversations, they tell the whole story, from the first traumatic seconds to the emotional fallout years later. For Dave, the guilt has been overwhelming. Now, he’s searching for ways of living with it, talking to people with unique perspectives on this painful emotion. What are we misunderstanding about guilt? And how can we tap into its hidden power? In Episode 4, Cassie is finally taken into the operating theatre for major surgery on her spine. Everyone is waiting to see what her life will look like afterwards. Dave meets someone who is wrestling with an even more extreme experience of guilt. She has hard-won lessons for all of us. Featuring “Sandpiper”, by Elizabeth Bishop. Read by Daniel Ryan. Presenter and Producer: Dave Anderson Sound-design and mix engineer: Charlie Brandon-King Executive Producer: Anishka Sharma A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4