About Nicholas

Nicholas Dodge is not a doctor, a preacher, or a motivational speaker — just a man whose life changed in ways he never could have imagined.

In May 2021, Nicholas became critically ill with COVID-19 and entered a battle that would change every part of his life. What followed was not only a medical crisis but a deeply personal journey through fear, uncertainty, faith, family, and survival.

He spent seven months on life support, including ECMO, before receiving a double lung transplant. But surviving the illness was only part of the story. What came next was the long, painful, and humbling work of learning how to live again — physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

A Life Returned was written not to offer easy answers, but to tell the truth about what it means to endure the unimaginable and keep moving forward anyway. It is a reflection on resilience, gratitude, suffering, healing, and the people who carry us when we no longer have the strength to carry ourselves.

Nicholas lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and family. For more than thirty years, he has worked in technology sales, but this book comes from a very different part of his life — one shaped by survival, perspective, and the extraordinary gift of a second chance.

He wrote this memoir to honor the journey, the caregivers who helped save his life, the donor who made his transplant possible, and the family and friends who never stopped believing he would come home.

If this story reaches even one person who needs hope, perspective, or the strength to keep going, then it was worth telling.

Because sometimes surviving is only the beginning. The harder part is learning how to truly live again.

Husband. Father. Survivor. Author.

Nicholas Dodge, author of A Life Returned, survived COVID-19, seven months on ECMO life support, a double lung transplant and seven months of rehabilitation.

He can be reached at: nick@alifereturned.com