The Ultimate Comeback: Surviving a Suicide Attempt, Conquering Depression, and Living with a Purpose

Renowned among rabid football fans in the 1990s, Erik Kramer guided the Detroit Lions to within one win of Super Bowl XXVI, set passing records for the Chicago Bears that still stand, and carved out a respectable eleven-year NFL career, despite being unrecruited in high school and undrafted out of college. But for more than two decades, during his playing days and beyond, Erik silently suffered from depression. On August 18, 2015, after the deaths of his son Griffen to a heroin overdose and his mother to cancer, Erik pressed the cold barrel of a loaded gun firmly under his chin, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger. It was supposed to be the end.

Instead, it was a rebirth.

The Ultimate Comeback chronicles Erik's improbable rise to gridiron fame, his catastrophic plunge into the black hole of depression, and his miraculous physical and mental recovery following his suicide attempt. With empathy, sensitivity, and humor, Erik balances the grief from his darkest days with riveting stories of his upbringing and life as an NFL quarterback and reveals how, through grit and perseverance, he tackled the depression that nearly took his life.