On July 4, 1988, Terry's life was nearly ended when a car ran a red light crashing into his Jeep. His injuries were so serious that a priest was called to perform last rites. Against great odds, he survived in a coma, but when he awoke a month later he had no memory of his life before the crash. His struggles with this great loss eventually led him to become a motivational speaker. In the year 2000, author June Callwood wrote an award-winning book, The Man Who Lost Himself: The Terry Evanshen Story, which was turned into a 2005 movie for CTV, The Stranger I Married (also known as The Man Who Lost Himself), starring David James Elliott and Wendy Crewson and directed by Helen Shaver.[2]