Kaleb Dahlgren, who was born in Moose Jaw but grew up in Saskatoon was a member of the Humboldt Broncos team from 2017-2018 and a survivor of the Humboldt Broncos bus accident. He has recently put his story on paper for the world to read with his upcoming memoir 'Crossroads' to hit shelves March 16, 2021. 

In the book, Dahlgren discusses many of life's crossroads including the Bronco bus accident. The story includes Dahlgren's life from childhood up until the summer of 2019. The book has many different themes woven throughout. 

"The book chronicles lots of things in my life, such as diabetes, community, teams, and obviously the Humboldt tragedy, but it also goes deeper and shares hope, inspiration, and also resilience and family. It means a lot to me, it's my whole life on paper," said Dahlgren. 

Dahlgren was presented the idea of sharing his story not only once but twice and he originally turned it down. 

"I actually got presented this opportunity in September of 2019 and I completely turned it down and was like no not at all and then I got presented it again in the middle of that semester so it would have been October, November and I was like okay maybe I should think about this more."

Dahlgren was cautious about the idea and spent a good amount of time discussing the pros and cons with many people he calls family.

"Looking at all the pros and cons because there were a lot of things that I didn't know if I was ready to talk about and I didn't know if others were ready to hear. I took it pretty seriously and talked to about 20 people who I consider really close and family to me and we hashed it out and went really deep with everything and at the end of the day, they said why wouldn't you do it if you could help others? I think that was the hard part for me is realizing that I had a story that could help others."

During the writing process, Dahlgren learned how emotionally, physically, and mentally draining the writing was. "It was super cathartic and helpful and gives you inspiration but there is a lot of background work."

When asked why he wanted to share his story and write the book, Dahlgren focuses on helping others and giving back.

"The only reason why I was ever going to write a book was to help others and I said I'm not writing the book unless I can donate proceeds. So, I wanted to donate proceeds to STARS and also raise awareness for STARS. I know not many people in Canada really knew about them and before the tragedy, I didn't. I heard of them but I didn't know what they did. I want to shine a light on how many lives they save on a daily basis. It is actually life-changing when you have a second chance at life."

Dahlgren had many thank yous and much appreciation for people but wanted to give a big shout out to the Humboldt community.

"The Humboldt community is one of the bigger ones that I really would like to thank and show appreciation for. I know what we went through as a community was absolutely horrific and tragic. My hope is that I can try to bring some light and positivity and some good thoughts around it and turn this negative situation into a positive. I am also super thankful and grateful for their support before, during, and after. My time in Humboldt has really been the best time of my life and I can't thank them enough."

The cover of the book was Dahlgren's idea and he wanted it to be worth more than a thousand words. Although writing the book was difficult it helped him heal and was one of the hardest things he has ever done in his life.

The memoir can be purchased here. 

Below, you can listen to Rob Carnie's interview with Kaleb Dahlgren about his life, book, and why he decided to write it.