The Current

How a haunting home invasion changed the course of Jill Goldberg's life

Ten years ago, a moment changed Jill Goldberg's life forever. It was late at night when she was sleeping and a stranger entered her Montreal apartment. The trauma left a serious impact but says the experience helped her find her way to becoming a writer.
Jill Goldberg says her life was disrupted when a man broke into her home while she was sleeping. While she was not physically harmed, Jill suffered from PTSD but learned to cope by becoming a writer. (Courtesy of Jill Goldberg)

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Ten years ago, Jill Goldberg's life was irrevocably changed by a home invasion. She was living in Montreal at the time and woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of footsteps outside her bedroom.

"In that moment I felt a kind of terror that far exceeds anything that I normally had experienced," says Jill.

Jill hid in her bedroom closet. When the intruder opened the door to the closet Jill managed to flee. She escaped physical harm, but suffered post traumatic stress. 

"I often feel as if my life was cleaved in two and even today I have a sensation that the old me, the person I was, the things I had before, died, and I grieve that loss." 

But the incident changed her in another more surprising way.  To cope with the trauma, she began to write. And Jill says that is the happiest discovery she has made in her adult life.

Listen to Jill Goldberg's life-changing story at the top of this post.

This segment was produced by The Current's Marc Apollonio and Josh Bloch.


The Current wants to hear our story about a moment that disrupted your life. Email us and write in the subject line: Personal Disruption.