Ben’s ICU crisis led family to return to Iceland

After her husband was admitted to intensive care, Dagbjört Barringer Gunnarsdóttir feared she might lose him and realised how much her family needed support, she told mbl.is. The family has since moved back to Iceland after 12 years in the United States.

Ben became seriously ill suddenly and was admitted to hospital. Dagbjört stood by his bed as he lay unconscious, connected to machines and tubes. Their son, Óðinn, was with her; he finds changes to his daily routine difficult.

“I just felt it: I’m going to become a widow. This is over,” she said. Crying, she called her family in Iceland. When she reached her father, he told her: “Dagbjört, you’re just coming home.”

She initially hesitated to suggest moving, since Ben is American and had lived in the United States all his life. But after he was discharged and began rehabilitation, he stressed that the family needed to be closer to a support network. They began preparing for the move and have now returned to Iceland.

The couple had built a life in the United States, but faced a series of setbacks in recent years. Their house burned to the ground, suffered major damage in a sewage flood after it was rebuilt, and Ben was seriously injured in a car crash.

Dagbjört said she no longer wanted to be the most capable or strongest person, or to have the greatest drive. “Now I’m just ready for Wednesdays and fish stew and that sort of ordinary family life. I don’t think I ever want to be the most capable and strongest, with the best drive, again.”