August 14th 2006

Sitting at Paddington station, freezing cold, waiting for my train had to be the worst hour of my life. I was constantly checking my mobile phone for any news in between countless cups of strong coffee. When we did eventually get onto the train we were seated across from a woman who used her mobile phone constantly from London to Plymouth, by the time I got off I was ready to throttle her! My partner picked me up from Plymouth station and we travelled up to Derriford, by the time we got to the hospital I could feel myself trembling as I knew what was ahead of us. We managed to find my parents in the neuro intensive care department and Mum said we were allowed in two at a time so Mum and myself would go first. The ward had around 8 beds and Steven was at the end of the ward next to the nurses station, I can remember walking through and Mum suddenly saying "Here he is" I could not believe that this was my brother and actually said "No it's not," he looked like an old man as his head had swollen and had been shaved, I felt my legs buckle underneath me and just kept saying "No, no no" He was on life support and had a mass of wires everywhere, we stayed for about 20 minutes and then let my Dad and my partner go in. A little later that afternoon the surgeon who had removed the blood clots from Steven's brain talked to us and explained the severity of his injuries which did not just involve his brain but also involved spinal fractures and neck fractures. This was devastating and we were told that someone should stay in Plymouth that night as his chances of pulling through were put at less than 1% and we really needed a miracle. My parents managed to book into a nearby hotel and we travelled the 70 miles home to tend to Mum's house/animals etc as well as the endless telephone calls. I can remember going into my brother's bedroom as soon as I got in and sitting on the floor weeping looking around at all his belongings, his clothes in his wardrobe smelt of him, and our dog who always slept in the bed with him was wandering around aimlessly whining and scratching at the bed. I didn't sleep at all that night and felt mentally exhausted when we got up the next morning to travel back up to Plymouth with my Dad's car so they could be mobile.

August 13th 2006

Today was supposed to be fantastic, I woke at 7am as I was due in Truro by 9:15am to catch a train to London. The day had been planned months in advance as my friend Jo and myself had saved up to see Madonna at Wembley (and at the prices she was charging for tickets we were determined to enjoy ourselves!!) The concert was fantastic and I phoned my Mum halfway through to let her hear the atmosphere, I didn't get a reply so thought she must have gone to bed and thought no more about it. We went back to the hotel after the concert and I left my phone in our room as I had no need of it at 12 o'clock and knew that no-one would be contacting me, we went down to the bar and got slightly sozzled until 2am. When we got back to the hotel room I went to the bathroom and heard Jo shout that my mobile was ringing, I replied "Oh yeah very funny" and she said "No, really Lee it is, hurry up" I picked the phone up and saw that it was displaying my home phone number, so sat down and answered it, it was my partner saying that there had been an accident. I immediately thought that it was our whippet who has a habit of escaping at night and said out loud "it's Eadie isn't it?" He then went on to tell me that it was Steven, my 20 year old brother, who had been involved in a car accident and it wasn't looking good at all. They say that shock sobers you up and I can definately say that this is true as within a few seconds I went into autopilot phoning hospitals and trying to get hold of relatives. I managed to get in contact with the Sister at the hospital who told me that Steven was in a very bad way and to expect the worse, he was being transferred to a specialist hospital but the chances of him surviving his injuries were very slim. My Mum had just left the hospital so I had to wait another 30 minutes before I could contact her at home, she only had my Aunt for support as my Dad works on the gas rigs and I was 300 miles away in London. When I did manage to get hold of her she was in a state of shock and could only manage to tell me that there had been a fatality and Steven was critical with brain injuries. I wanted to get home that night but had to wait until 1 o'clock the next day before our train left Paddington station, I planned to get off at Plymouth at 4pm and rush straight up to Derriford hospital where he had been successfully transferred. My Dad was taken off his rig at first light by private helicopter and managed to get to the hospital by 1pm. For a day that had started off full of happiness and anticipation it had ended in the worst possible way and turned into a day I will never forget.