time. It's an episode that took place on the August Bank Holiday in
2009 and is about my diabetes and how important family that know about
it, however young they may be, are.
We had been to Broadway for the day. An idyllic Cotswolds village.
It's a beautiful place, a nice quaint high street some interesting
shops and it now has a really great children's playground. Swings,
slides, a small climbing wall, climbing frames, a death slide - it
really is great. One of the toys in the park is a see-saw but unlike
the traditional see-saw its inverted. So the pivot is high. My two
kids were on it and then something happened. Luca got off it and as he
did so he ended up underneath the seat, which had pivoted high and
then crashed down on top of his head.
He went down and there was blood. A lot of blood. He had a split in
the top of his head and blood was pumping out of his head. Someone
helped us and gave us some tissues to put the wound. They quickly
became useless soaked with so much blood.
With the wound not sealing and blood continuing we made the decision
to call 999. A paramedic arrived from Worcester hospital and said we
need to get Luca to hospital. He would take him. Sue and Luca went the
paramedic Amélie and I followed in the car.
I have no idea how long all that took place over. It wasn't long. The
other point here is that Luca was very calm. Once he'd calmed down
from the initial whack on the head he was ok.
Amélie and I got to the car and headed across to Worcester hospital.
This is where it got interesting for me.
When we arrived at the hospital it appeared deserted. We walked in and
were in a long empty corridor. The mix of adrenaline and shock at
seeing your son in that condition was wearing off and my blood sugar
was dropping. I started to wobble and was struggling to keep a
straight line, read signs and all the normal symptoms associated with
a hypo, a low blood sugar.
I was bumping into Amélie and struggling. This is where she was
AMAZING. She could see me struggling and was worried that I would
fall, so she pushed me right up to the wall so that I was walking
right next to it. That made it impossible for me to fall that way.
Then she put herself on my other side so that she could feel if I were
going to fall she would feel it and push me the other way towards the
wall. We made our way like that until we reached the A&E department.
She then told Sue that I was in difficulty and needed something. I
was then taken care of in the hospital and things stabilised pretty
quickly.
Amélie was 7 during this. She was brilliant, mature and aware of what
was happening. She didn't panic or get scared, or didn't show it, she
just looked after me.
It was a humbling experience and one I will never forget.
