Part 25: And that was the last time I ever saw her………..

One minute your having the time of your life, the next can be fatal……

So the next time I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by people looking down at me, I had no idea where I was or what I was doing but I do remember that I felt pain like I’d never felt before. Things were all blurred to start with, eyes gradually began to focus in on objects, looking down at my bare chest I was baffled and couldn’t understand what a massive pair of lips were doing, sown onto my chest.

I’d woken up 3 weeks later in intensive care and in a lot of pain, my arm held together with 2 metal plates & 19 screws, every bone in my hand smashed to pieces, severe head injuries, spleen removed because it had been ruptured – hence the lips on my chest where the surgeon had squeezed the skin together to sow me up – I had  lacerations all over my body, legs, arms and back, plus I’d lost so much blood that I’d needed a transfusion. Surgeons had given me a 20% chance of survival and I was later told that I’d never get full use of my arm again and how lucky I was that it was still attached to my body – looking back, I was even more lucky to be alive!

A priest had been appointed to my bedside the night I was rushed to Accident & Emergency, he was reading me my last rights as the hospital staff didn’t think I was going to pull through. Now the strange thing was, my mother and brother were standing by my bed while the Priest was doing this and they were in hysterics, laughing uncontrollably, I still am amazed at this too, but just shows what a freaky family I have. To be honest, we’re not a religious family and I think, I hope, they were laughing just at the irony of the situation – sure they’d have soon stopped if I’d died!

So how did I end up in A&E? Well, I wasn’t wearing a seat belt in my car, when I was young I never did and what the Police accident specialist said was, I fell asleep at the wheel. They reckon that I’d just been pushing my luck driving up and down the motorway each night, coupled with starting a new job and that I must have just drifted off to sleep, it’s quite a common accident. So the Police reckon that, as I mentioned before, the car I was driving was a left hand drive Golf and the vehicle must have careered across the motorway from right to left where it hit a solid concrete bridge support. The car just imploded on contact, bringing it to an immediate and complete stop.

My brother went to look at the wreckage of the car and said that you couldn’t recognise what make of car it was, he said that the engine had been pushed so far forward into the cabin, that the drivers seat had been compressed so far backwards into the rear section, that the car looked as if it was a two seat car…….he told me it looked like a concertina.
I was very lucky to survive this car crash I must admit but had I been wearing a seat belt, well I’d have been wearing an engine too and I doubt if I’d be writing this story today – because I wasn’t wearing the belt, I was thrown out of the seat hitting the side pillar that holds the windscreen up, which is why I ended up in a coma with serious head injuries, internal bleeding and a ruptured spleen.

They found my car on the A3 into London, I say they, I have no idea who they were but I owe my life to who ever it was that stopped their car and rescued me. What a sight that must have been, how lucky was I that the car hadn’t bust into flames – I wouldn’t be writing this now if that had been the case and you wouldn’t be reading this and our lives and other peoples would have taken a slightly different turn. If I had died that night, the chap that I killed would have lived a little longer too – so on one hand, my family were grateful that I survived but on the other, the man I killed a few years later on, well his family would have turned my life support machine off if they could have seen into the future.

I’m not saying that by me writing this blog/book that I’m going to shape your future but in some way I hope that by reading about some of the ridiculous things that I’ve done and the lucky escapes that I’ve had that it may help you to shape someone else future or possibly your own. I really have been blessed to survive some of the accidents that I have and I believe firmly that there is a reason for this, I’ve been a total idiot for a lot of my life – it’s never too late to change and make a difference.

For some strange reason, my parents weren’t notified about the accident immediately, the Police had found a driving licence inside my wallet at the scene and gone round and knocked on the door of this poor man, who’s driving licence I had, in the early hours of the morning, only to be told that he was abroad and not in the UK, so it couldn’t be him.

Again, luck would have it that in Wimbledon, not far from the scene of the accident was a hospital called Atkinson Morley, which just so happens to be one of the most advanced brain surgery centers in the world. So if you are going to fall asleep, make sure you do it near a place that can increase your chances of survival! As I say, it all happens for a reason, I wasn’t meant to die that night, someone or something was looking after me, I never knew why but one day I’ll find out I’m sure……..