Finding New Ways To Live

Finding New Ways To Live  

By Paul McCann

It was Christmas Eve and Sean was looking forward to driving back home to be with his family . He had just wrapped up the final stage of the new town development plans that he had been working on for the past few years . .He had spent a lot of time talking to builders , electricians . plumbers and now everything was ready to go ahead of plans . He had been given a generous Christmas bonus from the council for all his efforts during the year and with the extra money he had Sean was going to do a little Christmas shopping for his wife and two children in town on the way, He wasn’t really sure what to buy them so it would most probably be like all the years before , buying on impulse .

.As he unlocked the car in the car park, he thought about all the previous  Christmases , with friends and family . Some of those were gone now and each year he felt a little sadder for their absence , but life goes on and, in their absence, he found a little comfort in thinking of the wife he loved and his two beautiful young children who filled in the spaces of those who were no longer alive .,

Remembering how it used to be and appreciating where things were at brought a message of how important family meant especially at Christmas .

After he had bought some gifts for his family, he put them in the boot of his old car which was small and rusty  with a few dents , the tyres were still ok but he had heard some squeals and squeaks when he used the brakes . Due to his schedule at work, he had put off having a brake check done and never really saw that as a real problem . Now that he had his bonus, he thought about having the car serviced in the new year but for the moment all he wanted to do get home to be with his family for Christmas . The road was icy so he drove slowly along the road ,

Some road work ahead prevented him from going his normal route and he followed the detour signs with really no idea of where he was going on the road home .

He went around a few bends and across a bridge and then down a steep hill .

At this bottom of the hill there was a set of traffic lights at a crossroads .Just seconds away from him going into a panic and screaming out the traffic lights flashed to red from green the brake pedal in Sean’s old car went down straight to the floor .

His eyes opened wide as the nightmare began , two other cars were turning in front of his at the traffic lights and his car was freewheeling at speed down the hill .

The nightmare kept rolling on and on the impact of the collision with several cars involved in the crash .

Sean was taken from the scene in a helicopter with critical injuries . There were some fatalities at the scene .

Many lives were changed forever in the blink of an eye. 

Sean was being kept alive by equipment in the in the intensive care unit , His wife was faced with a decision . The medical team at the hospital gave her a choice , they could switch off the equipment that was keeping Sean alive or there might be  as slim chance that he could pull thought however he would never be able to walk again , he would have great difficulty to maintain his basic everyday needs and would require a carer for the rest of his life.Seans wife Bernadette immediately chose to keep him alive with the equipment in the ICU .

Twelve months later Sean was discharged from the hospital, The nursing staff dressed him up in a Santa suit and placed him into an electric wheelchair with balloons attached .  They placed him and his wheelchair into the ambulance and brought him home to his wife and children ,

His brain trauma injuries rendered him helpless to move , he had a peg feed tube in place for feeding , community nurses would attend for eight hours every day on two shifts  to assist him with his hygiene , nutrition and muscle stimulation exercises . He had a mechanical lifter in the home to assist him with transfer from his chair to the tub chair and bed in the home . 

People from the church came every day to pray for the man who was left in a wheelchair . Sean couldn’t remember anything about the day when the accident happened when his brakes were gone . There were other families who were living out the memory of loved ones who lost their lives that day and their nightmare kept rolling on and on .

The insurance companies had paid out compensation to those families who had lost a loved one and even though money couldn’t bring back those who were killed it made their families live financial comfortable for the rest of their lives .

On the long and winding road of rehabilitation Sean came to a place where he levelled out or plateaued . With hydrotherapy and recreational activities Sean had responded and was on his feet making small steps  with assistance from family and carers , He no longer had a peg feed tube and was eating normal food  without needing any assistance .

He went to the movies once a week and was able to converse with people in a happy and manageable way .  Sean recovery was seen as a miracle by all those who were close to him .

The years passed and Sean saw his two children get married and some grandchildren born  . He was happy in his own way and adapted well into his new life going on excursions with other disabled in the community and meeting lots of new people in the sheltered workshops where he did simple tasks each day . Once a week he went to pot plants in a nursery and the activity was very beneficial as it gave him the ability to talk to others and feel appreciated  .

Specialists and doctors were amazed at Seans progress and had no answer to how he was managed to be talking steps and showing signs of recovery in other areas of his life , He was now in a position where he could solve simple mathematical equations and write little love letters to his wife .There were days when Sean would begin singing and rejoicing for no reason .

Every Christmas he seemed to have a vague recollection of going shopping and driving home on a road that had a very bright light shining down from above ,

Although Sean’s life had changed in many ways he had adapted to a new life and  was very happy in the place he was . Every day he was excited about life and the things he was going to be doing . ,

He loved his wife when his children and grandchildren came to visit , he spends many hours with them in happy surroundings at home or anywhere they would go . .

Bernadette was so happy she never chose to turn off the machines that day in the hospital , now when she saw her husband laughing and smiling , it also gave her also another reason to live .

The End