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Christina's Story
Why we should talk about our wishes!
`May the 27th 1978 was a wonderful sunny warm day; it was the May Bank holiday
so we were all in the holiday spirit.
My husband, Ray, and I went down town on the bus shopping and the children stayed in
– the boys were cleaning their bikes.
Our 16 year old daughter, Christine, was waiting for Colin, her soldier boyfriend, to visit. My painting of Chris
He was coming home on leave.
When we got back from town Christina said she and Colin were going over the road to
the school playing field ,to talk, as her brothers were too noisy, and she wanted to sunbathe.
I agreed, and said I would send one of the boys up with their lunch later,
so they could all have a picnic.
This area was popular for locals to walk, cycle and play in.
She hesitated and said she ought to change but I said “you look wonderful and you are so lovely as you are”
and we had a cuddle and off she ran so happy. She did look lovely in her blue jumper which her Nan had knitted for her.
The fish and chip van arrived, and my sons bought their lunch and off they went to meet up with Christina and Colin.
Ray and I were sitting on the settee having a cup of coffee when Tony our eldest son ran in saying, “
mum they have found a body in the field.”
“Don’t be silly” I said but then Terry our youngest came in with a man not in uniform.
We were shocked that this stranger had walked into my home,
”What have you done now” I said, thinking that the boys had rowed with the man’s son and he was going to complain.
“Mum this is a policeman.,” said Terry.
“Hello. ,He said , Have you a daughter” he asked – “yes “ I replied,
“well please don’t panic but we have found someone in the field” he continued.
*********************************************
From then on my life was in a dream or a nightmare really.
I even noticed that there was a bit of rubbish on the floor and picked it up. I have never worked out why I did that.
I was told that the girl and the boy she was with had been taken to the local Hospital.
We rang the hospital straightaway and were told the girl had been sent already to the Brook Hospital.
I knew this meant serious head injuries.
We were told to wait, as they had not identified just who they were yet, but we knew who they were.
The policeman also told us they were looking for a man with an axe, as the injuries were so bad.
They thought she had been attacked by a mad axeman.
When the policeman left he said if there is anything you want , just ask for me,
Chief Inspector Swift. We sat back numb waiting
for the phone to ring and hear it say she is OK come and get her, but that call didnt come.
The call we got was not what we wanted to hear.
The surgeons were waitng urgently to operate and wanted our permission.
But they wanted it in person, we said we are miles away and we cant get to you for about 2 hours.
so for gods sake go ahead just do what you have to do and we will get to you somehow.
We couldn’t wait any longer, so as we no longer had our own transport we contacted C/I Swift and explained our situation.
The surgeons were waiting for our permission to operate and we needed to be there urgent.
They sent a car and driver to take us at high speed to the hospital.
We hurried into the ward and met a nurse who had a pile of clothes in her hand.
Do you recognise these ?.“yes, that’s the blue jumper her Nan had knitted her,
yes they are our daughter’s clothes.
We were told she was in the operating theatre and that now we had to wait. Over 5 hours we waited.
My mind was numb.
I couldn’t speak and then when she came back to the ward , I looked hoping it wasn’t our daughter,
not our Christina, but it was.
The doctor came to speak to us and said she had lost a third of her brain and was in a deep coma.
They had operated but the brain would swell and may stop her breathing but they would ventilate her.
We went and sat by her bed and looked at all those tubes ,and she was on a ventilator.
How did this happen – I thought?
All I could do was stroke her feet as I could see she had burns and bruises on her body and I didn’t want to hurt her.
She had been hurt enough.
We sat for eternity before going to the visitor’s room while they monitored her and did what they had to do .
I was wearing a fur coat even though the temperature was very warm in the sun I felt so cold.
We stayed all night and the following day. All the national papers and TV News carried the story
"Girll attacked by Mad Axeman".
The doctor explained that she may recover , but she would never be the same ,
most probably confined to a wheel chair.
With her head injuries she would probably not have any thing other than automotive functions,
basicly she would be a vegatable.
At that point we would be happy just to have her back to nurse her . We had no idea that her injuries were so severe ,
that even if she survived she would not recognise us or do anything for herself ever again.
We clung to that idea that we would get our little girl back. That meant she would breathe ,
her heart would beat but she would have no brain power ,she would be a vegatable.
She would not have wanted that , Colin would not have wanted that , it was selfish of us to want her back in that condition.
But while there is life there is hope however forlorn.
We had hoped that she might be ok, but this turned out to be false hope.
The police told us that a young boy had walked into the station and confessed to riding his motorbike over them.
(It was later found he had tried to stunt jump over them by doing a wheelie and crashed onto them)
It was a wheel nut on the front forks had caused the damage to Chris’s front left lobe.
He had also been showing off all day scaring children and adults riding around doing
wheelies and skidding into them.
When we got home the reporters started arriving. They were all kind so we talked to them.
Ray even did an interview for the local radio.
We waited around like zombies doing what anybody told us to do.
We decided to visit the boys parents now and talk to them, because if anything happened to Christine
we may not feel inclined to speak to them.
They were upset at what had happened but would not let us speak to the boy.
We returned to the . hospital. But as the days went by, 1 then 2 then then on the 3rd day a nurse asked us,
If we would donate her organs “NO” I screamed “
She isn’t going to die” How could they ask this of us now
,had we not enough pain without the thought of cutting bits off her.
Its hard for them to, but they have to ask, some time later that day ray and I talked it over and agreed
that we would be prepared to donate her kidneys.
They wanted cornias as well in fact they wanted everthing,she was only 16 young and healthy,
we couldn’t agree to anything else.
She had left School the day before the accident and had a job to start on the Monday.
Her life had just begun she was getting engaged to Colin she had everything to live for.
On the 5th day the 31st May at about 4 am we had a call from the hospital .
Bad News they said. She had been pronounced brain dead.
Oh god . Our beautiful daughter had died.
They asked us are we ready to agree to giving her kidneys.
We agreed that she could be a doner and they could have her kidneys.
A kind neighbour agreed to run us up to the Hospital so that we could sign papers and to be with her for the last time.
She was still on a ventilator when we arrived, to us she was still alive .
Still warm and fresh looking still as lovely as ever. Was there still any hope could they still save her.
No ! they reasured us it was all over she was at peace.
I do not know if Chris would have wanted this as we never discussed the issue .
We never thought our children would die before us.
We had to wait 5 hours while the transplant team flew down by helicopter.
All that time in agony , it seemed Chris was alive as they kept the ventilator going to circulate the blood to the organs.
Then, with our permission, the machines were turned off and Chris did not breathe again.
We went home numb to face the future without Christina.
Two women were given a Kidney each of Christina’s .
One woman had been on dialysis and was a single mum with 2 children
and now she was able to go back to work
after a short time to begin a new life.
We kept in touch with the transplant section and later were advised that the second woman
had since rejected
the kidney after a short time.
The moral of this article is really , we never know what the future holds
or who is going to outlive who,
so this donor subject should be discussed even with our children.
Things are a little bit better 30 years on , we are aware of donor cards and the new opt out discussions.
But do you know if you will out live your children, even what their thoughts are .
The lad Colin was discharged from the army, altough he recovered he never made a full recovery.
He later went on to marry, he visited us once.
But for us the pain was still raw and we could not face discussing it with him.
We never saw him again. We moved house and home shortly after to try and start a new life again
with our 2 sons.
Neither of us have ever got over this tradgedy to this day.
Almost every day after all this time she is still in our hearts ,on our lips.
The cheif Inspector who had been so kind suffered a similar tragedy himself ,some time later his own son
was knocked from his cycle and was also killed. Our thoughts are with him.
By Mavis Nye