There are a lot of things going through my mind this morning and I cannot help but watch the clock as it ticks away towards the time, four years ago, when the world was shattered. You may not have noticed it back then, but for me the heart of life itself seemed to stop for a moment, letting the pounding in mine redefine the reality of the future.
Some events leave memories like scars.
Most of you reading this will know how my son, then 25 was stabbed through the brain and left dying in an alley. Of the prognosis that promised such pain, so little hope, even should he survive. And you can imagine what that felt like as his mother. You can, perhaps, begin to imagine how it felt to my son when, weeks later, he began to regain consciousness and became aware of the horrors his life now held. Where the once bright, hard-edged rising star could not speak, see, move… and had little hope of ever doing so.
That dawning realisation of utter helplessness would, I think, be too much for many of us. I do not know… we can never know… how I would have faced it in his place. But he fought back. And came back.
You may have seen the reports of our laughing exchanges, read his own words here or watched me jump up and down in hobbit-sized glee with every bit of progress. And there has been so much.
Not that the challenges are over. The recovery will never be complete… or finished. He doesn’t give in or give up. Indeed he is currently celebrating his Re-birthday by doing the ‘impossible’. He’s good at that.
It has been a hell of a journey. The emotions so extreme that any attempt to describe them sounds melodramatic. It has, of course, been a lesson in perspective for all concerned. The things we took for granted were whipped away, the things we thought mattered really didn’t. An event like this makes you re-evaluate so many things. From how you view time and measure success, to the isolation of every individual in their deepest self… yet the absolute connectedness of every facet of life and being in a single, interwoven tapestry. From how nothing is impossible.. to how nothing is impossible either!
So I sit here, thinking, remembering… seeing as if from a great distance the events of the past four years… a series of apparent impossibilities faced and somehow overcome that have shaped our lives in so many ways… and watching in joy, utter admiration and gratitude as ‘past tense’ becomes ‘future perfect’ for my son.
Happy rebirthday, Nick.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
From far away congratulations to him.
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Thank you 🙂
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Thinking of you both with love.
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Thank you 🙂
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I have known what it is like to believe your child is dying, but in nowhere near such horrendous circumstances. Total admiration and respect to both of you for surviving.
From one mother to another xxxxx
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Thank you Lizzy. My sons have earned my respect for the way they handled this.
I don’t think the circumstances make the pain more or less when a child’s life hangs in the balance. Just the shock, perhaps, that one human being can do this to another. x
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Any comment is almost superfluous, as you’ve said it all so eloquently. Incredible the depths the journey of life will take us to, in order to allow us to find ways to rise again and shine.
Thank you for being so brave – for your boy, and also in sharing your pain an hope with the rest of us. Happy re-birthday to your son xxx
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The fallout from such an event can be appalling.. but it can also inspire. My son is an inspiration to me daily and a reminder that nothing is impossible. x
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Happy re-birthday to Nick!
Hope their will be cake… 🙂
*aherm!* Cake? 😉
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^ there *sigh*
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🙂
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🙂 Out of my hands this time 🙂
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happy happy birthday:)
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🙂
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Happy rebirthday, Nick, for the strength and love that you and your family share.
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Thank you, Judy.
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I can’t imagine the pain and fear and helplessness this injury must have brought in the beginning, but it is wonderful to read that Nick is going from strength to strength and celebrating his forth rebirthday. Amazing! Happy Rebirthday to Nick. 🙂
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Thank you Elizabeth. I hear he went indoor skydiving the other day.. he is in Singapore meeting his soon-to-be- in-laws at present 🙂
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