Adam suffered burns to 60% of his body in an accident in February 2009.
My 15-year-old son, Adam, has been in the Westmead Childrens Hospital since February 24, 2009 after being involved in an accident which left him with burns to 60% of his body.
The accident occurred when a gas bottle in a horse float exploded after a lighter was lit nearby. Adam was admitted to intensive care where he remained for 1 month in an induced coma. He has had skin grafting done to his legs, arms, hands, head and face, and is in for a long and painful recovery with more operations scheduled in the future.
?We were told it was very bad and to go home and pray?
When Adam was first admitted he was flown to the hospital in the Westpac helicopter and taken straight to intensive care, where the Doctors worked on him for several hours to stabilise him. We had been unable to see him after the ambulance arrived. When we did finally go in we were told it was very bad and to go home and pray.
Adam has three other brothers and my mother had also driven to the hospital to support us. That night we did not know if Adam would be alive in the morning and leaving was not an option. When you have a family member in a life threatening situation you do not want to leave their side. When you live nearly an hour away it is also too far to get back quickly if their condition deteriorates suddenly. That hour may just be too long, and too late.
The next morning I was offered accommodation in the hostel attached to the hospital, but there was no accommodation available for his brothers. This meant the separation of our family and my other children having to return home without me.
Children are not allowed in the hostel and there are only two beds to a room. I stayed there for the duration of Adam?s time in intensive care before he was moved to a ward. We felt that we needed to all be with Adam as a family during this most crucial time as his condition was very serious. When the situation is that critical you don?t know how long you have. There was also nowhere we could go as a family to talk or cry together or even just be alone together.
?I have not had one home cooked meal?
The hospital does all it can but the wards have only two parent bedrooms and I found the facilities in both wards and the hostel did not offer proper kitchen facilities. The parent room in the ward has only a microwave and toaster available and no plates or bowls, with only plastic cutlery. The hostel was much the same except it also has a sandwich toaster. Although I did not eat much the first month, after three and a half months here I have not had one home cooked meal and I miss that desperately.
When a child is seriously ill a parent needs to be with them 24 hours a day. For us this meant cutting back to a single income and that is a struggle in itself. It adds a huge amount of strain on top of the already difficult circumstances. On top of that you have to buy all your meals. It is really not affordable to do that but there is no other alternative.
?My sixteen-year-old son ended up being sent to stay with friends?
Having a unit in close proximity to the hospital would have meant the world to us. It would have meant our family could have stayed together when Adam was critically ill. It would have given us a place to be able to have some privacy and just be together to support each other and be no further away than Ronald McDonald House is to the Oncology Unit. My sixteen-year-old son ended up being sent to stay with friends an hour and a half away and he had absolutely no family support when Adam was at his worst.
It would have meant maintaining some semblance of normality in an already surreal and stressful time. Even the things we take for granted, such as home cooked meals, and a considerable saving on food bills. Not to mention the debt I have now accumulated by staying in the hospital hostel, which I will have to try to pay when I become a bit more financial again.
The strain of being in an unfamiliar situation that you have no control over renders you helpless in so many ways. To have a place that feels more like a home rather than a sterile cold environment would have helped us cope so much better. There are many bad days when you are in this type of situation and no where to get away from it yet still be near.
I know it would have helped my family and I enormously and I hope in the not too distant future the Parramatta Mission program can commence so it can help others who are faced with the nightmare we have been through.
Please show your support and donate to the Parramatta Mission here.
