Brent's Accident

It's been a fairly hectic week this last week. I have had funerals to play for last Monday and Thursday, and weddings to play for last Friday and Saturday, as well as a service at church on Sunday.

On Tuesday last Kevin finished off the decorating in the kitchen too.

However one of the most distressing things was that I got an e mail from a friend of my good lady asking if I knew anything about Brent. [Brent is the grandson of Dot's nursing friend from nursing training days, who is married and lives in the U.S.A.]

It seems that Pat, who contacted us, had heard that Brent had been involved in a serious accident, and this had come via e mail from her daughter who is out in Thailand! As I had not heard anything I didn't reply immediately - my e mail had been causing problems for a few days, then I had a phone call from Pat.

She didn't know any more, and had tried to contact both the parents and grandparents of Brent unsuccessfully. By now I suspect she was probably thinking the worst - that possibly they too had been hospitalised. I said I woud see what I could do to try and find out what had happenned, and let her know if I got any further information.

To cut a long story short, I tried tracing Brent's parents and Grandparents on both e mail and facebook, and also tried tracing any news via Brent's friends facebook pages too.

Via Brent's friends facebook pages I discovered that Brent had been involved in a serious Road Traffic Accident on Tuesday 9th August. This had happened the day that Brent's Mum and Sister and his grandparents were on their way to see his older brother Trevor at his passing out parade after basic training in North Carolina.

Brent's Mum set up a contact page direct from the hospital he is in and has given regular updates on his health.

 

Brent before his accident

He arrived at the hospital and was taken up to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, suffering from a broken leg (in three places - tibula, fibula, and femur), a toe that had almost been torn off, a broken right eye socket and cheekbone, and swelling on his brain. He also has scratches on his right cornea and a fractured nose. He was initially given medication to reduce the pressure on his brain, then had his leg operated on after which he was put on a ventilator to help his breathing.

Since Tuesday he has made remarkable progress. He is off the ventilator, his brain pressure is now down to within normal parameters, he has been allowed to slowly come out of the medically induced coma he was put into, has started to take "real food", and has been moved out of the Pediatric Intensive Care unit to the Pediatric Inpatient Unit.

He still has a long way to go, but he is most certainly heading in the right direction.

Please remember Brent and his family in your prayers.