Phil Mercer

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Stop

 

I'm on a train again. Seems a good time to write these things. The last few days have been pretty horrible really.

It was the kind of thing that there is no preparing for. A true out-of-the-blue stomach churning phone call.

I was having brunch with a friend who was in Oxford for the weekend. It was a number I didn't recognise so I let it go to voice mail. The message was a frantic one from my cousin Daniel: Please call me urgently!

A million things run through my mind. Why would Daniel ring me, we rarely do that. What could possibly have happened. Sounds bad. What if it's Mum? (Mum has been having heart trouble and had been in hospital for tests the day before. Why would Dan call me about that though?

I called him back. The news was just as unexpected and awful. His Mum, Aunty Marilyn had lost control of a car while driving down Reigate Hill and was seriously injured and in hospital. (So seriously the police were about to pick him up from Devon in a helicopter!)

The car was an old model and didn't offer any protection as it hit a concrete bollard! It seems no one else was involved.

With head trauma, the emergency services took her to St Georges in Tooting.

So with Dan was in Devon, his sister Rachel in Sheffield and his father Uncle Chris was in Milton Keynes no one could get to her quickly.

After I'd spoken to Dan, promising to call my father and get him on the way to the hospital (he was closest) I had one of those guilty moments. Just a fraction of a second: Thank god it wasn't Mum or Dad! Then a reality check... And shock. It just didn't seem real!

One thing about the Mercers is how close we seem to be. Something that stems from the Grandparents I suppose. It can feel like being in the mafia sometimes... Hurt one hurt all!

That phone call was one of those moments when you just want everything to stop! To tell the truth if that did happen, I'm not sure what I'd be able to do about anything.

That was on Saturday. Today is Tuesday and she is still deep in an induced coma.

I don't believe in god, so praying is out of the question... However she is in the right place, a top neurological specialist ward. She is also a very strong willed and determined woman whose spirit I am sure is fighting to find a way to get those shaken up brain cells in to some working order. It's just a matter of time and medicine.

We will wait.

# posted by Phil @ 3:01 pm

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