Two Years On.....

Two Years ago today, I made the longest walk of my life, a walk no parent should ever have to make. I carried my son, Leon, from Ward 10 to the operating theatre at LGI, They wanted him to go down on a trolley, but there was no way I was going to let that be my last sight of him should the worst happen. We (Helen & I) left him in the hands of the surgical team knowing the odds on him coming back were a lot less than favourable, but, Helen had done a great job in getting him so far, and now it was up to the Wonderful Mr. Watterson & his team and Little Leon himself.  Over 14 Long, long, long hours later, he was back, alive, relief all round, the rest is well documented elsewhere.

 It’s been an eventful two years, Leon has had further surgery, and will still need more in future, but he now has that future, something that was not for definite two years ago. Along the way, we have laughed, we have cried, we have had family holidays, days out, days in and days doing nothing and, infuriatingly, days/nights at the hospital (s)!. There is always the worry over his health,some days are better than others, but  his heart is in as good a condition as we could have hoped for, his plumbing sadly not, but hey, I’ll take that any day. He is checked by the Hospital regularly, at the moment all is good so big smiles all round!  They say that having kids changes you, having a CHD kid certainly does. Perspectives change, you find out who your friends are, and get to meet a whole load of new ones; for  we are all members of a club that no-one wanted to join, but we are closer for that, we understand each others worries and feel each others pain. With the best will in the world, if you haven’t experienced it, you will not understand, and I pray that one day no-one will have to experience it at all. I now frequent a world where hearing about another ones Open heart surgery is the norm, where hospital visits can be more regular than visits to the seaside for children and parents alike, and where, sadly, death, is all too common.  We were lucky (!!) Leon survived, he  has had people from all parts of the globe praying to whatever deity would listen, the non-religious just sending best wishes, and random strangers offer support in various ways. In this digital age, it’s surprising how touching a message left on a forum wall, from some-one who you have never physically met and know only by a nickname, can be.  Leon has developed a bit of a fan club in some circles, a blog started by Helen about Leon and his adventures has now been visited over 17000 times, who’d have thought it!

 So two years  on,  I would like to thank all of you that have in some way become part of our lives, to the medical and ancillary teams at LGI (how do I start to thank these guys?), to the RLFANS Wakefield Trinity Forum Prediction league  for a wonderful Gesture and continued messages asking about his progress, to the family of Leon Walker, their own son tragically lost to an undiagnosed CHD whilst playing for Wakefield for their kind words and gesture,  to all the new friends we have made in the CHD world, to the families who have been through this and helped with advice and to those still to go through it that maybe we can help in some way, to our close families for being there and to old friends who just were there when we needed them.

But I have to thank one person more than any, my wife Helen, without whom I would not have got through this last couple of years, so, here’s to many more years as a family just doing family things that others take for granted.. 

There is a quote by Souza, that really says it all

“Dance as though no one is watching you,
Love as though you have never been hurt before,
Sing as though no one can hear you,
Live as though heaven is on earth.”

Thanks for being along with us for the ride, buckle up for we have a long way to go and a lot of things to see and do yet.

xxx