Five days before my mum and dad (Caroline and David) returned from an amazing holiday in Tenerife, my partner and I returned from our own special holiday in Budapest, having just got engaged. 

Everything seemed perfect. But this changed on a perfectly normal day on 10th October 2018.

Mum went back to work following their holiday, however on returning home, she suffered two very sudden cardiac arrests. There were further complications, including bleeds on the brain subarachnoid haemorrhage and traces of coronary heart disease, so the doctors decided to fit a stent.

As a trained first aider, I gave Mum CPR at home, along with amazing paramedics and the support of Dad. It was the first time I did CPR - on a real person anyway! Nonetheless, I feel everyone should learn CPR.

Mum was admitted to Harefield ITU for over 50 days. During this time she was mostly was in a coma. Our family were told to prepare for the worst and that her brain wasn’t responding. 

But we believed that Mum would respond so, we started showing her pictures and had Harefield's amazing violinist play her 'Sweet Caroline' several times.

Next day Mum surprised doctors, defeating all odds - she started to respond to commands and poke her tongue out! Eventually, she was admitted to a local hospital nearer to home, Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Now, Mum is doing fantastic, weaning slowly off the ventilator mum. We can have a conversation by lip reading - she even gives advice, with smiles and signals for pain, if any. The bleeds have healed by themselves. She had a tracheostomy so has no voice yet but we will get there slowly.

We hope to have her back home this year, however long it takes. Thank you Harefield, we continue to support you always we will come back to see you when mum is out we love you.

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