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SIMON JAMES BRUNTON
19th July 1982 - 18th April 1998
Our eversmiling, courageous Hero
Living in hospital
Before this nightmare began Vince was self-employed and I worked eight hour nights, so that one of us was always with our children.
We had our children to enjoy them, not to let other people look after them. We both gave up our jobs to care for Simon, he was almost
a fully grown young man and to move him about was more than one person could do. We both spent all our time at the hospital encouraging
and stimulating Simon to speak and to move. He had physio sessions a couple of times a day and due to his tremendous courage and determination
had slowly begun to talk to us and be able to sit up. We would always be doing things with and for Simon, we were not going to allowed him to vegetate.
Even if he was hooked up to a couple of IV's, we would find a way of going for a walk around the hospital. Often, if he wasn't attached to anything,
we would take him for a short drive in the car or to a movie at the multiplex nearby. It was the only way of holding on to anything which seemed 'normal'.
The next few months were a constant round of medical treatment, physio sessions, and minor operations to stretch his oesophagus so that he could begin to
eat again.
Simon was always keen to work with the physio's because he wanted to learn to walk again
June was a very sad month in the hospital. Our precious little friend Kelly had been rushed straight into PICU one day and test results soon showed that
there was nothing more that could be done for her. She would be given palliative care and stay on our ward. Morale on the ward was very low and we tried to
think of something that would distract everyone, if only for an hour or two. Vince and I had been given some money to buy flowers, instead we went to the local
supermarket and brought every kind of junk food the kids liked to eat and we had a 'party'. As much as the children loved to eat, hardly any of them could keep
anything down because of the drugs they were on, but we figured that as long as they enjoyed it on the way down, what the heck! We even joked about who would be
the first to use their vomit bowl! That honour went to our little friend Katie-Rose, who you'll hear about later. Goodness, the things we found to laugh at!
We blew up surgical gloves and drew faces on them, naming them after the doctors and nurses! We put on nursery rhyme tapes and played pass the parcel.
Kelly was able to join in the fun and everybody had something else to think about for a little while.
Kelly enjoying the party food....with her mum, Sharon
Sadly, Kelly lost her brave battle on 7th June. Everybody on the ward was devasted, Kelly had been our little ray of sunshine, we found it very hard to believe
that we could go on to win a battle she had lost.
In early July, Vince slipped a disc whilst lifting Simon further up the bed. It wasn't too bad at first, but then it turned into a nightmare of constant pain
and trips down to casualty when he seized up. We only ever went down to casualty when a relative or friend could sit with Simon or when Simon was asleep and a
friend could sit with him, so he never knew how bad daddy's back was. On the night that the casualty officer decided Vince would have to be admitted to hospital,
I dreaded having to tell Simon that his daddy was now in hospital, I thought it would really upset him and cause a setback. I needn't have worried,
Simon thought it was absolutely hilarious that his daddy was going to get a taste of life at the receiving end! Luckily, at this time, Simon was not attached to
any drips etc., so I could put him in his wheelchair and take him to visit Vince. Simon would constantly tease Vince about the treatment he was getting,
the cannulas, the injections, the urine bottles! In fact, seeing Vince in hospital took Simon's mind off of his own treatment and gave him quite a boost.
In the end Vince had to have spinal surgery to remove a part of a disc!
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