On a November morning in 2016, Jack was walking with his girlfriend when he slipped and hit his head on the pavement. I got a call to say that Jack was injured and needed to go to the hospital. I wasn’t too worried.
Accidents like this happen all the time.
A short time later, I got another call to say Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) were airlifting him to St. George’s Hospital in London.
My heart sank. I used to be an intensive care nurse and I knew that we needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. We arrived to find out Jack had been taken straight into surgery. When he came out I could see from his monitors and the way the staff were behaving that things weren’t right. A consultant came to speak to us and the news was heart-breaking. Although they had been able to stop the bleeding on his brain they had not been able to stop the swelling.
There was nothing more they could do. We were given the opportunity to call family so that they could come to the hospital and say goodbye.
Jack passed away with those he loved around him. Without the efforts of the KSS team that wouldn’t have happened, so I will always be immensely grateful to them for giving us that opportunity.
Jack had registered to be an organ donor and so we were happy to honour his wishes when he had died. His organs were used to save the lives of four people. He would have been proud of that – so am I.
