’24 Hours in A&E’ shines a light on the importance of support
Episode five of ’24 Hours in A&E’ series nine focuses on the importance of having someone to love and support us when life gets tough.
66-year-old Gerald is rushed to St George’s by air ambulance after falling ten feet from his loft, through his bannisters and then down two flights of stairs. He has a serious head wound and medics are concerned he could have suffered neck and spinal injuries.
Gerald is a trained lifeguard and has worked as a polo club official in Windsor for thirty years, where he’s met many of the Royal family over the years. But he’s never married. “Just never went that way. Came close once or twice,” says Gerald. “I sometimes think I’m probably better off without.”
50-year-old Beverley arrives in A&E with an open fracture of her right leg after being hit by a car near her home. An x-ray reveals that she will need both her lower leg bones re-aligning before having surgery to repair them. And it means she’ll miss a weekend of dancing too.
Several members of Beverley’s close family are there by her side. “I find it very strange when some of my girlfriends tell me that ‘I hate my sister’ or “We haven’t spoken in years’,” says Beverley. “Why? They’re the closest people to you. Life is far too short to not talk to someone.”
Meanwhile 39-year-old father-of-six Paul is brought to resus with a nasty cut to his right arm from some building rubble he was removing. He can’t move his fingers, meaning that he could have significant tendon and nerve damage requiring surgery.
As the doctors battle to save the use of his hand, Paul worries that if the injury is permanent he won’t be able to work. “He’s a grafter,” says Paul’s sister Debbie. “As long as he’s working and he can earn the money for his family, then he’ll be happy.”
