New episode of 24 Hours in A&E: Journey of Life…
The award-winning 24 Hours in A&E returns with a series of compilations featuring some of the most memorable staff and patient stories filmed since 2011 at King’s College Hospital and St George’s in South London – places where life, love and loss unfold every day.
This episode features three patients filmed at St George’s. All three regale us with stories of their past and how love and strength carried them through hardship.
65-year-old Fiona, a retired air stewardess, is rushed to A&E after falling over at her best friend’s 70th birthday party and seriously cutting her leg. She has an arterial bleed. ‘An injury like this can be life threatening. Our biggest fear is that it can cause cardiac arrest’ says Nurse Anna.
Evelyn, the birthday girl, is keeping Fiona company and they reminisce about their time working as air stewardesses together. We learn how their strong friendship has waxed and waned and of the different paths they chose to take in life.
Fiona explains the years of loneliness she experienced after her divorce and how her three children pulled her through. She needs surgery to repair the wound and prevent infection. She says goodbye to her friend and their bond is clear. ‘The older you get the more you appreciate your friends. You don’t know how long you’re going to have them so you’ve got to make the most of them. She is very important to me.’
73-year-old Monica has come to A&E with hip pain with her son Elston. Monica tells us about life growing up in Trinidad. She remembers arriving in the UK as a young woman: ‘I came in September and boy was it cold and everybody was saying it was hot and I was freezing!’
Monica talks about her early years working in the UK as a nurse in London – at none other than St George’s. She reminisces fondly about her beloved husband Noel and their life together. She tells stories of the racism they encountered together and the challenges of being in a biracial marriage in the UK. Strength and love pulled them through.
66-year-old Christine is raced to St George’s after experiencing stroke like symptoms on her way to work. Her husband Paul explains: ‘She had to support herself on a wall. She said, ‘Paul, I don’t feel right, I’ve never felt anything like this before’.
Christine is suffering with tremors on the left side of her body. Specialist neurologist Anil is called to A&E to see Christine: ‘The brain is still a mystery. It’s still, out of the all the organs in the body, the one we understand the least.’
An urgent brain scan shows a swelling on the brain. Neurologist Anil explains: ‘Seeing a swelling on the brain, you know, I guess, what it can be, and certainly a brain tumour can be on that list’
We learn how Paul, Christine’s devoted husband, fell for her and of the early years of their marriage. Paul talks us through past financial strife. Neurologist Anil explains the scan to Paul. Christine must be moved to a specialist neurology ward for further tests.
Christine shows great strength saying: ‘You have to fight or else you fall don’t you, and I wasn’t going to fall. I never will fall.’