Second Chance…Second Life

Ministerial Meandering

Second chance - Second life

Five years ago our son-in-law had an almost lethal motorbike crash, when an inattentive driver pulled right across in front of him, and he was airborne.  As has been said many times, ‘Ce ne’est pas la chute qui conte, mais l’atterissage.’  And his landing was not a happy one.

Following a lucky break, whereby the car following him to work was being driven by a doctor who was able to secure his airway, and his iWatch, which alerted the Emergency Services on the impact, he was immediately airlifted to a neurosurgical centre for surgery.  

Recovery from massive brain injury is a lottery at best, and for a long time, while he was in the Neuro Intensive Care, deeply comatose and with a tracheostomy, it was anybody’s guess which way things would go.  Ruth never left his bedside - apart from being peeled away for some rest from time to time - and made sure that all the possible adjuncts to brain recovery were being administered.

We all took turns at sitting with him while he was unconscious, some just holding his hand and chatting about everyday things, and sometimes putting his favourite group (Green Day) into his earphones.  I read him stories from Winnie-the-Pooh, and made up other fantasies from my bizarre imagination.

When he began to wake up, he spoke only schoolboy French for some days, before switching back to English.  But he had no idea who Ruth was, or even that he was married.  He would stare, bewildered, at common objects like a pen or toothbrush, and wonder what to do with it.  It was heartbreaking to watch.

Gradually, he got used to Ruth being around, and occasionally began to recognize her.  She patiently spent hours showing him hundreds of photos of their life together, to remind his struggling brain of where he had come from.

Finally released from the neurosurgeon’s care, he was discharged to the Military Rehabilitation Centre; he had been an Army doctor and helicopter pilot.  This was not a good place for him, and he stalled badly, living in a world of his own and not making sense a lot of the time.

Through a lot of perseverance, Ruth persuaded the staff to let him come home for a weekend, to get him out of this stultifying environment.

It was as if a light had suddenly been switched on, and he began to recognize familiar things - so much so that Ruth refused to take him back to the Military Unit, and said she would set up a local rehabilitation team for him at home.  And that is what she did.

He was still wheelchair-bound, and still had to learn to walk again, despite having had no injuries to his legs.  He had just forgotten how.  His brain injury was complex, involving his eyesight as well as his cognitive abilities, so the team looking after him was large, and had to be carefully integrated.  Again, Ruth managed this.

My purpose in telling you this saga is to let you know that Grant is now so well recovered, that you would not know he had had such a massive injury.  He has literally found a new life.  His second chance has taken his old life entirely, and he rarely remembers it except for the occasional wistfulness when he looks at what he lost - like sky-diving and flying helicopters.

We all deserve second chances at a second life - and that is what Christ gives us.  The jolt is not so painful as Grant’s was, nor need the recovery time be so prolonged, but the effect is that you are now a new person - the old has gone.  You have the opportunity to stretch your wings in a way that Grant would never have had in the cab of his helicopter.  There are no limits to what you may be able to do as a new creation in Jesus - and I doubt you’ll miss the old life one bit.

Philip+