Knocked out
My quiet Friday night didn’t quite go to plan…
Fancy a Chinese, love?’ my hubby Daniel, 44, asked.
It was January 2015, and we were having a quiet night in.
My stepmum Dawn was looking after our two boys Baileyray, 7, and Menthus-j, 2.
By the time we’d dropped them off, I was starving. So I sent Daniel off to get our takeaway, while I popped to the corner shop to pick up something to drink.
Leaving the shop, I was in a hurry to get home.
But, walking past a pharmacy on the same shopping parade, I heard a crack. Then... Whoosh! Something slammed into my right side, knocking me clean off my feet.
My head cracked against the glass shop front.
Everything went dark and fuzzy, and there was a massive ringing in my ears.
Coming to, opening my eyes, I was surrounded by strangers.
Only, as I struggled to sit up, one of the strangers stopped me.
‘No, lie down!’ they said. ‘The fire brigade think you might’ve broken your neck or back.’
The fire brigade? What had happened?
Then I saw it – the pharmacy sign lying on the ground.
It must’ve come loose and hit me as it fell.
I shuddered – the sign was twice my size!
Before I knew it, I was strapped onto a back stretcher with a neck brace, and lifted into an ambulance.
Only then did it sink in, and I burst into tears.
Then, thinking of Daniel waiting at the Chinese, not knowing, I blacked out. I woke up to the sound of my mum Debbie’s voice.
‘You’re awake!’ she gasped as I opened my eyes.
She was in tears, with Daniel sitting next to her.
‘There’s been an accident, love,’ Daniel said. ‘A street sign fell on you, and it took three people to lift it off.’
The Chinese takeaway was only down the road, and Daniel
had seen the commotion and run over when I didn’t answer my phone. Doctors ran tests and X-rays, thinking I’d broken my hip, neck and back. I was in hospital for nine hours, but eventually started to sit up. Incredibly, no bones were broken and I was sent home with medication. ‘You need intense physiotherapy,’ a doctor at Wexham Park Hospital said. But I’d had a lucky escape – that sign could’ve killed me. The thought that the accident could’ve left my kids motherless was unbearable. Two weeks later, I put in a legal complaint to the pharmacy, who sent me the CCTV footage for me to watch as evidence. The grainy video showed a woman thrown into the glass window, the sign landing on top of her. ‘That’s me!’ I said, tears welling in my eyes. In the end, I was bed-bound for five months, my body strained, in agony from the force of being hit. It broke my heart not being able to be a proper mum. ‘Why can’t I go on your shoulders, Mummy?’ Baileyray asked, sad and unable
Coming to, opening my eyes, I was surrounded by strangers…
to understand what was wrong.
I couldn’t even take my kids to the park, as walking hurt my shoulder and hips.
But the pharmacy’s been understanding and has paid for my physio and therapy sessions.
And Daniel’s been my rock. He’s always so supportive, and a great dad.
Since the accident, I’ve had my third boy Phoenix-clay, 11 months, by Caesarean. He’s proof that every cloud has a silver lining.
I might not be able to walk as far as I used to, but I’m grateful that at least I’m alive.
Every day, I thank my lucky stars that it was me who was hit, and not a child.
Imagine that! It doesn’t bear thinking about.
Now I’m back on my feet, I always look above me before I walk into a shop.
I don’t want to miss any more falling signs. Or, rather, I do!
I thought pharmacies were supposed to help make people feel better…
As it turns out, mine could’ve killed me!
I thank my lucky stars that it was me who was hit, and not a child