Ingrid Gray

Christopher my 18 year old son, was knocked down by speeding car late one evening. My worst nightmare had just begun.

Rushing to hospital with my daughter Emma and seeing my beautiful Christopher lying helpless in a comma, attached to tubes and a grotesque head frame to support his broken neck, was the most terrifying sight, which is now etched on my brain forever.

We sat with him every day late into the evening, watching him, talking to him, willing him to pull through this hell but not knowing whether he was even aware of us being with him. We were praying for a miracle. Sometimes there would be a movement of his hands or a flicker of his eyes but mainly only the noise of the breathing machine in this death like room was all we could hear. This is how the next ten and a half weeks passed.

Then one morning we were told that no one could do any more for Christopher. The machines were switched off and we watched him slip away. His hell was over. Our kind, sweet, fun loving Christopher was gone. Forever.

The devastation that hit us and the pain within that followed is something totally unbearable. It left a tremendous numbness and the question, the whys? 

Our lives will never be the same. Emma has lost her brother and I have lost my son.

Christopher is always in our thoughts and we will never forget him. Now we have to learn to live without him.