ReadersDigestAustraliaNewZealand-April2018

April• 2018 | 51

READER’S DIGEST

he’d started during his irst career as

apoliceoicer.

The phone rang – Liliana calling

himback.“Comehome,”hetoldher.

AllLilianaheardwasagarbled

voice. Then she called emergency

services.

Minuteslater,Richardwasrushed

tothehospitalinanambulance.

Numbness had started

in his feet and crept up

hislegstohiswaist.He

felthimselflosingcon-

trol of his muscles. He

couldn’t swallow. To

save him, an ER team

puthimunderandin-

serted a breathing tube

down his throat. He was

then given medication

tofightastrokethat

doctors believed was

beingcausedbyaclot.

Afterdoctorsdidwhattheycould,

nurses wheeled Richard to intensive

care. And then they waited.

O

NCE HE HAD AWAKENED,

and even though he was

paralysed, Richard felt sen-

sations when doctors and nurses

touched him.

I don’t feel sick. I just can’t move.

Slowly,herealisedhewastrapped

in a prison that was his body. He

heardthedoctorexplaintoLiliana

thatherhusbandwasinacoma.

Richardheardthebluntdiagnosis:

a two per cent survival rate. “If he

lives, expect severe brain damage ...

Little hope ... Best outcome is that he

survives but lingers in a vegetative

state...Youneedtoconsidertaking

himoflifesupport,”Richardrecalls

hearing the doctor say.

He remembered the conversation

he and Lilianahad hadthree years

earlier, when they got married. hey

discussed end-of-life

scenarios. hey agreed

that if, God forbid,

either of them required

life support for what-

ever reason, the other

spouse needed to pull

theplug,outofcom-

passion and love.

Richard heard his

daughters’ voices. Dis-

tant.Perhapsinahall-

way? Liliana told the

doctor she needed to discuss the

issue with her husband’s daugh-

ters, adult children from a previous

marriage.

IguessI’mdying.

Lilianareturned.hefamily,she

told the doctor, had agreed to wait

afewdaystoseehowRichardpro-

gressed. The girls, she explained,

weren’treadytolettheirfathergo.

Norwasshepreparedtoloseher

husband.

hroughout the day, friends came

andstoodbyRichard’sbed.They

talked about old times. They told

him they loved him and how good

he looked.

Richard heard

the blunt

diagnosis:

a two per cent

survival rate

“