JOHN SKYE
We had lunch and went pretty much straight on the water. There were 2 Italian guys from RRD and myself and Whitey. I actually made the comment “keep an eye on each other”, but then did a pretty terrible job at it!! My last memory of Whitey windsurfing was when I hit the channel on my way out to sea. The wind dropped completely and I was sinking on my over volumed board. I looked back and saw Whitey just leaving the beach, stood up on his board. I then had to focus on making it out through the breaking waves in the channel, but when I looked back he was gone. I had just assumed he had gone back to the beach with such light winds and fully expected him to come flying out on a kite or large slalom gear. After about an hour sailing, someone came up to me on the water shouting that Whitey had had a heart attack. By the time I came in, he and Timo were on their way to the hospital. I quickly got changed and then grabbed some of Dave’s stuff that I thought he might need in the hospital and set off.
At first it didn’t seem too bad at all. He couldn’t talk much but seemed to have good movement and everything seemed pretty okay. Timo and I were taking advantage of Whitey’s inability to answer back by ripping into him in his hospital bed. Despite struggling to say yes or no, he did manage to say “shut up”, which was very encouraging. I then stayed overnight in a hotel nearby, but when I arrived in the morning he had deteriorated quite badly. There was definitely much less piss taking as he seemed to be fighting for his life at that point. I am massively thankful to Pam (his best friend’s wife and NHS stroke specialist) as I hit her with 1000’s of questions by WhatsApp, trying to work out what to do and getting reassurance that everything was as it should be. The doctors changed his medication and by lunchtime he was doing a bit better. Sally (his wife) and Reece (his son) arrived from the other side of the world within 24 hours, which is unbelievable really, and after that they took amazing care of him.
Since then I have been in contact quite a bit through Skype. He is doing amazing at talking now, although you can really hear when he is tired or not, as he tends to struggle more to find words. But to be honest, it’s almost a relief because he used to talk too much anyway! When it all happened I was googling ‘stroke recovery’ and the number one thing they all said, was it depends mostly on the effort and drive of the patient. At that moment I knew he would be back on the water at some point and I can’t wait to sail with him again. Hopefully he will be a bit slower now and won’t pass me quite so easily!
SALLY WHITE
Well it started out a quiet Sunday morning, kids all out and David in Mauritius. Then about 12’ ish I had a phone call from Nik Baker to say he had received a phone call from Timo saying David had suffered a stroke. To say that was a shock was an understatement. If they had told me he had broken something windsurfing that would have been acceptable. Then I phoned Timo, he said he was with David and Skyeboy and that they were still at the hotel but were taking him to a hospital. Timo said we should fly out and gave us times of a flight. I said is it that bad? Then panic set in, what child should I phone first? I spoke to all of them and they all arrived home very quickly and all wanted to fly with me. Eventually we decided Reece should come with me and we had booked a flight within an hour. As you know we are a big family, so within minutes other family members arrived – mum, brothers, sisters, all in total shock. Reece took control and we left the house in total chaos with everyone crying. Thank goodness for good friends, as a quick call to Mark and Julia and a lift was ready to the airport. I left having a panic attack, not good.
After a 12 hour flight we arrived in Mauritius. Unbeknown to us, Timo and Skyeboy had set up a WhatsApp group with the kids and close friends Nik and Pam Green. Pam working in the NHS was a fantastic help keeping them informed as to what the doctors should be doing. We arrived at the hospital with David having an MRI scan and Skyeboy still there. The doctors confirmed David had suffered a stroke. They said it was a waiting game to see what happened next and they were going to keep his blood pressure lowered. It was a shock when we first got to see him, he couldn’t speak and his right hand side couldn’t move. I could just see the worry and hurt in his eyes that he might stay like that for ever. He was in his worst nightmare. They kept him in intensive care for 6 days, then moved him to a nice room with a sea view and fabulous sunsets. That was our home for the next 3 weeks and I only took enough clothes for 4 days. Our days were spent at the hospital from 10 in the morning until 8 or 9 at night. Reece even had a sleepover with his dad one night. As days went on we got into a routine. Pam sent some exercises out for his face and mouth, which we did 3 times a day. We went for walks round the hospital and David slept a lot for the first week or so. Next thing was to get him home, which he was desperate for. We FaceTime’d our other children daily – Aaron, Samantha and granddaughter Florence. David loved that, but hated the thought that he couldn’t speak. At last we had a date to go home and after a lot of phone calls with the insurance company, which were amazing, a flight was booked with a nurse so we all flew home together. The only thing David didn’t like was he had to go to hospital to be checked over. In the end he was there for 10 days. After a struggle we managed to get the house sorted for his return, the bed was brought downstairs and everything was in place. He was so happy when he was eventually home, then started the long haul of physio.
The physios were amazing, coming in everyday for months. They still come in now twice a week for physio and speech therapy, and we also have help from Pam doing physio and friends Julia and Mel doing reiki. David amazes us all each day with his determination and still has his lust for life. I think there has only been a couple of times when he was very down then he soon snaps out of it. He has even put himself forward to go to the hospital and speak to stroke patients who are struggling. He also goes to three different groups a week.
I would like to thank our three children and their partners who have also been amazing through all this and have never moaned, they are just always there for their dad. Also all our family and friends and my girlfriends who have kept me sane through this whole experience and most of all our little granddaughter Florence for making us laugh every day. Also a big thank you to everyone who donated to the JustGiving page that Skyeboy set up, which has helped us to buy things for David to enable his recovery.
