“Tom!”
Jane and Maggie ran across the waiting room towards him. Jane threw herself into his arms as soon as she was close enough.
“Where are they?” she demanded. “What’s going on?”
He pushed her away gently as Maggie stared at him over her shoulder, wide-eyed.
“I’m still waiting for someone to come out and talk to me,” he said, rubbing her arm. “Hopefully it won’t be much longer. In the meantime, let’s just try and stay calm, alright?”
He steered them over into a corner of the room, and sat down with them in the row of waiting plastic chairs. An uneasy silence spread over them, punctuated only by incoming patients and their entourages.
“I don’t have a number for Callum’s mother,” Jane mumbled. “What if we need to call her?”
Tom put his arm around her. “Let’s just wait and see what the doctor says first. If we need to call her, we’ll worry about it then.”
He wished Lucy were here. This was one of those moments where, as parents, they would comfort each other, talking through the uncertainty, holding each other up. Instead, he sat here, surrounded by Jack’s friends, who needed comfort just as much as he did. For now, he concentrated on that.
When the doctor finally arrived, she led them along the hall to a private waiting area and invited them to sit down. She was so young and she looked so nervous. He would have felt sorry for her if he wasn’t so worried.
“Sorry to keep you waiting this long,” she began wearily. “We were waiting on the results of the MRI. I know how you must be feeling so I won’t beat around the bush.”
“Thank you. We’d appreciate that.”
“Jack was driving,” she said carefully. “He sustained an injury to his collarbone, probably from the seat-belt. However the x-ray revealed no broken bones, so he’s very lucky. He’ll be sore, and he has a few cuts and abrasions, but he’ll be fine.”
Tom breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank God,” Maggie whispered, reading his mind.
“Callum?” Jane asked breathlessly.
“He has a concussion,” she glanced down at the clipboard in her lap. “It’s fairly minor but he lost consciousness at the scene, according to the paramedics that brought them in, so we’re taking the precaution of monitoring him overnight. He also has a few cuts and bruises but nothing serious. All going well, he’ll be released in the morning.”
Maggie put her arm around Jane and held on tight as Tom offered up a second prayer.
“That’s good. He’s going to be alright,” Maggie smiled through the tears, rubbing Jane’s shoulder encouragingly.
“What about Ally?” Tom asked.
The doctor seemed to take a moment longer to answer. She checked her clipboard again before crossing her arms over it, a slight frown creasing her brow. The mood turned sombre and the young doctor seemed to take on the appearance of someone much older and wiser than her years. A chill crawled up his spine.
“I’m afraid she hasn’t been as lucky.”
The next few sentences coming out of her mouth were jumbled. His brain struggled to make sense of them, turning the words over like puzzle pieces, trying to fit them into place. It didn’t matter which way he turned them, nothing seemed to make sense.
“I don’t understand,” he said finally, his heart pounding.
He turned to Jane and Maggie, sitting beside him. They stared back at him in horror.
The doctor calmly continued. “Ally’s spinal cord has been badly damaged. She has fragments of bone protruding into her spinal column that need to be removed and her spine needs to be re-aligned and stabilised with surgery.”
Tom’s heart pounded in his ears. He shook his head. “I’m sorry – for a minute there I thought you said she was paralysed?”
“That’s right,” she said gently. “I’m very sorry.”
Tom stared at her in shock, his brain struggling with the implication of the word.
“It’s permanent?”
“I’m afraid so. The blunt force trauma that occurred as a result of the accident caused irreparable damage.”
Tom’s heart raced as his mind flew over the possibilities. “You said that the surgery is to remove bone fragments – won’t that fix it?”
“Removing the bone fragments is only part of the problem. The damage has already been done. To give Ally the best chance of recovery, we’ll be surgically fusing metal rods to her spine to stabilise it and allow her to heal faster, so her rehabilitation can commence as soon as possible.”
Tom stared at her in shock.
“I’m very sorry. I know it’s a lot to take in, and as you said, it’s been a long night – we’ll talk more in the morning. Right now, we have her heavily sedated but she’s stable. We’ll keep a close eye on her overnight and prep her for surgery in the morning.” She paused briefly. “There’s no doubt this is a life-changing situation for her, but she’s twenty-six years old and she’s in good health otherwise. There’s no reason she can’t continue to live a very full life.”