Wednesday 16 July 2014

I cannot understand this

I heard today that a friend/colleague's 8 year-old son died the night before last.

I don't know much about it, but this is it. He went for a simple operation on his leg, then contracted an infection.

He was sent home with a course of anti-biotics, then got worse in the night. Although rushed to hospital, he died the same night, maybe through a blood-clot to the brain.

My friend has three more children left - one who is too young to go to school, and two who have been brought home early.

I cannot begin to understand the situation, or their grief.

16 comments:

  1. It's an incomprehensible loss; you will know it from the bottom of your gut when you express your sorrow.

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  2. Such sad and tragic news Tom.

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  3. There can't be anything worse than losing a child. My heart breaks for them.

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  4. That is an absolute tragedy Tom.

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  5. Sounds like sepsis
    When it hits hard....children especially are vulnerable
    No rhyme nor reason tom....
    Sorry x

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  6. I'm so so sorry. We want to believe that with modern medicine, this cannot ever happen. Those poor parents - I couldn't image losing my child.

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  7. And there I was, still thinking about the German sausage crisis, but this puts it all into perspective.

    To lose a child is unbelievably sad, and I can only hope that the family will get through this loss somehow and be able to pick up the pieces. Even I, who don't even know this child, think about all the stages in life that it would have gone through, had it had the chance to grow up. I cannot even imagine what the parents must be thinking and feeling. My heart goes out to them.

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  8. I can only imagine how it would feel if the poor child had been mine; nightmare.

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  9. When L was ten he had a friend of the same age who died a handful of days before Christmas. I do not know how parents keep going after that. My heart goes out to them.

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  10. I was going to take this post down this morning, but for all your comments I am leaving it up for the time being - yes, it was the fact that hospitals are extremely dangerous places to have an open wound which killed the boy, I think.

    Many years ago I was warned to stay out of hospitals by a doctor, and not for the obvious reasons.

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  11. Tom, do leave this post up. It is good for us to be reminded of things like this. How do parents bear this kind of thing. It does us all good to be reminded and to put our petty little worries into perspective. Please pass on all of our comments to these people, who must be going through hell right now.

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    1. Ok, I will. They are shut away in a house right now, on the hottest days of the Summer.

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  12. So very sad. I can't even imagine.

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  13. I saw him a couple of weeks ago and asked how he was. He said his son had just broken his leg - bad luck, I said.

    Bad luck...

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  14. Yes, sepsis does move fast, but a blood clot after surgery can happen anytime,and if it dislodges and moves, it can be fatal, regardless of the person's age or health.

    I'm so sorry to hear this news, Tom. I think the only thing worse than losing a child is losing a grandchild. Watching my grandmothers coping and trying to make sense of things after my brother died was hard to bear.

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