'I thought I was going to lose him'

THE family of Myles Gavey are waiting anxiously to discover whether he will make a full recovery from the crash that nearly killed him. He celebrated his 18th birthday on 2 July, just over a month before suffering serious head injuries in a scooter crash in Grand Bouet.

That was on Saturday 11 August and it is only in the past few days that he has started fully recognising his parents.

And he still has frequent memory lapses in remembering familiar faces.

His brother and sister are trying to stay strong for their parents' sake.

On the day of the accident Myles was with his girlfriend at a friend's house in the Bouet area. He left on his scooter to go to Beeton's chip shop to get some food for the group.

Little is known about the accident, which occurred at about 8.45pm.

Neighbours and passers-by went to his aid and it is believed that a nurse stabilised him before paramedics arrived.

His parents, Rodney and Simone, were at the family home in the Vale at about 9.15pm and were planning to go out for a few hours.

Their daughter was at work at the time and a friend phoned her about the accident.

She drove home frantically sounding the car's horn as she arrived at the back of the house.

'She was in bits and said Myles had been in a bad accident and the ambulance had a police escort to the hospital. I thought I was going to lose my son,' said Mrs Gavey.

'We had no idea how serious it was. You have no comprehension of what you are going to face.'

Another police escort helped the family get quickly to the hospital.

Myles had no ID on him - it was locked in his scooter - so Mrs Gavey had to identify him in ICU.

The results of a brain scan were sent to Southampton and it was decided that he needed to go to the UK as swiftly as possible.

An air ambulance was arranged to fly Myles for treatment at the Wessex Neurological Centre at Southampton General.

His condition was critical and his parents feared he would not make it.

Myles' mother went with him on the medevac flight while father Rodney flew out later that morning.

Both stayed at his bedside their son was in a coma. His condition was classified as the most serious.

'Luckily there was no spinal damage,' said Mr Gavey, although Myles suffered less serious damage to his shoulder, elbow and legs.

A 'bolt' was put into Myles' head to check the pressure in his brain and a drain inserted to remove fluid to allow the brain to swell. The pressure started coming down.

On the Friday after the accident doctors started to wean him off the medication to bring him out of the coma.

He opened his eyes and began to move slightly but the following Monday he pulled out his feeding tube.

That day his parents learned he was being flown back to Guernsey the next morning.

Initially, they were told he would be transferred late in the week but that afternoon it was brought forward to early Tuesday.

They initially thought it was a good idea to get him back home to the hospital in Guernsey but soon realised the after-care facilities here were inadequate for their son's needs.

He began to communicate more with his family after a while but is still very confused.

He is currently undergoing physiotherapy and assessment by an occupational therapist.

But he is still suffering short-term memory loss and hardly eating.

He is able to hold a two-way conversation but is losing track of days.

To try and help him remember what had happened to him, his mother showed him the front page of the Guernsey Press that reported his accident.

Because the front-page picture showed a boat on which a man had died that weekend, Myles is now convinced he was seriously injured in a boating accident.

Although the family are critical of the lack of specialist rehabilitation for their son, the family thank all the doctors and nurses at the PEH for doing their best for Myles.

They are also grateful for the invaluable help from brain injury charity Headway Guernsey and the ongoing support and specialist advice from Southampton's head injury specialist nurse Miranda Gardner.

'Headway has been absolutely amazing and neither my husband or myself could have got through it without them,' said Mrs Gavey.