The words I write within this section are re-called from my wife Donna and our neighbour for I have very little knowledge of what happened on the morning of 19th April 2013 prior to the incident, at the time of the incident and the hours after the incident.
Inside My House
- I woke up at 4:30am with the alarm as I had done every other day for work.
- I shaved, had a shower and got dressed as I had done every other day for work.
- I said to Donna I had a deep sleep but it appeared to go quickly.
- I had a cup of tea and toast with Donna as I had done every other morning.
- I was not communicating with Donna apart from the odd yes, no, not sure, Im ok.
- I brushed my teeth.
- I collected my laptop backpack, water etc. and kissed Donna good bye.
- Donna asked whether I was ok and whether or not I was good to drive. I responded yes I am just feeling “nervous under my skin”.
- Donna asked what does “nervous under my skin” mean. I responded “I don’t know”.
- Donna repeated her question as to whether I was ok and whether or not I was good to drive. I again responded “yes”.
- At approximately 05:00am, I walked to the front door, proceeded through the door and closed it behind me.
Outside My House
- My neighbour (Adam) who lives directly across the road from our house got into his vehicle to go to work when he noticed what appeared to be a high visibility jacket beside my work vehicle on my driveway. As he looked again he also noticed a water bottle and a backpack on the ground. Due to the lack of light in the morning he could not quite see anyone lying on the ground. He decided to get out of his vehicle and walk across the road for a closer inspection. As he walked closer he could see a person lying motionless on the side of the driveway which was made up of garden pebbles.
- Adam could see that Michael was white to look at, cold and clammy to touch and was not breathing.
- Adam proceeded to go through the First Aid Response.
- Michael took and large inhale of breath and opened his eyes.
- Adam ran to the front door of the house and banged on the door to raise the alarm to Michaels family inside.
- Whilst waiting for the ambulance, Donna made every attempt to keep Michael awake for he was falling in and out of consciousness.
Hospital
- Upon the ambulance arriving, Michael was placed into the ambulance and taken to Nickol Bay Hospital, Karratha, Western Australia.
- Throughout Michaels time that day in hospital he was in and out of consciousness.
- After numerous tests including CT Scans of the brain Michael was released from hospital.
- Nurse said “we new you were going to be an interesting one for your vital signs were good however you have been in and out of consciousness”.
- Doctor said that he didn’t believe my collapse to be the result of a seizure or brain irregularities however more investigative tests would need to conclusively rule these out.
- Doctor explained that Michael had experienced a Syncope (fainted) followed by a Hypoxic Anoxia (loss of oxygen to the brain).
- Doctor suggests that given the explanation of my work load and stress that my brain had been enduring, a decision on whether to go into “Fight” or “Flight” mode had to be made. Given that my brain was overloaded it went into self preservation mode by choosing the “Flight”.
- Doctor prescribes an initial 2 weeks rest with numerous medical tests prior to returning to work.
Returned Home
Two things I do remember about this day was (1) seeing the ceiling lights in the hospital flash before my eyes whilst I was being wheeled in to Emergency by the Ambulance Officers and (2) returning home, lying on the sofa feeling very vacant, extremely lost, somewhat comatose with many emotions to deal with.
