The phone call that every parent dread arrived. “We are just waiting for the ambulance and he has been immobilized on the field as a precaution” his father calmly said. My son had a neck and back injury in rugby and they had stopped play. My accident-prone youngest son was no stranger to injuries and had called hospital his second home throughout his 15 years. This however sounded more serious than his usual mishaps.
Luckily a friend of mine was able to take me straight up to the rugby pitch 15 minutes away and I crossed my fingers that we would arrive in time for the ambulance. As soon as we arrived his father sent one of the players over to Munch and me to guide us to where he was on the field. We found my blurry outline of a son lying stretched out on the floor with the team’s physio holding his neck still to avoid further injury. Surrounding him was the coaches, some team mates and some concerned parents who had waited with him as they were concerned. The positive about having rugby loving people around you are that there will never be a dull moment as the banter keeps everyone’s spirits high, including my son’s. Nobody feels down on a rugby-players watch.
Attempting to make out which end was his head, and which was his feet, I finally found where his voice was coming from and kneeled beside him. Munch began whimpering and whining as he sensed something was wrong. As he attempted to go over to my son and lick him to health, his held him back and took him for a little walk as I stayed with my chilled-out son. Not even the pouring rain seemed to be bothering my son let alone the fact that pins and needles were spreading across his body. As everyone around him got more concerned during the 2 and a half hours the ambulance took to get to him, my son grew even more chilled out.
The kindness of those around him was so beautiful to witness as they brought him umbrellas to cover him, coats, a sleeping bag, hot water bottles and even a gazebo to put up over him. The physio from the opposing team stayed with him throughout and helped and took over from the team’s physio when she needed a break. Not once did anyone show anything but sheer compassion for my son and genuine concern for his well-being. If angels walked among us, this is what they would be like. The calmness and high spirits that passed between these kind souls kept my son in the belief that everything would be just fine. And it was.
After a neck brace and slide board transported my son by ambulance to the nearest hospital, all x rays showed that there were no fractures despite what was originally thought, luckily just soft tissue and muscular damage was caused alongside a slight knock in confidence on the field. As he waddled out of the hospital later that evening in pain, we all felt blessed that he was okay in comparison to how it could have turned out and feeling truly blessed that he has so many kind people around him that care for him.
Instead of going home for a Sunday roast or sneaking off for a quick pint, they choose to wait with him until the ambulance arrived and did not once moan.
Kindness is not something that has to be planned but something that happens naturally in times when nothing else would work. May each of these earth angels be blessed with nothing but kindness in their own lives as the world mirrors back what they give out. These true Earth Angels are the best.
