Page 13 of Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital

‘Thank you.’ Danni mouthed the words to Esther as she took Miss Phipps away. If anyone could make Ollie’s teacher feel better, it would be Esther. Danni had witnessed it countless times in the years they’d worked together. Esther just had this way of making people open up and feel it was okay to talk about whatever was worrying them. One girl had been very unwell when she’d come into A&E and her symptoms had suggested an overdose. She’d been adamant she hadn’t taken anything, until Esther had spoken to her on her own for a few minutes. After that, it had all come tumbling out. The breakdown in the relationship with her mother, an aggressive stepfather who belittled them both, and years of pent-up hurt that had culminated in her swallowing every pill she could get her hands on. If Esther hadn’t got the full story when she did, that girl might not have survived. So there were no better hands for Miss Phipps to be in.

‘Right, let’s get you along to your X-ray then, young man.’ Danni wanted to go down with him and see the results for herself. Half an hour later they were back in A&E and there was no doubt about either the open nature of the fracture, or that Ollie would need surgery to correct the injury. By the time they got back, Ollie’s parents had arrived.

‘Hi, I’m Danni, one of the doctors taking care of Ollie. He’s been an absolute star.’ She had been about to explain to his parents what the X-ray had shown, but Ollie’s mum was too fast for her.

‘Oh, sweetheart.’ His mother leant over him. Ollie had been given some stronger pain relief since arriving at the hospital, so he was no longer wearing the face mask. ‘This is why I didn’t want you playing rough sports. There’s too much risk of you getting hurt.’

‘I’m fine, Mum.’ Danni had been telling the truth when she’d told Ollie’s parents how brilliant he’d been, but for the first time he was looking upset. ‘I love playing football; please don’t make me stop.’

‘It’s all right, champ, we won’t stop you playing.’ Ollie’s father looked at the little boy’s mother. ‘We can’t wrap him in cotton wool forever, Jen. I’ve been telling you that for eight years, and these things happen.’

‘Not to my son. He’s all we’ve got.’

‘Which means he deserves the best life possible. I’d broken my right arm twice by the time I was his age. I fell out of the same tree both times, nicking plums from a house at the end of our road with my brother.’ Ollie’s dad shot Danni a rueful grin. ‘And those summers are still some of the best memories of my life.’

Ollie’s father looked directly at the little boy. ‘Just don’t tell your nanny Pat that, son, or she’ll have mine and your uncle Carl’s guts for garters, even all these years later.’

‘I won’t, Dad. I promise.’ The little boy looked very solemn for a moment and then he grinned. ‘But can I tell her how loud the crack was when I broke my leg? Miss Phipps nearly fainted!’

‘I don’t think your mum is quite ready to hear that story yet, Ollie.’ Danni had a horrible feeling that Miss Phipps wasn’t the only one who’d be in danger of passing out if he carried on, and she turned towards his mother. ‘The X-rays show there’s an open fracture of both the tibia and fibula bones in his left leg, but each bone is only broken in one place. I know it sounds very scary, but the surgical team are on the way down to discuss the best way to get Ollie on the road to recovery as soon as possible.’

‘Where’s his teacher? She should have made sure this didn’t happen.’ Danni didn’t fancy Miss Phipps’ chances much if Ollie’s mother got hold of her. ‘Go and find her, Dean; I want to hear from her how on earth this happened.’

‘It was an accident, Jen. Come on, blaming anyone isn’t going to help.’ Dean moved to comfort his wife, but she wasn’t ready to listen.

‘This is our boy lying here, our only child and all because the people we trusted to take care of him couldn’t do their job properly.’

‘These sorts of accidents happen all the time. Don’t they, Doctor?’ Dean turned towards Danni, who nodded slowly. Whatever the school might or might not have done wrong, laying blame at anyone’s door right now wouldn’t change anything and it was clearly upsetting Ollie.

‘I’ve seen countless injuries of this type during my career and as scary as they might seem, the human body is amazing and Ollie will be running around again before you know it.’

‘But he needs an operation. He’s only eight years old for Christ’s sake and anything can happen with an anaesthetic.’ Jen was clearly working herself up into a frenzy and Danni could really have used Esther’s calming influence.

‘The risks are tiny for someone of Ollie’s age who is otherwise healthy.’ Danni could tell that her words were doing nothing to comfort Jen, but then Lucas pulled back the curtain and came into Ollie’s bay.

‘I can hear you lot from down the corridor! Can anyone come to your party, Ollie, or is it invitation only?’ Lucas winked at the little boy and some of the tension immediately left Ollie’s face. ‘I’d heard we had a football star in the hospital, but I had no idea you’d brought all your fans with you.’

‘These are Ollie’s parents, Mr and Mrs Hudson.’ As Danni said their names, Ollie’s mother thrust a hand out towards Lucas.

‘Call me Jen, please, and my husband is Dean. Are you the surgeon?’

‘If Ollie lets me have the job. How does that sound to you, buddy? We can put everything back where it’s supposed to be and then we’ll put a special type of hard bandage over it to protect it while it heals, called a cast. The best bit is you get to choose the colour of your cast; we’ve even got some glow in the dark options.’

‘Cool!’ Ollie’s face had completely transformed since Lucas had arrived.

‘Can you still get them signed? My brother did a whole cartoon strip on one of my casts when I was a kid.’ Dean laughed. ‘My mum said if he’d have put half as much effort into his homework, she’d have been a happy woman.’

‘They’re not quite the same as they used to be, but the thicker marker pens still work.’ Lucas looked from Dean to Ollie. ‘So, what do you think? Shall we go and get this leg of yours sorted out?’

‘Yeah, and I can’t wait to see my leg when it gets dark.’ Ollie turned towards his dad. ‘Can you send Miss Phipps a picture later, Dad, to cheer her up? Then she can show the rest of the class.’

‘What do you reckon, Jen?’ Dean turned towards his wife, who smiled for the first time.

‘I think we can do that.’

Things swung into motion quite quickly after that. Lucas examined Ollie and reviewed the results of his X-rays, while consent forms were organised for his parents to sign. Esther arrived back, after waiting with Miss Phipps until her partner came to pick her up. She’d apparently been too scared to come back to A&E after she’d seen Ollie’s parents heading in, which had probably been the right decision given how Ollie’s mum had reacted. At least until Lucas had arrived.

‘You were amazing with Ollie and just your presence seemed to calm his mum down.’ Danni walked along the corridor with Lucas as he left the department to head up to theatre to prepare for Ollie’s operation.

---