Tragic Loss Of Son Is Followed By Joyous Gift Of Daughter

Posted by Denis Kase
November 1, 2009

I thought that the following very brief clinical, outline of a very sad, traumatic period that our family endured would perhaps be of interest

It is meant to portray the incredible strength / spirit and courage that my wife has in abundance.

Our son was an exceptional basket ball player who played in the Local comp.
His natural abilities soon had him in the town squad team and also the “Junior Pacers team,” representing the very best players in this district.

It was whilst coming home from a “Pacers” game in the city and traveling to local squad training that an accident occurred.

At approx 5.45pm on the 18th February 1996, while I was employed on an oil rig offshore the family car driven by my wife was struck by a train traveling at 87kph on a level crossing within a large town, killing our only 11yr old son/ child instantly.

My wife suffering massive injuries survived only because of the fact that the car was noticed by a child playing outside the Ambulance station embedded on the front of the train as it was being pushed past, sideways along the track.

The child alerted ambulance officers who were luckily present inside the station and they attended the scene almost immediately.

My wife was rushed to Hospital, where she spent two weeks under sedation in intensive care, followed by long weeks of specialized hospital care. 

She had very serious injuries, some from which she will never fully recover. Her injuries can be imagined and the pain of losing our 11yr son was/is immense.

At different times we talked about the possibility of having another child and at different times we both separately decided against it, however the possibility of another child was attractive to both of us in the end so approx 14mths after the accident we made an appointment to see our local doctor.

The Doctor had first hand knowledge of what had happened to us being totally familiar with my wife’s condition. She said that in her opinion there was no medical reason why we could not try to have a child, however to be on the safe side she insisted that we see a specialist.

The specialist was also of the opinion, after giving my wife a thorough checkup, that there did not seem to be any reason why we could not try to have another child.

She soon fell pregnant and this brought every thing to a head quickly with some hard decisions made earlier coming into play.
We made an appointment to have an intrusive probe and sample taken of the placenta as early as possible at a large Medical Center, so that we could determine whether or not the fetus was healthy.

This is an excellent idea for couples as old as us, my wife being 43 at the time, because we were told that after the age of forty the chances of having an abnormal baby were far greater.
The scan although not without risk would tell if the baby had any abnormalities, leaving all options open.

We had made up our mind that we would only have one shot at this and we would not try again.

We received the news after we waited about a month that all tests had returned positive.

Every aspect of conception, pregnancy and birth were totally natural and normal.
We are blessed with a beautiful {Daughter born, 23/4/1998}

My work on offshore rigs still takes me away from home every other week and sometimes on an irregular basis.

My daughter deserves and gets unqualified love and happiness.

We make sure of that.