BRAZILIAN SOCCER SCHOOLS & SOCATOTS CHARITY EVENT 2011

Some of you are aware each year Socatots & BSS holds a charity event, we helped a little girl in Gosport who suffered from Cerebral Palsy & also Hydrocephalus, we also raised money for Naomi House in Sutton Scotney. This year we are raising as much money as we can for ‘The Stroke Association’, Daniel and Mark Piper are running in the October Great South Run & need your help

Some parents will know that May 12^th 2011 I lost the most influential person in my life (My Dad) after battling for 6½ years from a major stroke in October 2004, He drifted into a coma which lasted months but despite all odds dad came out of his coma, he always had a Motto of ‘doing things his way or no way’, we felt it was a miracle but it had left him without speech, the use of his left side & lost the majority of his swallow which meant he had to be peg fed through his stomach, we were told another stroke could happen at any time & to be prepared, he had to have 24 hour care & physiotherapy twice a week at home. Very slowly we found a way of communicating with him, he knew exactly who we still were but it was really difficult not hearing him talk. We taught him to communicate by signs, Thumbs up if he was ok, thumbs down if he was in discomfort or didn’t like something. Screwing his nose up was a sign of not happy. If he was happy he would smile.  About 18 months after he came out of hospital he started to use his frame & he could take small steps around the house holding onto hand rails. He was also able to take in tiny amounts of food instead of just having the peg feed but due to being peg fed & lack of movement meant that he was going to be prone to chest infections, he did not have much swallow so anything given to him by mouth had to be really small so we had to be very careful what he had. He would go back & forth hospital with chest infections or anemia, it was like we were on a merry-go-round you just didn’t know what was going to happen next, I think it was harder for us to accept this was our dad & one minute he was fine & the next he was unwell.

Due to the medication he became anemic so back to hospital for a blood transfusion, this was not a success, & it went straight into his lungs so he had to have tubes into his lungs to drain the blood out. We were told he had lost his swallow completely now & he was to have nothing by mouth at all as it could kill him. Practically every month we would get a call from mum to say dad was back in hospital but the final blow was dad had another mild stroke which left him completely incapable of doing anything at all. One thing I found hard to come to terms with was Dad was in the Ambulance Service for many years until he retired, the amount of people he helped over the years in all different accidents/situations no one could help him get better, we had to sit & watch it destroy his life which was heart breaking.

December 28^th 2010 he was rushed to hospital again with a chest infection, he looked really ill, again we were told to prepare for the worst, dad had deteriorated so much in the last 6 months after the mild stroke but the chest infection cleared & he was sent home again. In May 2011 he had deteriorated so much we could see he was not well but kept thinking he will bounce back but on 6^th May after dropping Craig at Basingstoke hospital to have a leg operation I got a call to go straight to QA hospital in Cosham as dad had been rushed in again, when I arrived we were taken into a room & told dad was not going to make it this time he was really poorly, even though you try to prepare yourself each time you can’t really prepare for it at all. I spoke to the sister on the ward, she told me dad had Chronic Pneumonia & Chronic Heart Disease & he was going to die, she said it could be in the next 24hrs or a few days. It was like someone had punched through my chest & ripped my heart straight out, the empty feeling I had is really hard to explain, no words can describe how I felt. His breathing got really bad, he was on oxygen, morphine & other drugs to help him with his breathing. I would visit dad then hop onto the motorway straight up to Basingstoke to see Craig, I felt like a Zombie just going through the motions of everyday living not knowing what I was meant to be doing but just seemed to keep going.

Saturday 7^th May after visiting Craig in the afternoon I went straight to QA hospital in Cosham to stay overnight, I held dad’s hand & talked about everything just so he knew I was there. I left the hospital at 8am but then I was called to say dad had woken up as bright as a button, smiling, thumbs up & quite alert, we thought dad was going to prove the doctors wrong again but Monday he wasn’t well again he looked quite gaunt & his breathing had got worse, the hospital increased the morphine to keep him as comfortable as they could, the hospital staff were brilliant, they would make sure we were kept up together with what was happening with him. Tuesday 10^th May I visited early, Dad was very pale but he opened his eyes, looked at me, put his lips together to give me a kiss & smiled, my sister & I stayed for a few hours then went to get something to drink whilst others visited & we went back in the afternoon, the Hospital Chaplin came into the room & read dad the last rights, this I found so upsetting as at this point I knew dad was not going to come home again. Wednesday 11^th I got to the hospital at 7.30am, mum was there my sister came in & my daughter came in to see her granddad although Daniel, Louise & Mark really found it so distressing as this was not the granddad they remember. When I was leaving I told dad how much I loved him, how much I would miss him & how much he meant to me not really knowing if I would see him again. I got the dreaded call at 2.15am on Thursday 12^th May to say my dad had just passed away. I just crumbled, deflated, heartbroken that I would not see my dad again but relieved he was not in anymore pain. 

The funeral was the hardest day of my life, 2 paramedic bike riders lead him into the crematorium, the Ambulance Service Flag draped over his coffin & it was packed with ex colleagues, family and friends. Daniel, Louise & Mark took it very hard losing their granddad but they were my rock in keeping it together, I really don’t know how I would have got through it without them all. After the funeral Daniel & Mark applied to run the Great South run in October 2011 in aid of the Stroke Association & this is the charity we will be helping this year.

I am asking all parents/pupils if they could sponsor Daniel & Mark to help raise as much money as possible for this charity that do a wonderful job for families of stroke victims. Parents can donate online at the following address: www.justgiving.com/Daniel-Piper or if they would like to sponsor Daniel and Mark using the Great South Run sponsor form please let me know & I will get the form to you, parents please ask as many people as you can if they would kindly sponsor Daniel & Mark. A stroke can happen at any time in anyone’s life & there is nothing you can do, no matter how much first-aid training you have you are completely helpless when someone has a stroke apart from getting them to hospital very quickly.    

As you can see helping this charity is something very close to me and my family & without ‘The Stroke Association’ many people would not have a clue what to expect from a stroke victim, the Association can help with advice or just listen to what you are going through, we are gaining more knowledge about strokes & we want to help others who may experience what we have been through since 2004.  The hardest thing of all was not hearing my dad talk to me again, the hardest thing for Daniel, Louise & Mark was their granddad could not have a laugh, joke or mess around with them like he did before.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter & we thank you for all the support you can give us If anyone has any questions please contact me on 01489 896867 or 07979803484 or e:  

Very Best Wishes

Barbara Piper

Brazilian Soccer Schools & Socatots