Sarah Simpson
Thursday 19th April 2007 will be a
day that we as a family will remember forever. April 19th every
year is special anyway as it is my wife’s birthday. Our daughter Sarah (age
20), who worked in a care home, was on late shift that day and as a result
we had celebrated my wife’s birthday the evening before with a family
favourite meal of fish and chips.
That day (the 18th) Sarah had been to
the zoo with some of the residents of the care home, and was full of stories
about how much both she and the residents had enjoyed the day, and showed us
lots of photographs she had taken of them all.
My wife and I, Sarah and her elder brother Will
(age 22), all round the table laughing and joking and talking about how
everyone was getting on, just normal family stuff.
About 9 o’clock, Sarah went
off up to her room and we heard her CD player booming out as usual when she
was in there. Will went back off to his own flat.
The next morning, my wife
and I went off to work as usual, not disturbing Sarah - she was on late
shift and hated being woken up if she had the chance of a lie in! The
dog curled up as usual by Sarah’s bedroom door waiting as always for her,
and the chance of sharing her breakfast toast!
That evening, my wife
arrived home first. She saw Sarah’s car still on the drive, but didn’t think
it was that unusual, perhaps she had got a lift into work with one of her
colleagues, or her shift had been changed.
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She started preparing tea as normal, then noticed
that the dog seemed particularly agitated for some reason. She then saw
Sarah’s handbag still on the sideboard, a sure sign that Sarah had not gone out.
When she went upstairs, Sarah’s bedroom door was open but the bathroom door was
locked and, starting to sense something was wrong, she then called out Sarah’s
name. As there was no answer, she knew she must be in the bathroom and had
perhaps suffered an accident of some kind, so she unscrewed the lock from the
outside and found Sarah in the bath, under water, curled up, asleep, and cold.
My wife has worked in the medical profession for a
long time and knew that Sarah was dead, but none the less called paramedics, who
pronounced her dead at the scene, and of course the police were then called. She
had not had time to call me, and I arrived home 10 minutes later to find our
drive full of paramedics and police cars and was told the worse possible news.
We have since been given the official cause of death
following the post mortem as drowning, but of course everyone agrees it is nigh
on impossible to drown yourself face up in a shallow bath of water. No
explanation can be given as to why an apparently fit and healthy girl of 20,
non-smoker, didn’t drink, didn’t do drugs, somehow fell unconscious and slipped
below the water level and with her mouth still apparently open, inhaled water
and drowned. There was no sign of any panic, no sign that she had been in pain,
nothing – it was as though she had just gone to sleep under water. We have been
told that the most likely, but un-proven, explanation is that she suffered an
arrhythmic heart spasm.
The devastation that this has caused to the family
is unimaginable to anyone who has not been through it. Sarah had such a caring
nature, always smiling, never was a problem as a teenager like so many, and was
making real plans for the future. In her entire life, she had never had a single
day off school or work for illness. No warning, no signs of anything wrong then
bang, from being entirely normal, your whole world is turned upside down for
ever in a moment.
Disbelief, anger, desperation, heartbreak, lost,
just some of the emotions we go through on a daily basis. Her many young friends
have also been left devastated and bewildered by what has happened. Sarah’s
brother has been very strong for us, and is now going through medical tests
himself to determine whether he may be at risk. We just take one day at a time
and try to get through it as best we can. People say that we will come to terms
with it, but I disagree. We may learn to live with what has happened,
eventually, but how can you come to terms with something that no-one can give
you a proper explanation for to give you “closure?”
We have only recently been made
aware of the CRY organisation and website, and will offer our support to this
most worthwhile of causes from now on, in the hope that, ultimately, other
families do not have to suffer the trauma and devastation that we have.
Colin Simpson
www.rememberingsarah.com
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