Just round the corner of Wyberton Fen lived an extraordinary chappie,who soon became,in a reverse psychology sort of way,friend, mentor and handicapped re-educator.
He had been a director of a multi-million Tulip bulb exporting company,and had had a very serious heart attack at the age of 43.He had had,the specialist said, a period of at least 30mins with no blood to the cortex.This happened while on a buisness trip in Innsbruck,Austria.The hospital's medical team worked furiously for reanimation,injecting,as a last resort,a potassium complex directly into the heart.The medical records of this extraordinary procedure were subsequently published throughout europe.
Three days later,the already serious situation worsened and David had a stroke on a massive scale,reducing the medical prognosis to vegetative coma.
I met David shortly after my father died;and have reason to be glad that I met him 8 years into his extraordinary recovery.
Most of our contact was with him sitting on the back of the 'mountain tandem'.He could balance quite well,and mysteriously recovered more of his sight,each year.The optic nerve was crystallised for a period of 30mins when his heart was stopped,8years previously.Doctors say that such a thing is technically rather difficult to believe.
I learned to call David'The compost man',because even in death and decay,whatever he came into contact with seemed to flourish like compost on a rose.Believe it or not,compost was one of Davids favorite things.
He rarely volunteered to speak of things experienced while 'dead'.Suffice to say that it was the most real he had hitherto encountered. There is a story behind it,but circumspection prevails.He has run three marathons since-cannot cognize large objects;can type but not write by hand.He can go like hell on the back of a tandem,though.He actually broke the back axle of a 48spoke sealed bearing unit back wheel,on a steep incline in the North York Moors,through sheer torque.Quite an achievement for a man who shouldn't,according to many,be here.
A Tribute to Christine Lothian
More friends...... A soil scientist chappie called Clive
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