Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song
June 2, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary #10 Halo

GhostI was in the studio. We were recording vocals for the remake of Your Body Stays. There was a phone call from the police. My son, Angus had been in a car accident.

They gave me a number for Dunedin Hospital to call. He had a broken neck and was in an induced coma was all I could find out. He was in intensive care. Second vertebrae – the hangman’s break they said.

Jane, my partner then, was amazing. She dropped everything and held my hand and we flew down.

Walked in to the IC unit and there he was – my boy with a halo screwed into his skull holding his neck and spine together, in a coma hooked up to every life support system there was. The doctors said there was a high possibility of brain damage and his ability to walk was unknown.F35ddcccdd

In that first 24 hours I just sat there waiting for them to bring him to.

Initially he didn’t know who I was.  Then once they pulled a few more devices off him the nurse asked him who I was, he said – “You’re my dad”.

Janey flew back to Wellington and I settled in for as long as it took. Michelle, Ang’s mother, was on holiday in Vietnam and was having trouble getting back to NZ.

He was a few days in intensive care then they moved him down to the wards.

I was pretty lost. I called an old friend, Ron Kjestrup and he and his wife Spike put me up in their flat above the Octagon – for weeks on end. I’d go in and just sit with him and talk from 7am till 11pm.

One morning I came in and the nurses were all upset – in the night he had tried to unscrew the bolts that held the halo into his head. I watched the surgeon retighten them. Agonizing.

A police officer took me to the scene of the crash. Ang had been driving uphill in wet conditions with a friend. He started to aquaplane onto the wrong side and overcorrected, smashing into a culvert on the left side of the road. He showed me the car – hard to believe anyone surviving it. Vicky, his passenger was unscathed. No alcohol involved, no charges laid.

Ang was in the final stages of his degree in Sports Science at Otago. The end of the varsity year – one by one his student friends were leaving town.

The morning we tried to get him to walk I will never forget. There wasn’t a dry eye on the ward as he took those first steps. I was on one side of him and a nurse on the other then he feigned a fall. I panicked and he said “Gotcha Jon” – he was getting his sense of humour back.

Michelle arrived from Vietnam and joined us. He was improving daily and was sent to the Isis facility up the hill, a secure rehab unit. It seemed like we were there forever trying to prove his brain was fine. Eventually they let us take him back to Wellington, to a worse place in the Hutt.

The city of Dunedin holds a very special place in my heart. Ron and Spike and especially those ICU nurses at the hospital – man I love them. eddd

Ang turned thirty last month after climbing to Mt Everest base camp.

I love him too.

The Ghost of Electricity – War Stories by Jon McLeary is a new initiative at Off The Tracks, a series of stories and reflections from painter, writer and musician Jon McLeary

To read War Stories # 1 click here

To read War Stories # 2 click here

To read War Stories # 3 click here

To read War Stories # 4 click here

To read War Stories # 5 click here

To read War Stories # 6 click here

To read War Stories # 7 click here

To read War Stories # 8 click here

To read War Stories # 9 click here

Posted in Blog, Miscellany and tagged with Angu, Halo, Jon Mcleary, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 10 Halo, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 10, Writing. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Watter: This World
The Vinyl Countdown # 1113 »

3 Responses to The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary #10 Halo

  1. Pingback: The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary #182 In Your Wound

  2. Pingback: The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 70 The Jon McLeary Band

  3. Pingback: The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 198 You Will Walk

Popular

  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Time Casts Its Spell: When Silver Springs Became The Secret Weapon It Had Always Threatened To Be
  • Everything Must Go: My Last Time At The Record Fair
  • Prince: Tokyo Dome 1990
  • Bono’s Book
  • Where Have All The Kiwi Soundtracks Gone?
  • Zombi: ZOMBI & Friends, Volume 1

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Blog Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Poetry Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spines Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2022 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press