heart string's part one (Tom)

‘999 what’s your emergency?’

‘My wife, she’s fallen down the stairs and I think she’s dead!’

‘Ok sir, please can you give me the address you are ringing from.’

’32 Waterway Park Skerries…. please hurry, she’s not moving!’

‘Ok sir, my name is Patricia, may I ask yours?’

‘Tom, my name is Tom.’

‘Ok Tom the ambulance is on its way, but in the meantime, I need you to see if your wife is both breathing and has a pulse. Can you do that for me Tom?’

‘I can hear her breathe…but its raspy and I can barely feel a pulse!’

‘What is your wife’s name Tom?’

‘Marie.’

‘You’re doing great Tom. Did you move Marie at all after she fell?’

‘No, I just heard a series of unmerciful bangs as she tumbled down the stairs and came out from the kitchen and found her lying like this. We watch Greys Anatomy and I knew from watching that not to touch her.’

‘Binge watching TV always pays off in the end, right Tom?’

‘Its ironic alright.’

‘Can you still hear Marie breathing and feel a pulse Tom?’

‘The raspy sound is getting crackly and her pulse is still only barely there!’

‘You’re doing great Tom, the ambulance is literally two minutes out from you, ok?’

‘I’m freaking out here. She’s not only my wife but my best friend. Oh god, I can’t lose her!’

‘Stay with me Tom, no one has gone anywhere yet and now the ambulance is only one minute out!’

‘I can hear the sirens!’

‘Would you be able to flag them down at the end of your driveway so they don’t go to the wrong door and give someone a heart attack. We’re low on first responders tonight and I’m worried about getting a second ambulance out there!’

‘Ok, I’ll do that.’

Tom ran out to the end of the driveway, blue lights illuminating the whole cul de sac.

‘They’re here, they’re here!’

‘Ok then Tom I’m going to leave you in their capable hands and I’ll say a little prayer for Marie.’

‘Thank you!’

‘You are most welcome.’

Tom hung up the phone and ushered the paramedics into the house, anxious to see if they could do anything for his wife. They hadn’t even made it to the one-year mark yet and all he wanted to do was pick her up and cradle her in his arms and tell her how loved she is.

‘She’s in here, she’s in here!’ Tom rushed the paramedics to the end of the stairs where poor Marie lay in an awkward position.

The paramedics asked Tom to step back to let them work, an order that he followed with no issue. He wanted to let them do their job, but he also wanted to be there for the love of his life.

He watched as the two fit young men in white shirts and green pants carefully put a collar around her neck and put a tube down her throat to help her breathe. They stuck stickers all over her body and a machine printed out readings that one of them wasn’t very happy about. Tom saw him shake his head and they put a line into her hand to deliver drugs. They were saying what they were administering but it was all double Dutch to the inconsolable Tom.

One of the paramedics left the house and ran to the ambulance for a stretcher. Tom waited with bated breath as they untangled his beloved and placed her on a back board before lifting her onto the stretcher, the one that shook his head squeezing a bag every few seconds trying to get air into the poor soul.

‘Can I come with you?’ Tom asked feebly. He knew the answer but had to ask the question nonetheless.

‘I’m sorry sir but….’ The heavier of the two began.

‘Tom, please.’

‘Sorry Tom, but with covid restrictions were not allowed to let the loved ones come with us anymore.’

Tom nodded his head and asked them to wait for a second.

‘Tom we….,’ the heavier of the two started, but the other one chimed in quickly.

‘One second, ok Tom?’

Tom hurried over to his wife and kissed the top of her head. He then said something that was like a goodbye.

‘I love you more today than I did yesterday, but not as much as Tomorrow!’

He kissed her head again and nodded to the paramedics with gratitude because he had a feeling, he was never going to see her alive again.

The one who wasn’t happy with the readings on the piece of paper said that if he were Tom, he’d follow the ambulance and that they were taking his beautiful Marie to Beaumont. Tom nodded his head, understanding the message loud and clear, and grabbed his car keys.

The drive to the hospital was a fast one as Tom followed the ambulance the whole way in. He was going way over the speed limit and meandered his way through the cars that had left a path when they heard the sirens roar. He didn’t care if he got points on his license, he wanted to be there in case the unimaginable happened. The whole drive-in Tom couldn’t help but play back in his head how he was allowed a minute with his wife and how the paramedic didn’t say to follow the ambulance without a valid reason. He began to prepare himself for the worst, his mind transfixed on what was going on inside that ambulance. He prayed that he’d get to hold her warm hand at least one more time.

As rain began to pelt down onto the windscreen, Tom was dealing with a downpour of his own. He was grateful there was a box of tissues in the glove compartment which he just kept pulling from each time the one he was using became saturated.

‘My poor Marie!’ he said to himself over and over.

When he eventually got to Beaumont, he dumped the car in the first place he could find and sprinted towards the A&E department. He had to beg to go in and see his wife. He tried to get the receptionist to open the door to the treatment area but she flat out refused. Five minutes went by, Tom asked every sixty seconds would she let him in. Eventually he stopped asking and slipped inside without authorisation as a doctor came out with a clip board.

He sought out the first nurse he could find and asked her where his wife, the love of his life was. He explained that she was brought in by paramedics and that she had fallen down the stairs. The nurse was looking pensively into the distance before she nodded and brought him to his beloved.

Tom let out a gasp as he saw a doctor in green scrubs performing CPR on his wife. He ran towards her, suddenly aware that he had no shoes on but he didn’t care, he just wanted to get to her. He almost asked the doctor who was pounding on her chest to take it easy but was blinded by tears unable to speak. He slowly walked up to the trolly she was laying on and took her hand in his.

‘Are you the husband?’ the man who was dripping in sweat, continuously trying to get her heart pumping asked.

Tom wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jumper and looked between him and the woman who was squeezing air into her lungs and nodded.

The doctor asked for someone to take over compressions, wiped the sweat off his brow and gently asked Tom to follow him. A kaleidoscope of butterflies invaded Toms stomach.

‘This cant be it!’ he thought to himself.

Tom reluctantly let go of his wife’s hand, trying to drink in the softness of her skin before he followed the doctor into a side room. He knew what the doctor was going to say before he said it.

‘She’s dead, isn’t she?’ he asked before the doctor opened his mouth.

‘Unfortunately, yes. I’m so sorry for your loss!’

Tom could feel the sincerity in his tone and buried his face in his hands and sobbed like a five-year-old girl.

The doctor continued by explaining that Marie had arrested in the back of the ambulance, her pupils fixed and dilated. He told Tom that she had a brain bleed and there was nothing anyone could have done. He wasn’t sure if Tom heard him or not, so he waited a minute before explaining that Marie had sadly died.

Tom shook his head like a wet dog and wiped his eyes in his sleeve again. The doctor looked around the room for some tissues but couldn’t find any.

‘So why are you still trying to revive her if she’s dead?’ Tom asked and cleared his throat.

‘Have you and your wife ever discussed organ donation?’

 

Toms world began to spin. He was transported to his honeymoon in the Bahamas not eight months ago. They went all out on the occasion. They rented a villa with its own pool and ordered room service whenever they were starving after being in the throws of passion. Marie sat there with a drink that’s vessel was a coconut shell and had a straw with red and white whirls. He had a fruity pineapple drink that was in a tall glass with lots of ice. The colours in his drink were very distinctive. There was red near the bottom, orange in the middle, and then it had yellow at the top. They had pushed two sun chairs together and lay there snuggling up to each other with minimal clothes on looking at the stars.

They both had turned off their mobile phones as they wanted ten days of tranquillity, but Marie had given the phone number to their villa to her mother as her father was in kidney failure and on dialysis and was so close to getting a new kidney. With her head resting on Toms chest, their fingers interlocking, both of them on the cusp of sleep, the phone began to ring. Tom had never seen Marie move as fast as she did trying to get to the phone. He heard her excitement erupt when she was told that her father was on his way to get his new kidney. Tom, who didn’t move as quickly, went into his new bride as she jumped up and down with excitement. When she put the phone down, she jumped into his arms and kissed him slowly.

‘Can you believe it?’ she asked. ‘I mean I know its terrible to the people who have just lost a loved one but…’ She buried her head in his shoulder and began to cry.

‘What’s wrong honey? You should be happy. Your father is going to be off dialysis!’

Her feet touched the faux wooden tiles and she looked at him dead in the eye. ‘Promise me something?’

Tom wasn’t sure what was going to come out of her mouth next. ‘I’ll try!’ he answered.

‘Promise me that no matter what, you let them harvest my organs if I die before you? Its just my way of paying it forward!’

‘Honey, were nowhere near there!’

‘But promise me!’

‘Ok, ok, I promise, I promise!’ he felt annoyed with himself for not offering her his. ‘Well…I guess if you’re going to do it to pay it forward, and your father is now my father also, I guess you could take mine as well.’

‘Yea?’

‘I’ve never thought about if before, but yeah. 100% yea!’

Marie jumped into his arms again and they made loud passionate love.

 

‘Sir…’ the doctor touched Toms arm bringing him back into the room. ‘Sir…...are you ok?’

Tom lifted up his head and simply answered, ‘yes.’

‘I’m sorry sir, but I really need to know whether your wife was an organ doner?’

‘Yes, she is…’ Tom dropped his head, ‘…. was.’ he corrected himself.

‘Would you be willing to sign papers to that effect? Only we kept doing CPR for the sole purpose of her being an ideal candidate.’

‘I have two conditions!’ Tom looked the doctor straight in the eye, his own eyes were red and bloodshot from all the crying.

‘Ok….’ The doctor said with uncertainty.

‘I want to be able to say goodbye, and I want to know the recipients first name, age and what organ they are receiving from my wife.’

‘I can make that happen!’ the doctor nodded his head and when he thought Tom was ready, he said, ‘with each minute her organs are getting weaker so the quicker we get them, the better quality they’ll be.’

Tom nodded his head, put his hands on his knees, and got up from the chair. He was led back to his wife’s bedside and given a chair to sit on whilst the doctor was organising the harvest.

Tom took Marie’s hand in his and looked at the two health care professionals who were keeping her organs going. He put them out of his mind. He talked to Marie. He told her how she’s going to pay the fact that her father has a new kidney forward. He moved a loose piece of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

‘Who knew you’d be the first to go? I always thought we would grow old together. That we’d watch our family grow up, and then the grandkids… I know I met you six years ago, but eight months isn’t enough for a marriage, although we did do a lot in that short space of time. Remember when you were starting out in business and the pay was crap? He he…you didn’t believe in yourself! Look at you now…the main breadwinner. I don’t know how I’m going to even begin to decorate the house without you! Hell, I don’t know how to do anything without you! I can’t believe your gone when your hand is so warm!’ Tom broke down to tears and buried his head onto her hand hoping to die right then and there so that they would be together for eternity.

‘Excuse me sir…’ Toms hopes are over as the doctor hands him a clipboard with a piece of paper on it wanting to know what he is willing to give up and let live in someone else’s body.

Tom takes the clipboard and says yes to almost everything. The only thing he won’t give up is her eyes and her skin, the rest is ok. His rationale behind that is that the eyes are the windows to the soul and he wanted so badly for her eyes to end up in heaven. He also didn’t want to give away any of her skin as it is the softest part of her and he wanted it all to himself until the second her coffin closed.

Tom picked up Marie’s hand one last time, noticing her recently manicured nails. He smiled and laid her hand back on the trolly. He asked the nurse who was on breathing duty if he could kiss her forehead. He whispered in her ear, ‘goodbye my love!’ and nodded that he was ready.

He watched as his new wife was wheeled away. He broke down in tears and ended up on his knees in the busy emergency department, sobbing. He was escorted to a side room once more and was asked if anyone could be rung to come get him.

‘I guess I had better ring her parents,’ Tom said, the tears had ceased and he patted down his pockets realising he had left his phone at home.

Tom insisted on driving himself home, but not before he sought out the doctor he was dealing with throughout.

‘You will tell me the first name, age and which organ each of the recipients are getting, won’t you.’

The doctor nodded. ‘If you can hang on for another twenty minutes, I’ll have that information for you!’

Tom began nodding his head and shook his hand.

‘You can wait in that side room and I’ll come and find you!’ the doctor nodded back.

Sure enough, the doctor knocked on the side room door and handed Tom a piece of paper. ‘I hope you find solace in the knowledge that your wife is going to save the lives of six people!’

Tom took the doctors hand once more and thanked him from the bottom of his heart.

As he walked to his car, the list of names was burning a hole in Toms pocket. He promised himself however that he wasn’t going to open it until he sat in the car. It took a while to locate but when he found it, he sat into the drivers seat and opened the paper:

• Emily (28) – heart
• Charles (57) – liver
• John (64) – liver
• Patricia (42) – kidney
• Sean (35) – kidney
• Kevin (19) – lungs

When Tom read the list, he was bowled over with emotion. Something he wasn’t expecting however was relief. Marie didn’t die completely…she will live on in these six people. He wiped his eyes once more, and headed home.