5pm

What the hell is a police car doing driving at speed up our drive ? Thankfully the dogs were in the back yard so the policeman approached without fear. I opened the patio window and went out to greet him.

PC: “Mr Pollard”
Me: “Yes – is something the matter ?”
PC: “Can I come inside? I have some bad news for you.”

I immediately thought of Karen. I had sent her a couple of texts on the afternoon and had no reply. Didn’t think twice about it at the time, but now it had meaning.

He went on to explain that kp had been involved in a car accident and had suffered multiple injuries and he was here to get me to the hospital. My mind was running on overdrive.

Me: “How serious ?”

He showed me a fax detailing her injuries. Serious !

Still in fast forward mode, I got the dogs in, grabbed the mobile and sat in the policecar. I had left a window open and the dogs had no food. But, I wasn’t thinking straight.

I couldn’t think about anything but kp.

I probed the policeman for as much information as I could, but he only knew what was on the fax. I asked him “What does critical mean ?”. Dumb question, but hey. I was gearing myself up for the worst scenario. After 10 minutes in the policecar, I was talking about the latest Dr Who episode and the policemans shift patterns. Anything to take my mind off the worst fears.

Arriving at the hospital, he took me into A+E. Everyone in the waiting area looked at me. It felt as if I was handcuffed and in “bother”. Then whisked through to the relatives area to meet up with the PC who attended the scene (Ian Clough, lovely bloke). He explained the crash a bit more. 3 cars were queuing. kp was in the back seat of the back car, when a van piled into the back of her car. 50mph was mentioned at some point by someone.

After explaining this, he took me into a private relatives room

Me: “This looks ominous”

I thought the worst had happened and they were going to tell me kp was gone. I was sh+tting myself.

PC: “No, its just to get you out of the public corridors”

Was that a line ? Or was it being truthful. I felt he was being truthful.

What felt like an eternity passed until a doctor appeared. I have no recollection at all of who came. I just jumped onto everything he/she said and let it sink in. The gist of it was :-

Karen had multiple injuries.

Shattered Pelvis
Dislocated Hip
Broken Femur
Head Injuries
No feeling in her left side.
Broken arm.
Severe Bruising to her thighs
The rest I can’t remember.

I asked how serious these were (dumb question in hindsight).

Life Threatening.