Dear Lord Craig, I've only just read this.

I don't honestly know if sharing this with you will help or not but as I filled with tears reading your initial post it did bring back this story ...

Several years back my brother was in a car accident. No one really knows what happened. No other car involved. He lost control at 30mph in the middle of town and hit a lamppost. Minimal damage to car and not a mark on my brother. First people to get to him said he seemed confused. He was taken to hospital, still confused, and was put in an induced coma and sent to Intensive Care. Scans showed multiple bleeds in his brain. I was told that he may just wake up when they take him off sedation and ask for a cup of tea ... but be prepared for the fact that the neuros expect him to be vegetative state. They tried a few times to wake him up but he just started fitting and they put him back into a coma. After a week they were struggling to keep his oxygen levels up and further tests revealed that a 'superbug' had destroyed parts of his heart and lungs. He was taken off life support and allowed to go.

The zombified state that you go through during that time whilst family are constantly at the hospital, being there for each other and hanging on to hopes of miracles, can only be known to those that have experienced it. One minute you are cracking jokes and things are almost normal, and the next grasping onto a loved one desperate for support as that ice cold wave hits you again.

You are in my thoughts matey and I'll pray for strength for all of you.