Tim Lipscombe - Wills Story

The author thanks Elise Knotek, Thomas Graham and Trish Smith
for their generous support in producing this book

Published by Tim Lipscombe

Kambah, Canberra

2021 Tim Lipscombe

Produced by Bobby Graham Publishers

www.bgpublishers.com.au

All rights reserved

Cover design by Elise Knotek, Stripe Design

Print and digital editions by SunTecIndia

www.suntecindia.com

Audio book by Sinesound Mastering

www.sinesoundmastering.com.au and voiced by Tim Lipscombe

Printed by Ingram Spark

www.ingramspark.com

First edition 2021

ISBN 978-0-6451402-1-7 (print)

ISBN 978-0-6451402-2-4 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-6451402-3-1 (audio).

For William, our hero.

PROLOGUE

I just wanna go home! Will pleaded exhaustedly to the nurse once again, tired from the pain he had been enduring on and off for several days now. Ill see what I can do, buddy, the nurse acknowledged sympathetically. She knew only too well of his suffering. At only eight years old, Will was not afraid to speak up for himself. It was something he had developed over the numerous hospital stays he had already racked up in his short life. After all, it was necessary to speak up for yourself when there was so much other bad stuff you didnt have a say inthe procedures, the pain, all the scary stuff.

However, despite the many hospital visits William had had over the course of his young life, this time was different. The waves of pain in his stomach that he had started to experience days before had not subsided, in fact if anything, they seemed to be getting steadily worse. Despite the painkillers he was given, he just couldnt get comfortable, and the specialist was still uncertain what was causing it. For Rachel and me, we had seen our son go through a lot and it was always difficult. But this was something new and we were scared.

It was Easter Sunday, 2013 and Rachel, Ruby, Joseph and I had been at Williams bedside in hospital. My parents had invited us to Easter lunch and despite my apprehension, it appeared that Will would be allowed to go home, so I decided to take Ruby and Joseph, who were ten and five at the time, just for a short visit. Rachel stayed with Will as she always did, his mum was always the constant for him in hospital. I left feeling uneasy.

We arrived at my parents place, and my sister and her family were there as well. The mood was subdued. They knew that things were not good and asked me how William was. I told them I wasnt sure what it was that was making him so sick, but my intuition told me something was seriously wrong.

I was very emotional and as I began explaining to them what had been happening, I noticed a picture hanging up in the dining room where everyone was sitting. The picture was a still life of flowers in a vase, drawn with black and white charcoal on rough pastel green paper, the work of a skilled hand. Will had drawn it in the art class he went to the year before. I broke down

PART I

THE EARLY YEARS

W hen William was born, we were over the moon. We had again been blessed to experience the joy of a beautiful new baby, as we had been with Ruby two years earlier. Ruby, of course, was smitten with her new little brother as well.

As a newborn, he was quite small and had little features and big beautiful blue eyes. He was a little unsettled early on, he would often get quite upset and did not sleep very well at times. He always wanted to be close to his mum and liked being held in a baby carry pouch or lying in our bed, snuggled in next to us.

A beautifully natured child, as a toddler, William had grown to be a happy and energetic little boy. He was cute, with a cheeky little smile. He started to walk before he turned one and talking whilst he was still very little. Even from an early age, it was apparent that he was a sociable child. He was also observant, taking everything in and always asking a lot of questions. Will seemed to be a wise soul.

He enjoyed being outside, playing imaginary games, jumping on the trampoline and just having fun. He particularly enjoyed when Rachel would take him and Ruby to the park, often to Adventure Playground, a spacious park with plenty of fun play equipment for children that was located close to our house.

William at six months old

He also enjoyed watching Thomas the Tank Engine and The Wiggles and would sing along to their songs. Toy Story and Cars were among his favourite movies to watch. His favourite characters were Buzz Light Year and Lightning McQueen.

Like all children, he loved birthdays and Christmases. However, from an early age, it was clear that he would get even more excited on these occasions than anyone else in our household; his enthusiasm was infectious. He would be bursting with anticipation in the weeks leading up, making a list of things he wanted well in advance and telling us how many sleeps until the big day.

The look of awe on his face when opening his presents was something to behold. He would stand with his eyes and mouth wide open just staring for some time, before telling us excitedly how much he had wanted and loved what he had been given, whether it was a talking Woody from Toy Story or Mack, the truck from Cars.

Not long before William turned three years old, Rachel was pregnant with our third child. It was a wonderful time for our family. Ruby, who was four at the time, and William were thrilled about this and we fed off their excitement. We talked about whether it would be a boy or a girl and what names we would choose.

Around this time, Williamwho had always been such a healthy childhad become quite unwell. This lingered for a few days and he was very lethargic and just not himself. Thinking it was just a common cold or flu, Rachel took him to our GP. It was diagnosed as strep throat and we were told it would go away after a few days. We took Will home, hoping that he would recover shortly thereafter, and thought nothing of it.

The illness hung around longer than expected though, and William had also begun to develop puffiness around his eyes, face and tummy, which seemed unusual. Although we were initially concerned, we didnt look too deeply into it.

After a few days, however, these symptoms did not go away and if anything, the puffiness and lethargy had grown slightly worse. Will was usually so active and would bounce back quickly on the rare occasions he became unwell. We had never seen him like this before. Rachel and I decided things were definitely not right and agreed to take him back to the GP the following day.

That night, I had a particularly unsettling and vivid dream about William with the puffiness on his face and body; it had the strange feeling of a premonition. Upon waking, I felt that lingering dread you can often have after an unpleasant dream, but the dream Id had was really happening.

We had now started to become quite concerned as we witnessed his health become steadily worse. Along with the puffiness around his eyes, the swelling had now spread to his arms and legs, he had fevers and was generally listless.

Rachel took William back to the GP, who was immediately concerned and advised us that William would need to be admitted into the Canberra Hospital. Things were now moving quickly, and we were becoming anxious.