On the evening of the 23rd of January 2021, Emma Wallace (41) from Ayr, was faced with every parent’s nightmare.
The police were at her front door to tell her that her son, Barry (now 15), had been in a serious accident and was in an ambulance on his way to hospital.
Barry was 12 at the time and had been out with friends. As they stepped off the train at Prestwick Town Station, Barry realised that one of his friends was still in the toilet. Barry impulsively chapped on the train window trying to alert this friend that the train was pulling away.
As the train began to move away, its metal footstep clipped the back of his leg and he fell, hard.
Barry landed on the platform, and the train’s next carriage metal footstep collided with the back of his skull. His brain took a significant blow and his skull shattered.
Paramedics rushed to the scene.
Barry was taken to the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow where he was given a CT scan for his significant head injury. His skull was fractured into more than 10 pieces of bone and it could be compared to a challenging 3D jigsaw puzzle – with missing pieces. He was also paralysed.
Surgery was required immediately and Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow Neurosurgeon, Mr. Roddy O’Kane, and his team worked through the night to save Barry.
Mr O’Kane explained, “The priority was to let Barry’s brain swell so that it could heal. We needed to remove all the fragments of his shattered skull to allow it to do this. This meant that he was without the top of his skull for a few weeks. His surgery was outside of the norm due to the sheer number of pieces of bone fragment that we were dealing with.
“We placed these bone fragments inside of Barry’s abdomen to keep them clean and alive while this healing took place over a few weeks.
“Barry had also broken three of the bones in his spinal column, in the thoracic spine area. Thankfully this did not need any surgery and instead he was given a supportive brace to wear for six weeks.”
Neurosurgeons and neuro-rehab doctors made sure Barry’s brain continued to heal. Following surgery, Barry continued to be paralysed but he pushed on with the hospital’s expert team and, after a few weeks, had movement.
On the 19th of February 2021, Mr O’Kane replaced Barry’s skull fragments piece by piece and he was discharged from hospital on 12th April 2021.
Emma explained how her son never appeared defeated throughout the whole process.
“Barry never complained once. He put everything into his rehab and worked hard with the medical teams to push himself. He returned to school in May while in a wheelchair, getting a taxi every day as his transport.
“By October, he was walking to school and back to being active and having fun with his friends. He just loves life. There’s no other way to explain it.
“He continues to have limited movement in his left arm, but he just gets on with it. He is so resilient,” said Emma.
Emma also shared how grateful they are to the team at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow for giving Barry the chance to lead his life normally, in what could have been a horrifically different outcome. Barry recently returned to the hospital where he got to thank Mr O’Kane for everything.
“It is three years on since Barry’s accident and it is still incredibly difficult to put our gratitude for everyone at the hospital into words. The support that the Ward 3A staff and the Trauma Team gave both me and Barry was unbelievable. And as for his surgeon, Roddy, we still can’t believe what he did for Barry. We’re eternally grateful. Our thanks go to everyone involved,” she said.
