A father-of-two who spent five weeks in a coma has told how he wants to “curl up on the settee and cuddle my family” after making it home from hospital for Christmas.
Scott Gold, 37, spent 16 weeks in hospital after he suffered what doctors described as a “significant skull fracture” after striking his head when he was knocked to the ground on a night out in August.
The accountant from Paisley underwent six brain operations at the Institute for Neurological Sciences (INS) at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
He spent five weeks in an induced coma in the intensive care unit (ICU), followed by two weeks in a high dependency ward and nine weeks in the neurorehabilitation unit where he had to relearned basic life skills.
Mr Gold is now well enough to be discharged in time for Christmas at home with his wife Stephanie, 34, and their sons Oliver, five, and Myles, three.
Ahead of leaving hospital, Mr Gold said: “People keep asking me what I’m looking forward to most but to me it’s simple: I just want to curl up on the settee and cuddle my family.
“I know I’ll be busy over the festive period as my friends and family have said they’ll be round to see me, and that will be brilliant, but in here I’ve had lots of spare time to think, and I just really miss Stephanie and the boys.”
You read so many negative stories about the NHS, but it’s only when the worst happens that you find out how amazing these people are
Mrs Gold praised NHS staff for the care provided, saying: “They’ve given me my Scott back.”
She added: “You read so many negative stories about the NHS, but it’s only when the worst happens that you find out how amazing these people are.
“I can’t really put into words how grateful I am.”
She recalled getting a phone call from one of Mr Gold’s friends the day after the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary to say her husband had a head injury and was being taken to hospital.
She added: “Then a police officer came on the phone and I really started to worry.”
Mrs Gold said she asked the officer if her husband was alive and was told his fingers were moving which was a “hopeful sign”.
“Then I knew it was really bad so I made sure the kids were OK with my mum and dad and drove straight to the hospital.”
Telling a family that they might lose a loved one is never something we take lightly, but in this case we felt it was important they were able to prepare for the worst
At the hospital she was not allowed to see Mr Gold and a consultant told her should prepare for the worst because her husband had suffered a bleed on the brain.
Mrs Gold said: “I was completely in shock but also really confused. How can someone go out for a normal night out and end up like this?”
Calan Mathieson, a consultant neurosurgeon at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said Mr Gold’s condition had been “touch-and-go for a few weeks”, adding: “At the beginning we feared for the worst.
“He had suffered a significant skull fracture and his brain had undergone serious trauma. He underwent six brain operations and needed a shunt inserted to ease pressure from fluid build-up on his brain.
“Telling a family that they might lose a loved one is never something we take lightly, but in this case we felt it was important they were able to prepare for the worst.”
Mr Gold, who is hoping to make a phased return to work at Morgan Stanley in Glasgow, remembers nothing about the night out or the weeks of recovery when he was at his sickest.
He praised the “fantastic” NHS staff who cared for him, saying: “The way they’ve helped me is something I’ll always remember.”
Mrs Gold said her husband’s injury “has had a massive impact on his life and will continue to do so”, adding: “Ultimately, all I wanted was that he could feel love for us, and that he knew he was loved.
“We’ve all got that, so what more could we ever need this Christmas?”
