SACHIN KUREISHI: My father was paralysed after he suddenly fainted on holiday, now life has changed for my whole family By Sachin Kureishi Published: 07:00 EDT, 25 May 2024 | Updated: 07:08 EDT, 25 May 2024 e-mail View comments Everyone asks the question with the same eyes. Anxious, yes. Sympathetic, yes.
They’d rather not ask, but they know they must. They’ve seen me now. Time for a difficult conversation.
It’s been more than a year since my father’s trip to Rome to spend Christmas with his girlfriend. It was on Boxing Day that he fainted and fell, injured his neck and became paralysed from the head down. Countless hospitals, operations, doctors, flights and interviews later, he’s finally home in West London , albeit transformed.
Today, as we prepare to leave the house, we speak about the same things we always did. But now he’s telling me about the friendly bike thieves he watches from his window as his live-in carer carries out his bed bath. We discuss our favourite vape flavours as he’s plucked from his bed by a robotic arm, which cradles him in a blanket as it ferries him across the room to his wheelchair like a stork.
We gossip about our golden retriever’s weight as I shovel a Pret crayfish sandwich into his mouth. Then I brush his teeth and put on his coat, his hat and mittens, as he would for me when I was a baby. After I gather his essentials into a bag, we finally set off on the long journey across Shepherd’s Bush for a haircut, the first proper one.
