WHEN Barbara Mead was admitted to hospital after a fall her family was advised to prepare for the worst and that she would probably survive only a couple of days.
But now, after what doctors described as “a miracle”, the 76-year-old is looking forward to moving to a community hospital and possibly a return home in Rhyl.
“It’s amazing, and ‘miracle’ is the only word for it,” said her husband Zam.
Barbara was in a deep coma when son Paul called to see her, thinking it might be the last time he saw her alive.
He brushed her cheek with his hand and was stunned when she mumbled: “Don’t mess about, your hands are cold.”
About three years ago Barbara, who also suffers from parkinson disease, suffered a stroke, and 18 months later had a second which left her unsteady on her feet.
She fractured her hip in a fall and moved from the family home in Rhuddlan Road, into Walshaw House Care Home in Rhyl.
On January 10, a cleaner found her lying on her bedroom floor, having apparently hit her head, and she was taken unconscious to Glan Clwyd Hospital.
“The doctor explained that a brain scan showed she had haemorrhaging on the brain and that she had about two days to live,” said Zam, a retired probation officer.
Paul woke up the following morning expecting it to be his mother’s last day, and called to see her on his way to work.
“I couldn’t believe it when she told me my hand was cold,” he said.
“We had told members of the family that she was dying and some came from as far as London. We then had to explain that her condition had changed,” he added.
“The doctor told me it was a miracle and that he’d never seen anything like it,” said Zam, who spends each day chatting and feeding his wife of 55 years at Glan Clwyd Hospital.
“We are waiting for a bed to become available in Prestatyn Community Hospital and we hope that eventually with a care package Barbara will be able to come home,” he said.