![]() "They wouldn't have known about the meningitis and wouldn't have been able to keep on top of it. The doctor said if someone had taken him home and he'd gone to bed he would have been in a critical state at best. "They think he was hallucinating they aren't sure if he lost consciousness. He was going in completely the opposite direction to home. "We've never been able to get to the bottom of what happened to him that day. Mum Nicola, a complex care nurse, said: "This has been a really tough few months for the whole family. Saffron Richards, 25, is doing a skydive and Tom Humphries, 25, shaved all his hair off in solidarity. Thomas Crook with his mum Nicola (Image: Courtesy of Nicola Welford/ SWNS) But friends have rallied round to support him and raise money for him to get equipment and manage without his normal wages. There he was diagnosed with fluid on the brain - called hydrocephalus - which was causing poor eyesight, and a fractured vertebrae.įor weeks he wasn't able to see his family, and he can't go back to his old job which he loved. ![]() Tom was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham for rehabilitation after three weeks, on April 28. "Then in hospital, we didn't know if he would ever wake or what he would be like. "We just kept phoning all the local hospitals to see if he had been admitted. He always said we should only worry if he doesn't call us himself. We kept ringing and ringing his phone and speaking to the police. I was panicking - I've never felt like that before. His mum Nicola Welford, 50, said: "It was awful. Tom's family say they couldn't get hold of him initially, and were only alerted when a colleague called Anna-Marie because the tracker on the van stopped working. He was put on antibiotics immediately and meningitis suspicions were confirmed by a lumbar puncture later that evening. Tom was rescued and taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital. Thomas Crook after the crash (Image: Courtesy of Nicola Welford/ SWNS) ![]() The exact circumstances surrounding the crash remain unclear. So Tom took a company van and set off on the 60-mile journey home, which usually takes an hour, at 8.30am.īut just over two hours later someone called 999 to report that a blue van was on its side following a crash on the A5 near Gailey Island, Stafford. ![]() He then mentioned he had a slight headache when he made his regular morning call to fiancée Anna-Marie Sedgwick, 26, at 7.30am.Īnd another driver told him to phone in sick because he vomited and looked pale when he arrived to collect his haul at 8am. Usually fit and healthy Tom felt fine when he left home at 7am and drove to his employer's yard on April 7. But I am relieved to be here and so glad to be with the people I love." My injuries have altered my life and it will be hard to come back from this. "If I hadn’t been taken to hospital I wouldn’t have known I had meningitis and could have been worse off - or maybe not here at all. Tom, from Kings Norton, Birmingham, said: "It's completely bizarre - having a car crash probably saved my life. But doctors said had he gone home, rather than to the hospital, it could have proved fatal.Īs he battles back to health, Tom and and his family are speaking out to urge people to check out any scares right away. And he's unable to return to the job he loved. Still recovering, the 25-year-old has lost 80 per cent of his hearing and needs a wheelchair and a walking aid. The HGV driver, known to pals as Tom, was in a coma for a week and suffered a bleed on the brain. Sedated and rushed to hospital, tests subsequently showed he had meningitis. After being pulled from the wreckage of his van, paramedics noticed Thomas Crook had a raging fever. A driver has revealed how being involved in a horror car crash probably saved his life.
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