“That lovely man came and sat with her all night…”
My parents still were in their late eighties. A few years before my mother had had a stroke which left her unable to walk or care for herself. She had two carers come in four times a day to help, but in the meantime my father was her carer.
He suffered from heart and lung issues, which meant that every months I would get a call to say that he had been taken by ambulance to hospital. The ambulance staff were always amazing, they would make sure my mother was comfortable and give me a ring so that I knew what was happening. I would then drive the two hours to stay with her until my father was discharged.
One particular occasion I received such a call at about 10pm, but instead of being 2 hours away I was six hours away and just about to go to bed. I just could not safely drive there. I had been told that my mother was safe in bed having been given her bedtime medication. I had no one I could call on to stay with her, and I could not ring her, because if I did I knew that she would not hang up the phone properly, and then her emergency button would not work if it was needed.
There was nothing I could do to help her and she dreaded being on her own.
I knelt down by my bed, heart broken, and cried out to God asking Him to do what I could not.
I woke up early and drove there. My mother seemed fine. The carers had attended to her practical needs and she was happily watching television.
I eventually asked her about the night. She looked at me as if it was the silliest of questions. Yes, of course she was fine. She had not slept much because ‘that lovely man came and sat with her all night’. ‘No, she did not know him, but he was lovely and they had such a good talk’ She told me he had left just before the carers arrived to get her up.
I thank God each time I think about this for sending an angel to be her companion and keep her feeling special. He had answered my prayer of desperation in a way which had not even occurred me.