I want my wife back! We want our mom back! Tamara’s Story a true story

11 April 2018 09:49 am Words : Indika Madapatha Sellahewa & Kamanthi Wickramasinghe As Tamara’s husband and children cry out these desperate words, for the past 3 years Tamara lies in a hospital bed at home, surrounded by a full time nurse, and two other caretakers, not seeing, maybe hearing, unable to move her limbs, as a result of most of her brain cells dying due non supply of oxygen to the brain as her heart stopped for nearly 20 minutes after a fatal Injection, which brought on an instant cardiac arrest. She was more or less dead and was brought back to life by pressure pumping for nearly 1/2 an hour by medical staff in the Kandy Teaching Hospital, and was on life support for nearly two months. She is now living as life as a palliative care patient.Tamara, a 33 year old mother of three, aged 12, 8 and 2 living in Katugastota, Kandy, when the tragedy happened, was a beautiful young, full-time mother, while her husband Randy travelled around the world most of the time on his work. They were a tightly knit, loving family. When Randy was home, he took them around the country on trips and spent life as carefree as possible. Tamara took care of their three children, cooked, and took them for their classes when Randy was not around. Their Carefree days are now over. These days Randy is both Mom and Dad to his 3 children. Bearing the pain of seeing his wife lying in bed helpless, working, and taking care of his two daughters and son, hoping and promising himself that one day, he will make Tamara stand up, Randy is the epitome of a faithful husband and dad. In a way Randy is lucky to have a wonderful sister-in-law, who with her own two children working as a full time banker, takes the three children for their classes, celebrates their special days like holy communion, birthdays etc. with the support of both Randy’s parents. Randy, a Josephian, and a firm believer in God, has an enormous amount of faith that Tamara will stand up again. He has three reasons for agreeing to speak with Lanka Woman about the tragedy that befell them. One is that by seeing their story, there might be someone in the medical field who will be able to bring Tamara back to her normal self again. The second is that, being a forgiving man, he has accepted that Tamara is in this state and wants the medical world and the government to make sure that these kind of dents in the medical system be rectified. The third is that, he wants to tell the whole country his story so that no other woman or man will have to face this if they are aware of the tragic outcomes and will avoid what Tamara did by going to a medical lab for treating her asthmatic condition where there were no adequate resuscitation equipment or oxygen. (To be continued in the next issue)