I was consulting at the Royal Melbourne Hospital this week and met a young lady whose life changed dramatically in a split second. Riding home from work on her pushbike, a car ran a red light and mowed her down. She was lucky to survive but was left with some nasty injuries that she is slowly rehabilitating from. Sometimes life can be just plain unfair and there is no explanation from it. Even the fatalistic comment, “it was meant to be” or “it was destiny” is no solace and of no real use to the individual. At times life can just roll out a stroke of bad luck and that’s that.

One thing is for certain though. You can never be the same person ever again. The person who recovers from a life threatening injury can no longer look through the same lens of life as ordinary individuals. They have touched suffering in its deepest form. They have experienced death and jumped out of it’s clutches. And they have had to surrender to the whole process of recovery. It is a long, tedious process of appointments with doctors and rehabilitation specialists. They make big gains then plateau. And sometimes, on a physical level, they may never fully recover.

As an outsider looking in at someone has gone through such a devastation, it is impossible to fathom. All you can do is be there for them as the go through the ups and downs of recovery. In a less extreme fashion, the process of ageing is like that too. Things don’t work as well as they used to! It’s a fact of life and all that we can do is do our part to try and stay in good health.

Hope you have a safe and happy weekend.

Ranjit