He was in intensive care and because of COVID, no one could visit. There was a huge sense of relief and then over the days that followed, we waited for my brother to wake up to see if he was ok.

We went home and waited and 10 hours later, at 3:30 in the morning my sister in law was phoned to say that the operation had been more complicated than thought - the surgeon said it was a right mess in there (presumably a medical term) - but my brother had got through it.

They inspired confidence, they were calm, but they stressed that it would be a big operation lasting 5 hours. The doctors spoke to his wife and me, and told us about the operation to repair the ruptured artery…and a valve in his heart…and whatever else they needed to do. And the shock of thinking what might happen to him…really was a shock. He is godfather to our boys and I was godfather to his baby daughter at her christening which took place virtually just five days before this all happened. He did manage to speak and he said 6 words to me from his trolley: Look after … and then he was wheeled away, off to the operating theatre - and at that point I really did wonder if I would ever see him again.Īs siblings should be, my brother and I are very close. We waited for what seemed like ages, but wasn’t, in a corridor, and at 5:30pm my brother was wheeled past to have this major operation. Minutes later, he was put in an ambulance and we drove up to London. I drove round the M25 to the hospital, where the doctor explained that a major artery from my brother’s heart had ruptured and that he needed to have an operation straight away at a London hospital, but there was a chance that he could die. The doctor had told her that he was in a critical condition and that it was important that we went to the hospital straight away. By this time, my brother had been taken to hospital. Then, sometime later, when I had finished my Friday fish and chips, my sister in law phoned again, really quite worried.

However, I did what I thought was most appropriate which was to go and eat lunch in the Dining Hall. He got married just over a year ago and he and his wife have a baby who is just a few months old.

My brother is a couple of years younger than me, fitter than me and has never had any health problems. I was really shocked and surprised to hear this. For me, the last Friday before we broke up was a relatively ordinary day and then, at lunchtime, my sister-in-law, my brother’s wife, phoned me to say that my brother had collapsed whilst taking his car for a service.

Be brave be strong tattoo