‘A tale of ghosts and things that go bump in the night in hospitals’

A strange occurrence at the end of 2018 got me wondering about whether there is a place waiting for us when our time upon this earth is up.

I had a rough year last year. I lost four family members and three friends, my grandson broke his arm, my daughter (his mother) had a cyst on her neck that required surgical removal and my sister-in-law had her melanoma return at stage three after seven years, which required a 10-hour operation and skin grafts for where it was on her face.

My grandfather was Irish and I’d found myself wishing throughout the year for a Leprechaun to bring some fairy magic into our lives.

Six weeks after my grandson’s cast was removed, on New Year’s Eve, it was discovered that his appendix needed to come out. They opted for keyhole surgery. It was a distressing time for my son-in-law who recalled the operation his brother had more than 40 years ago and revealed that they’d cut his bowel by mistake, which had caused him problems for the rest of his life.

We were able to reassure him that what had happened to his brother was a freak accident and all would be good with his son. Yet, it wasn’t. The doctor nicked the boy’s bowel and they had to open him up.

The day before the operation, my daughter and grandson stayed overnight in the children’s ward. As she was going to sleep in the recliner she heard her little boy speak.

“Mum,” she heard him say. “Tell the boy to stop looking at me.”

My daughter said she spun around, but no one was there… the ward was empty. One of the nurses came to them sometime later and my daughter asked if there was another child in the ward as someone was calling out. The nurse informed her that it was just the two of them.

When my daughter went to make a cup of tea, she considered it unusual that the cups had been arranged in a neat row on the table. The nurse hadn’t done it and said she would leave the lights on.

My daughter said she announced to the room: “This is our room, please leave us alone,” and there was no more trouble after that.

She is not as scared about odd things. As a 12-year-old she was run over and told us she was walking down a tunnel to a bright light with a beautiful lady when her name was called and she let her hand go. I believe we all are special and some people like to hang around longer than others, I wonder if anyone else feels like this.

Do you think about what happens after we die? Do you believe in spirits?

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