It's just been one of those weeks...one where the promise of writing an entry for this blog is a distant memory as I've been forced to wake up early every day to get to school by 7 to make sure to get all my reports done for Thursday, then - the same evening they were due - be awake enough to conduct parent-teacher interviews until 8pm. Even though I even stayed the evening to the end, I had a student come up to me the next day saying that her parents had come by to have the interview and they saw me walk out with "Big John" (as he offered me a lift home). To them I say, "Come to your appointment on time, and it wouldn't happen!" Anyhoo, I now have to conduct a phone interview some time this week...yay me!
I would like to say that my week at school, besides the craziness of the week (probably leading to my inability to sleep), was uneventful...but I would be wrong. It came on Friday...and I'm still in a daze about it. I was teaching my final lesson, and we kept seeing cop cars, then an ambulance, then a fire truck close to school (as the window to my room looks out to the school's exit and the main road). I heard a student had collapsed, but thought nothing much of it...until I had a student show up for a learning catch-up at the end of the day. I have to admit, I didn't quite look at her at first, just told her to come in and have a seat - where I continued to talk to Laura about the class we just survived. It was after we finished that I looked at Darcy, and I saw her face...her eyes holding back tears. It was then that I heard this account.
She was running with another student, Joanne (whom I also teach) during PE. She, Joanne, started complaining about her asthma, when she then collapsed, hitting her head and Darcy said she began to see blood. They got a teacher, and Darcy made her way inside the building, but with a view of what happened next. The teachers checked for a pulse, and not finding one, they began to administer CPR. (Big John would then say that there were times, that the girl brought up, and they had a blanket to keep her warm, they had her in the recovery position...many events, all happening at once). When the paramedics came, they took over. There was talk of the use of a defibrillator, and that she was put into the ambulance. It would be about an hour later after hearing of these events that I was told that this 12 year old (who had both asthma AND a hole in her heart) would be pronounced dead.
I was numb coming home...after stopping off at the nearby Tesco Express to buy provisions: a Cadbury Cream Egg, a bottle of wine, and a 3 pack of strawberry trifle that tastes just like Mom's. (Even the clerk at the cash asked me if I'd had a rough week). I spent the evening with Jen and Mel as they didn't want me to be alone (little did they know that's just what I needed). Another event that happened that same evening with my roomies then ticked me off as well, but in the shadow of the event that happened at school, it really means nothing...no matter how mad I felt.
I could go on and tell you about my visit to Leicester, and the regular events that happened on Sunday, but it all seems wrong to talk about. In the back of my mind I am wondering what will be happening at school tomorrow. How will the students be told? Will they have counsellors available for students to talk to, as MANY students watched these events take place and will have heard how it ended...tragically. Is Darcy okay, as I feel that I didn't comfort her as I should have, and she is a student in major need of attention and comforting (i.e. I wonder if SHE survived the weekend, or will we have a double tragedy on our hands?). How do I be there for my students? Do I go on with my students period 1 like nothing happened, or do I open the floor for discussion? So many questions, and not one answer to be found...at least not until tomorrow.
Joanne...rest in peace.
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