Scott Gold, 37, spent 16 weeks in hospital after he suffered what doctors described as a “significant skull fracture” after striking his head when he was knocked to the ground on a night out in August.
(Image: Images provided)The accountant from Paisley underwent six brain operations at the Institute for Neurological Sciences (INS) at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
He spent five weeks in an induced coma in the intensive care unit (ICU), followed by two weeks in a high dependency ward and nine weeks in the neurorehabilitation unit where he had to relearned basic life skills.
Now, Scott is thankfully well enough to go home to his wife Stephanie, 34, and their sons Oliver, five, and Myles, three – just in time for Christmas.
Scott said: “People keep asking me what I’m looking forward to most but to me it’s simple: I just want to curl up on the settee and cuddle my family.
“I know I’ll be busy over the festive period as my friends and family have said they’ll be round to see me, and that will be brilliant, but in here I’ve had lots of spare time to think, and I just really miss Stephanie and the boys.”
She said: “You read so many negative stories about the NHS, but it’s only when the worst happens that you find out how amazing these people are.
“I can’t really put into words how grateful I am. They’ve given me my Scott back.”
Scott himself added: “The way (The NHS) helped me is something I’ll always remember.”
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Stephanie recalled getting a phone call from one of Scott’s friends the day after the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary to say her husband had a head injury and was being taken to hospital.
She added: “Then a police officer came on the phone and I really started to worry.”
At the hospital she was not allowed to see Scott and a consultant told her that she should prepare for the worst because her husband had suffered a bleed on the brain.
Calan Mathieson, a consultant neurosurgeon at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said Scott’s condition had been “touch-and-go for a few weeks.”
He added: “At the beginning we feared for the worst.
“He had suffered a significant skull fracture and his brain had undergone serious trauma. He underwent six brain operations and needed a shunt inserted to ease pressure from fluid build-up on his brain.
“Telling a family that they might lose a loved one is never something we take lightly, but in this case we felt it was important they were able to prepare for the worst.”
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Stephanie said her husband’s injury has had a massive impact on his life and will continue to do so, before added: “Ultimately, all I wanted was that he could feel love for us, and that he knew he was loved.
“We’ve all got that, so what more could we ever need this Christmas?”
