Behind Every Man… Romance special!
Wayne's injuries
Monday 2nd July 2007
“As chat-up lines go, it wasn't bad. When I met Wayne Docksey, 55, in a bar he told me within five minutes he was a James Bond stuntman.
Impressed? Not really. You see, I'm not the sort of woman who goes weak at the knees at the thought of a macho man.
But Wayne's personality did get me. He made me laugh so much I cried! So when we arranged a second date for the following Saturday, I couldn't wait.
Then I got a text. 'Wayne's in intensive care in Salford's Hope Hospital and not expected to make it. Chris,' it read.
Was this Wayne's idea of a sick joke? Not very funny if so.
But it wasn't. When I rang Wayne's number, his son Chris explained Wayne had been attacked outside a nightclub. He'd had a blood clot the size of a grapefruit removed from his brain. He died three times during surgery.
We'd only been on one date but somehow Wayne had got under my skin. I went to the hospital to visit him.
Wayne had a lump the size of a melon on the left side of his head and no control over the left side of his body. Surviving was one thing, but deep down I knew there'd be no chance he'd be the same man.
'Hello,' I whispered.
His eyes opened and I sensed that he recognised me.
'We were supposed to have a date on Saturday,' I smiled. 'Where were you?'
It was a bad joke and an awkward silence followed.
Then slowly, he picked up a pencil and notepad next to him.
'Waiting here,' he wrote.
I laughed and let out a sigh of relief. Still the same Wayne.
But with only one date behind us and with everything that had happened, was there still a chance our relationship would survive?”
The full stories appear in Pick Me Up magazine, out every Thursday. Don't miss a single one - treat yourself or a friend to a subscription!
Have you got a more romantic tale to tell? Or have you stood by your man through a terrible ordeal? Email and tell us all about it.