My Story

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Lachie was our only son and older brother of Freya and Iona. He was extremely friendly and caring and always wore a smile wherever he was. He lived with us in Caithness in the north of Scotland and worked at Dounreay, a nuclear research station. His hobbies were listening to very loud music and cars. He had ordered a subaru impreza, his dream car, from Japan, which he never got to see in person as it arrived back home just after he died. Lachie had a girlfriend called Dana whom he was with for only a very short time before he passed away.

Lachie was on placement during the summer of 2006 in Inverness, working on an extension at Raigmore hospital. On the 25th of August, the end of his placement, he was driving the 100 miles home by himself when he was involved in a car accident just 25 miles away from where we live. He was flown by air ambulance, ironically, back to Raigmore hospital, where he'd left only a few hours eariler. We were told that his injuries were not life threatening and that he was awake and speaking and so drove down together to Inverness. Unfortunately things had changed by the time we arrived and he was no longer awake. The crushing injuries to his legs during the accident had resulted in fat embolism, which had begun to target his lungs making it impossible for Lachie to breathe by himself.
Over the next few days we stayed in the hospital, as a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows followed. On Monday the 28th of August Lachie died with us around him.

We have now set up a memorial fund for Lachie in order to raise the £18000 required to buy a new transport monitor for Raigmore hospital which will help all kinds of patients in the Highlands, including those in similar situations as Lachie was. So far our community has been great and have pulled together in many ways to raise the money.


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