Theresa Clarke

Reg & Alice Theresa Clarke

Ten o'clock at night, just about dark, on a balmy August evening. She sits on a kerb, clutching a cardboard cup, gulping down her ninth or tenth latte of the day, not because she wants it, it is just something to do to while away the hours. A sudden noise makes her look up; she strains her eyes against the darkness, hardly believing what she has just seen. As if to confirm her suspicions, a further movement attracts her attention and this time she clearly sees the rat scuttle across the hospital entrance. Jolted upright, she leaps to her feet and backs away. Time to get some sleep. She trudges wearily along the pavement, her mind consumed with thoughts of what she has just left. Her mum, now a stranger, lying in a high dependency unit, delirious and hallucinating. How has it come to this? When did it all start to go wrong? This diary gives a day to day, month to month account of how exactly a family has been shattered, following their tortuous journey as they lose firstly, their mother and then ten months later their father. Needlessly, cruelly and shockingly. From admission to hospital in June 2013, through to admission to a private hospital in September 2013, this diary follows the traumatic journey that leads to the death of two irreplaceable people - one from a broken heart that could have been mended, the other from a broken heart that couldn't be mended. "Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal" - from a headstone in Ireland.