I FORGOT MY CHILDREN

Tracey Deimert had no memory of getting married or giving birth

- ANNA MATHESON, MATT BARBOUR

They say every marriage has its ups and downs, and it’s true that no relationship stays exactly the same. Things change, children come along, and life has a habit of testing you in ways you’d never imagine. You can’t always stay young and carefree. Still, my husband Garry, 50, loves to reminisce about the early days of our relationship. ‘Remember how long it took me to pick my tie colour?’ he’ll chuckle, flicking through our wedding photos.

But the truth is I can’t remember anything about our wedding, nor do I remember the day we met, the birth of our two sons, Cameron and Bradley, or in fact anything about the first decade of our marriage, and my memories of the 10 years since are patchy at best. Instead, I rely on photos and stories Garry tells me about our time together before I collapsed in September 2009, clicking the Delete button on my life.

Garry tells me we dated as teenagers but drifted apart, and he had two children in another relationship that didn’t last. Then, when his dad Christopher, 45, passed away in September 1997, I sent him a condolence card which got us chatting and we fell in love again. Cameron came along in April 1999, before we had a small family wedding in February 2001, and then Bradley arrived in 2005. Our life – full of love, holidays and family time – sounded idyllic, until one afternoon I’d dropped by my parents’ house for a cup of tea after the school run, then my heart simply stopped, causing me to collapse in the kitchen.

Restarting my heart

My mum called an ambulance and at Musgrove Park Hospital, in Taunton, it took an hour to restart my heart. Afterwards, I was still unconscious and doctors warned Garry and my family that I could have severe brain damage or remain in a permanent vegetative state. ‘We never gave up, though,’ Garry tells me.