All About Steven
Lots of people have asked what was Steven like, so I thought Id try and write down a few things.
Steven was born in Germany and didn’t have the best start to life. He got stuck in the birth channel and several attempts by one of the junior doctors they realised that he couldn’t be born normally and Gail was rushed down to have an EC. Waiting outside the operating theatre seemed to be a lifetime, but eventually someone came out to announce I had a son and both mother and baby were doing fine. Again I had another wait till they cleaned both of them up. Gail was groggy when I went to see her but pleased that she give me my first son, although she told me I had to go and see the sister as there was some concern over his foot. The reason Steven was stuck during birth was one of his feet had been stuck in a rip. There was a slight deformity of the foot but we were reassured, it was nothing to worry about. Every day I visited the hospital even though it was a round 3hrs journey for me, we both decided that he would be called Steven David, David been after myself. When he left hospital he had a L shape black plaster on his leg, which hopefully would help to push back his foot into shape. During that time I was also leaving the army, so plans were putting in for us returning back to England.
When we returned to England at first we lived with my mum, till we got our own house, during this time we came great friends with a girl called carol, who had just had a baby also. It was during this time we noticed that Steven was slow at developing. We voiced our concerns to the doctor but was also told we were over zealous parents and he was developing normally, but as parents we knew then something wasn’t quite right. In the mean time we were still getting treatment for his foot. Aged 18 months he was still unable to walk, and with one meeting with the consultant he suggested surgery to correct his foot, as the Xrays had shown the bone was twisted from below the knee to his foot. Surgery was scheduled for 3 months later, and during that 3 months wait, Steven decided he was sick of shuffling on his bum to get everywhere and just got up and walked, although he did still drag the foot behind him. So just before his 2nd birthday Steven entered hospital for his surgery, as any parent whose child has had surgery knows, when you look down at them so small lying on the operating theatre, you just wish you could take their place. It was whilst in hospital Steven discovered a great game to play. The corridor in the hospital must have been about a half a mile long and had a slight incline from top to bottom, of course Steven was in the very top ward. On one of the visits his uncle took him in his wheelchair and run up and down this corridor, much to Stevens delight. The sound of Steven laughing and giggling could be heard right through the hospital, to Steven he called this “round the twist”, and had everyone that visited him running up and down the corridor with him. The operation was a success and Stevens leg was at long last straight.
It was just after this time, that our health visitor changed, so we got on to her about Stevens development. Much to our delight she agreed and arranged for some tests to be done at home. It was after the tests that Steven was Diagnosed as Slight Down Syndrome, and we arranged to visit a special school near our home to see if we could get Steven in it. In the mean time we had got nursery school arranged for Steven, but he never seemed to have fitted in, yet the first day we visited we visited Greenfields, Steven felt at home, you could see it in his face. Greenfields was a beautiful school, full of love and happiness, at times when you visited you could cry when you seen some of the more severely disabled children. Steven was at that school from the age of 3 till the age of 18.
Just before Steven entered the school, we moved housed as we came part-time caretakers of the St John’s Ambulance brigade Headquarters, of which we were both members, plus it was a lot closer to school. Steven loved this house, he used to sit at the window and watch people arriving at the brigade headquarters.
Steven now felt he belonged, he was happy at school and at home. Unfortunately not long after this, his mum and me decided we would go our separate ways. But I continued visiting him and weekends and during holidays. It was during this time I developed Stevens love for football and his precious Newcastle United. I used to take him to the training ground to watch the players train, all the players used to make a fuss of him. One player stood out from the others, Paul Gasgoine, at the time he was a youth player just breaking into the first team, he spend time after training to play football with Steven, and then he said to him if he made it big in football he would return to give Steven a lift in his car. As people in England know Gasgoine went on to be one of the top players in England. Years later we were going to the training ground when a car pulled up beside us, and a familiar voice shouted “I’ve come to give you a lift”, there was Paul Gascoine in his car for filling his promise that he made years earlier to give Steven a lift, about 30 mins later Steven returned with a smile as big as any and pockets full of chocolate. Paul Gascoine received a lot of bad press during his time, but to me he will always be special for what he did for Steven.
Steven although young when he died had a full life, he had his various clubs he used to go to, Thursday nights was his only spare night. He also used to love television as was a great lover of the various soaps. He will always be remembered at the PHAB club for his adventurous spirit, and as it was said for getting the microphone and telling everybody “Come on lets party”
Steven was a happy person and with an infectious smile that made other people smile as well. If he didn’t know you, he would introduce himself. He was loving and caring, hate was a word he never used, He never complained even near the end when he must have been in a lot of pain, his one concern was always other people, he always made sure he asked if you were alright. Steven leaves behind a legacy of love to all that knew him.
