A story...

[musicheals]

Hi there. An extraordinary thing happened to me and I would like to share it with you people as Spiritualized and Jason Pierce figure in this story.
In 2008 I was in a serious car accident which sadly took the lives of my beautiful fiancee and my wonderful 18 month old daughter. Joyriders hit my car and sent me off the road. I was thrown from the wreck and knocked unconscious and died at the scene only to be revived by paramedics. I never regained consciousness at the scene and went into arrest a 2nd time when they got me to hospital. I was in a bad way, with alot of serious injuries. Collapsed lung, broken ribs, ruptured spleen, broken arm, both legs broken, fractured skull to name but a few.
I slipped into a coma and it was said that I probably wouldn't pull through. I can recall very little from this early time, just brief snatches and then nothing. I'm not very good with words but the best I can put it is that I was in a deep dark tunnel. I know that it won't make sense to most but that's the best I can do.
I have pieced together the things that happened around me mostly from people that were there. After a couple of weeks one of my friends convinced the specialist to let me hear some music. He went home and got my ipod which my parents gave to him and set up a couple of playlists of my favourite music. All the Spiritualized albums in chronological order and the specialist and the nurses allowed him to play for me everyday. I didn't respond immediately but they say after a few days my heart rate and brain activity altered the most when listening to Spiritualized, so Matt, my friend, stuck to this.
After being in the coma for 3 months and listening to Spiritualized almost everyday I finally emerged from it on June 23rd while Borrowed Your Gun was playing in my ears. I first heard Songs In A & E while I was in hospital in a coma. That, I find to be quite a cool story to tell.
Needless to say when I woke up I had no idea what had happened to my fiancee and my little one and I was crushed when I discovered the truth. The bank had started proceedings to repo my house and there was no way I could keep it given the situation I was in. I didn't get to say goodbye to my loved ones because they were buried while I was under and basically my life was in tatters. I didn't want to go on living if I'm being honest. I became addicted to painkillers and anti-depressants and found it really difficult to go through a day without them. But with my friends and family and the medical staff I got myself together and made what was described as a miracle recovery. But if I'm being honest the thing that got me through more than anything else was the music of Jason Pierce. It seems that he has a song for every mood and it has a way of making things seem so much better. It's my personal belief that I wouldn't be here now if it weren't for the music. I moved back home to my parents and concentrated on my physio and therapy.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss my little girl and the love of my life but I know I have to go on, because to not would be disrespectful to them both (you may care to note that the little thugs in the other car were caught, but due to our (un)justice system this 15 year old shithead was given a ban on a license he didn't possess and the passenger got a warning for tearing my life apart).
It took alot of deliberating to join the forum but I chose to join here to tell you guys this story to show that music really can heal and I don't know if Jason Pierce reads these pages or not but I would love the opportunity to thank him for inadvertantly helping me through what was probably the darkest moment of my entire life. If anyone here knows him personally could you please pass on my story and tell him that I thank him from the bottom of my heart, not just for the music but for saving my life and bringing me out of that deep dark tunnel. Words can't express my gratitude...

[spzretent]

Welcome.
Glad you joined and wanted to share your story here.
I am so sorry for your loss and good luck on your long road back.
I will make sure this gets to Jason.

[musicheals]

Thank you so much spzretent. I really appreciate it

[gottafire]

Amazing story. My heart goes out to you. I know nothing anyone can say will make things better but but you have my deepest sympathies.
Welcome to the board! You're among friends here for sure.

[jadams501]

Very moving and certainly a post for the ages. Welcome to the board, and good luck with everything.

[TheWarmth]

Wow, what a story. I got a bit teary. Hope you stick around, man.

[A saint]

Devastating.

I've been going through a bit of a rough patch, but reading that, I feel quite frankly like a clown. God bless you, welcome to the board, and may your astonishing endurance and bravery be rewarded with peace and future joy.

[ORBITAL]

Wow. Your recent history puts things in perspective. Big lump in my throat.


Welcome. So glad you could drop by.

[runcible]

That's both tragic and comforting. I really feel for you regarding your loss. As a father myself it's unimaginable yet I know from my own experiences of trauma that music is indeed often an incredible tonic.

Good luck in your future and, if you'd like to, please hang around here too. We're a friendly bunch and stories like this reassure me as to the positive nature of this board.

[olliemorr]

Sorry to hear about what you've been through. It's simply unimaginable.
Music has power in many ways, especially Spiritualized's. Jason's music has I'm sure been a comfort to many, many people (myself included) through difficult times.
As the others have said, you're amongst friendly people here. It's possibly the most friendliest (and mature) forum I've been on. You can feel the warmth here.

[spzretent]

Thank you so much spzretent. I really appreciate it

Jason's manager emailed me last night. He recieved it and I trust he will get this to Jason at some point.

[simonkeeping]

I was welling up reading your story, as Runcible and Ollie said its unimaginable. Puts the day to day stuff I winge about into perspective! I think what's so powerful about your story is even after going through all that pain you still sound like a really strong person and more importantly one who really values life (and music). As other members on the board have already said, I hope your rewarded for all that heartache with joy, love and peace.

Welcome aboard!

[Zenchan]

Man, not really much you can say after reading something like that. Puts a lot of things in perspective.

[sunray]

Terrible tragedy yet the positivity comes through. Do stick around 'cos as far as i can tell it's the friendliest forum about.

[musicheals]

thank you so much for your kind words. I felt cleansed telling my story to you.
I see what a great bunch of people there are on this board.
And thank you spzretent again. I hope he gets to know how life altering his music is.

Thank you all fr the warm welcome, I will def stick around

[Horrorflick]

I'm in tears right now as I'm writing this. You're a better man than I am. If' I'd gone through what you'd gone through, I wouldn't want to come back. You did, and not only did you lose your loved ones, but they re-possessed your house. I wish you whatever possibility there is of recovery and I sincerely hope that the people who had the nerve to re-possess your house while you were in a coma end up in a hell that is one of those false-wakeup nightmares (the kind where you wake up and you think it's over, but it just goes into another phase of the nightmare) and it's a never-ending shark attack in inky-black night waters. Fuck the bankers and the banks.

Let me P.S. to my last. I hope the pieces of shit who crashed your car share the same hell as the bankers.

[musicheals]

I know what you mean. I was in utter disbelief about my house. My mum and dad tried so hard to reason with HSBC (there, I've outed them!) but they just didn't care.
As for the kids who caused all this I doubt they lose any sleep over it even though they're fullly aware what they caused. I duno, I know it's cliche to say it but kids are so much different to when I was one.
My recovery happened at a pretty fast pace tbh. Since all I wanted to do was be normal again. Obviously I have trouble with my short term memory and you wouldn't believe the bone aches when the wind is cold. But yeah, thank you Horrorflick, I appreciate it. But don't underestimate yourself! You'd be surprised how you react when your sense of self preservation takes control.

[johnnyboy]

What an incredible story but for all the wrong reasons. My heart absolutely goes out to you. I'm a father of a 20 month old and the thought of losing her, and in such a way as you lost yours, is unthinkable. In fact it scares the hell out of me to even contemplate it. To lose any loved one is heart breaking. I lost my brother back in June and am still in a whirlwind of emotions.

Music is a great healer. Whilst it can't heal the wounds of loss it can make us feel better for brief moments and make us feel that there's hope and a reason to carry on. Personally I couldn't listen to music with lyrics in for a good month after my brother died but just found refuge in what I called 'journey music', like Sun Araw. Anything that took me off on a flight of fancy was fine by me.

As for those joy riders who destoyed so much........I don't know who's worse, them or the powers that be who decide that killing people with a car deserves such a low penalty. It's disgusting and I'd happily go all 'Charles Bronson' on the lot of them.

Keep on keeping on and welcome aboard.

[musicheals]

I had to have a chuckle about your Charles Bronson line though. I know what you mean, I was so outraged but people like that don't understand or care so what would be the point?