Will Pike

Your injury is complete.

There was a weird lesson in this sort of opening few days or weeks because I got repatriated.

I survived the plane journey, flew over London, shed a tear for my home city, landed on the tarmac, actually felt truly safe for the first time, see my brother, get into an ambulance, taken to the hospital.

like lovely conversations with all the people around and kind of getting me back down safely.

All the ambulance people, all the kind of police liaison officers, all that lot.

Get to the hospital.

There had been an administration mess up.

They weren't even expecting me.

And I'm sat in A&E for 10 hours waiting for a room.

At this point, everyone around Will is getting frustrated and ultimately just utterly exhausted.

Will, however, it seems, although the one in the bed and the one who almost died, is doing his best to maintain a happy and witty exterior, trying to manage the situation.

A situation that is quickly revealing itself as one not set up to help people like him, people who are victims of catastrophic events overseas.

He sends his father home, who's at this point on the brink.

And to top it all off, his brother overhears two doctors discussing Will's future.

My brother overheard doctors saying how I'm never going to walk again.

I didn't even know that at this point, but he's overhearing shit in the hallway.

It was an absolute shit show.

And kind of indicative of certain themes with regards to being a victim of terrorism, feeling as if you're part of something bigger, but then also feeling as if no one really cares anymore.

No one's really interested.

You're like, why not?