Want for a sleep in may have been lifesaving
Louise Turner believes an argument with her husband and the desire to sleep in was the difference between life and death for Ben Phillips, who fell critically ill while diving on October 25 last year.
“I didn’t want to get out of bed or go out on the boat, ” she said.
“I had a bit of a tantrum and made us late.
“But that decision potentially saved Ben’s life.”
When Mrs Turner and her husband Ben brought their dinghy alongside their friend’s boat near Point Moore Lighthouse, Simon Phillips and his son Ben were already in the water, free-diving for crayfish.
“Ben (Phillips) was fine, he just waved, said ‘hello’, he was normal, ” Mrs Turner said.
However, within minutes Ben returned to his father’s dinghy complaining of a headache.
“I was watching Ben. He got into the boat and held his head in his hands so I called out to ask him if he was OK, ” she said.
“He called back, ‘I have the worst headache’.”
When the teenager began vomiting over the side of the boat, Mrs Turner swam over to ask if he needed help.
“Ben just held his head and said, ‘I don’t understand what you are saying, I don’t understand what I’m saying, there’s something wrong, get dad, there’s something wrong’, ” she said.
“Had Ben (Turner) and I been on time we would not have still been in our boat.
“Ben could have fallen into a coma or, even worse, died on that boat and none of us would have been any the wiser. You can believe it was luck but I believe God used my inability to get out of bed to keep Ben in this world.”
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