The Pickering family from Texas is celebrating a miracle this Christmas, which so nearly did not happen. With doctors about to turn off a life support machine keeping George Pickering’s son alive, a desperate and armed George intervened, determined his son would live.
 |
| Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash |
A father took a gun into hospital to stop doctors taking his son off life support - and during the three-hour stand-off the young man squeezed his hand.
George Pickering II, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after marching into Tomball Regional Medical Center in Texas with a gun.
His 27-year-old son, George III, had been declared brain dead after suffering a massive stroke in January.
After doctors declared there was no more hope for him, they ordered a 'terminal wean' - whereby life support is slowly withdrawn to end a life.
Pickering's ex-wife and other son had agreed to the move, and the young man had already been placed on an organ donation register.
But Pickering Sr told KPRC:
'They were moving too fast. The hospital, the nurses, the doctors. I knew if I had three or four hours that night that I would know whether George was brain-dead.'
During the three-hour standoff, Pickering threatened hospital staff. His other son was eventually able to get the gun from him.
Pickering admitted to being drunk and aggressive but said it was only because he knew his son wasn't ready to die.
During the standoff, Pickering's faith that his son had been misdiagnosed never wavered and after he finally got the response he wanted from his boy, he surrendered peacefully to authorities.
'During that three hours, George squeezed my hand three or four times on command,' he said.
His son later came out of his coma and is now fully recovered.
The charges against Pickering were eventually reduced and he was released earlier this month.
His son said: 'There was a law broken, but it was broken for all the right reasons. 'I'm here now because of it. It was love, it was love.'
#gerund or infinitive #passive #past perfect
