Laura Casey is facing the reality of turning off life-support for her husband, Seamus Casey, after the celebrated young Christchurch opera singer was hit by a car, leaving him in a coma in Sydney.
Casey, 27, attended Burnside High School and did a Diploma of Performing Arts at the Hagley Theatre Company before moving offshore to pursue a successful career in opera.
Last Tuesday, he was hit by a car on his way to work in Sydney. He suffered severe head injuries and a broken leg and immediately went onto life support.
He remains in a critical condition and doctors have told Casey’s family they should turn off life support, but his wife refuses to give up hope.
Laura Casey has set up an online diary to update friends and family on her husband’s condition as he fights for his life in the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
In the diary, Casey says her husband underwent two rounds of neurosurgery to remove two clots on his brain.
“We were told he may not make it through the second surgery but that if he didn’t have it he would certainly die,” Casey said.
Casey’s online diary has been flooded with more than 220 messages of support since it was set up last Wednesday. More than 645 people have joined the group watching Casey’s progress.
“The prognosis is very bleak,” Casey wrote last night.
“Doctors have said they think we should turn off the life support, but the option is there to continue helping him and do some more tests in a day or two. I believe the next few hours will be the most difficult of my life.”
Seamus Casey had failed four of six tests, which, if all had been failed would indicate he was brain dead.
“I told him this morning that if he was ready to go, I was ready to let him. I was at peace with losing him, believing he would be pronounced brain dead. Now that he has not, I cannot give up just yet,” Casey wrote.
Seamus last performed in Christchurch in February 2006, when he was raising money for a 12-month stint with the Australian Opera Studio in Perth.
He was selected to join the Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artists programme in 2002 and was named vocal award winner in Christchurch’s 2000 Young Performer of the Year.
His brothers, Reuben and Brendan Casey, are also well known in Christchurch’s artistic community. They have travelled to Sydney to be at their brother’s bedside, along with sisters Joanna and Michelle and parents Paul and Judith.
The music director of the Christchurch City Choir, Brian Law, worked with Casey in Christchurch’s Cantores Youth Choir. He said Casey showed huge promise as a young performer.
“He had enormous promise, and was very talented - a wonderfully enthusiastic person about things.”
Casey had overcome very serious health problems throughout his career with “great courage and panache” to carve out a fine early career.
Tags: family, health problems, joanna, last tuesday, money, neurosurgery, parents, prince alfred hospital, prognosis, rth