Mum's hunt for mystery taxi driver who gave son '3 extra days' to say goodbye
A mum wants to find the taxi driver who gave her son "three extra days" before he died - by performing CPR on him following a cardiac arrest.
David Clarke was staying at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool city centre on Friday, November 17 for two nights with a friend. In the early hours of the Sunday morning the 32-year-old man, who was from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest.
He was rushed to the Royal Liverpool Hospital and placed on the critical care unit. But on Wednesday, November 22, David's mum - Pamela Williams - said her son died in her arms. The 55-year-old woman said a taxi driver saw David "in distress" at around 6am on Sunday, November 19 and stopped and started CPR on David.
David was described as popular and caring (Pamela Williams)She told Liverpool ECHO: "I would love to thank him for his quick thinking and initiating CPR, allowing us three extra days to say goodbye to Dave."
Pamela described David as popular and caring, and the mum and son even worked together. Previously paying tribute, she said: "David was born on April 22, 1991. I had to have him christened (then) as he was on life support with a condition called severe respiratory stress syndrome."
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"Nothing worked until we were offered a 'guinea pig' trial for him. He came on leaps and bounds and four weeks later we were able to take our little bundle home. David was hyperactive most of his life, he was a lovely little boy, funny, but hard work for us as parents."
"David's last place of work was GXO (a logistics firm) for MandS. I, his mother, am a manager on the night shift and he was a fork lift truck driver on the same shift. He had a massive impact on everyone in our warehouse since day one. I've even been told by another manager, if he felt down he would go to find Dave and he would cheer him up. On Thursday, November 16 and Friday, November 17, he dressed as Pudsey for Children In Need and raised over £150 with his friend Dan."
Pamela, 55, said David was "very excited" to visit Liverpool as it was one of his favourite cities, as well as Amsterdam. She added: "Dave and his friend booked into the Adelphi Hotel for two nights, his friend left on the Saturday morning. Dave decided to stay on his own as he didn't want to lose a night's money from the hotel. On the Saturday night, my son rang me, he was upset, he was still in his bed in the hotel and felt alone and upset."
"I said to him, 'Dave, either come home or go out and enjoy yourself'. He must have taken the second option. Dave was last seen on CCTV standing in a doorway at 4am on Sunday morning talking to a passers-by. The passers-by left and Dave sat down in the doorway. At 6am in the morning, a taxi driver, seeing that Dave was in distress stopped and started CPR."
"He rang the emergency services who swiftly arrived and continued CPR. Sadly, it was 20 minutes before they got any response. We were contacted by Stoke-on-Trent police on Sunday afternoon and rushed to Liverpool Royal (hospital), we stayed until Wednesday, showering Dave with love and kisses. Within this time, he had lots of friends and family who made their way to Liverpool to visit Dave and to offer us love and support."
Pamela had to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off David's life support. David died in his mum's arms nine minutes later. The 55-year-old said she wanted to send her gratitude to the critical care team at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.
She said: "I want to thank critical care, Pod D, for the love, care and dignity they not only showed my son, but showed all our family. From setting up chairs to sleep on, supplying us with food, and 24-hour tea and coffee."
Pamela said she also would like to find the taxi driver who found David, she added: "I would love to thank him for his quick thinking and initiating CPR, allowing us three extra days to say goodbye to Dave."
Loved ones of David and Pamela have now set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs. To donate to the page, please click here.
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