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Lance opened his eyes slowly, his head feels heavy, something does not feel right, it takes him a little bit to understand that he is not in his hotel room, where was he then?
He wants to lift his head and look around, to see what is going on, but again, his head feels so heavy, he cant lift his head, his neck is not even moving, he is trying to turn his head slowly, but nothing is happening, he can see the white ceiling and the light is way to bright for his eyes. It makes his eyes hurt, why did he not turn the lights off when he went to bed?
he tries to move his fingers, and his toes, and he can feel them, that is good at least, he wonders what happened, he had gone to sleep in his hotel room, was he kidnapped or something?
He lets out a soft moan, he can feel pain creeping up on him, was he hurt?
“hey darling, welcome back, you are going to be OK”
“mom?”
“yes darling, I’m here, you are going to be OK” Lance could see his mom bending over him and she gave him a soft kiss on his temple, stroking over his forehead with a cold washcloth,
“what is going on?” Lance asked, he did not remember what had happened
“you crashed in Singapore darling, you are in hospital”
“I did?”
“yes”
“I don’t remember qualifying for the race, how did the race go?”
“you crashed in Qualifying, the race is tonight, its not finished”
“oh, where am I?” Lance asked, he was confused, he was trying to peace it all together, but some things were not adding up
“what is the last thing you remember?” his mother asked him
“having dinner with Scotty and Henry, then I went back to the hotel and fell asleep there” Lance was confused, he did not understand what had happened, he did not even remember getting into the car for qualifying, he did not remember the hole day, he should be waking up and getting ready for qualifying, he wanted to get up and get his day going, this was probably just a bad dream, it did not feel real, his head would not be this fuzzy if this was real, but you can’t feel pain in a dream, or can you?
“try to get some rest darling, try to sleep, you need to rest” his mother told him as she held his hand, there were others in the room now, he could feel something cold running into his hand and very shortly after he could feel his eyelids getting super heavy, there was no point in fighting it, he did not want to fight it, he just closed his eyes and listened to his mom, telling him that he would be OK. if his mom told him that it was going to be OK, then it must be true, his mom would not lie to him.
“wake me up at 2pm, I need to get ready for qualifying” Lance spoke softly to him mom
“just get some rest darling, you need to rest” his mother told him again and again as he drifted off, he was not feeling to bad, as everything faded out and he fell into a dreamless sleep.
————— Q1 Singapore —————
“Lance are you OK” Ben asked on the radio as his driver went off the curb, spun around and went back first strait into the wall, his car in beaded into the wall and the Mclaren’s of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri flew past him as the yellow flag was called
“Lance, do you copy?” Ben asked again, looking at the monitor what showed his heart rate and his blood oxygen, he was breathing and his heart was beating, but he was not answering, that was a worry.
“get the medical team out there now, he is not turning off his car, he is not moving”
“RED FLAG IT NOW, we need medical ” Mike was calling the race control and moments later the red flag was out and everyone needed to return to the pits, Charles Leclerc drove past him and he could also see that the Aston Martin driver was not moving.
“is he responding?”
“unfortunately not, return to the pits now, please” Charles got told as the other drivers were parking in there garages, some wondering what had happened, others worried if the had made it trough to Q2, others asking if Lance was alright. Lando was concerned, he had been right behind him, seeing the impact and the smoke and debris that had come off the car when it had collided with the wall,
“is the driver alright, that must have been quite a big one”
“Stroll is not responding, we will let you know”
“really?”
“Aston has called for medical”
“fuck, is it bad?”
“we will let you know, but Q2 is going to be delayed a bit as they need to extract him from the car, you can get out of the car and stretch, Oscar is out, you are in Q2” he got told, but right now he was not thinking about Q2, he did not want Lance to be hurt, and as he came around he could see that couple off the drivers were sitting together and waiting for some kind of news, Esteban looked sickly pale and Mick was standing next to him, biting his fingernails, they are just looking over to were the ambulance had just pulled up, the crew was holding up a white sheet to shield Lance from the cameras and the crowd as they took him out off the car carefully, he was put in a neck brace and placed in a hole body brace that was strapped around his body, he had not woken up so they were playing it safe, the medics got him into the ambulance and strait to the medical centre were they had prepared the helicopter to airlift him to the hospital.
“30 minutes delay, take a minute to ground yourself” Lando got told as he and Oscar came back to the McLaren garage after watching the ambulance go off with lights.
“that was scary” Lando said to Oscar as they walked back
————— Hospital waiting room —————
Henry, Lances osteopath and his brother in law Scotty James drove to the hospital, they had managed to see Lance for a short moment as he was taken between the ambulance and the helicopter, he was starting to wake up a little bit, but he was not talking, he was moaning and it was clear that he was in some amount of pain.
Scotty had already called his wife, and his mother in law, understandably they were both in shock, they had both been watching, Claire-Ann had ordered a private plane from Lawrance to Singapore as soon as she saw the crash as she just knew it had been a big one, the impact told her that, her flight was leaving in an hour and a half and take 14 hours, but she just knew she had to go, her child was hurt. She would fly over half the globe to be at his side, but that would all be worth it if he would just be OK.
She was packing a bag and had ordered an uber to the private airport when Scotty called her.
“is he OK?” She asked
“they are airlifting him to hospital, he has not said anything yet, but apparently he is starting to moan out and showing signs of waking up, so that is some good news” Scotty said “me and Henry are going to the hospital now”
“were is Lawrence?” she asked
“I’ve not heard from him yet, he was not here this weekend” Scotty informed his mother in law
“has he been told, my calls are not going through”
“yeah, Mike was calling him as we left” Scotty said, he was nervous, this was not the first time he had seen a crash, he saw some bad ones in his own sport as well. He had crashed and injured himself, he had seen some others crash on there snowboards as well, it was never nice to see someone get hurt
They arrived at the hospital and got told that Lance was already having tests done, they got told that he was in CT, then he would be going to MRI and X-rays, he was getting more alert, but he was confused and had no idea what was going on or what was around him, they were quite sure that he would have a concussion. But they hoped that that would be all, and there were no brakes or internal damage, they would just have to sit down and wait for the doctor to come and talk to them, Mike was going to join them after Quali and interviews.
It was almost two hours later that they got some news, a doctor came to talk to them as they had gotten Lance into a room.
“are you with Lance Stroll?” they got asked, the Aston Martin gear kind of giving it away with both Mike and Henry.
“yes, what is happening? is he OK?”
“he has a concussion, grade two, he was quite confused and agitated so we have him some sedatives to relax, he should not be moving about, and he can’t understand that so we have to keep him calm until he is back to the right state of mind, we are going to keep him sedated tonight and we will see how he does off it tomorrow morning”
“OK, so what does that mean for racing, is he OK otherwise, is it just the concussion?” Mike asked
“no, unfortunately not, he has two spinal fractures, small ones and they do not require surgery, but it will be painful, we have placed him in a back brace so he can’t move his back at all, and he still have a neck brace on him, that will come off in a couple of days”
“no spinal cord injury?”
“no, his spinal cord is undamaged”
“so how does a timeline look with a spinal fracture”
“back brace for 6-8 weeks, he should mainly be standing or laying down, try to avoid sitting much, that would also be the most uncomfortable so he wont want to do it, but he will have to rest a lot over the next couple off weeks”
“does he need to wear the brace at all times?”
“it can be taken off for showering and getting dressed, but yes, it should stay on at all times, and if its off he should avoid moving or bending his back as much as possible”
“is it a stable fracture? there is no danger of it slipping and trapping nerves or anything like that?”
“no, both brakes are stable, it should fix itself with rest and time”
“thank you doctor, can we go and see him now?” Scotty asked
“yes, I will find a nurse that will take you to him, but he is asleep, and ideally will not wake up until tomorrow morning” they got told.
“you two go, I will call Lawrence and tell him the news” Mike said as he sat down and prepared to make a call to a father who was also the team owner. That would not be a fun conversation and he was really not looking forward to that
“tell him I will call Chloe and Claire-Ann and also tell him that she is on her way here”
“OK, good, Lance will need his mom, poor kid can’t catch a brake.” Mike said as he took a deep breath and called Lawrence.
Scotty and Henry walked into Lances room, he was asleep, he did not look great, his hair was messy and sweaty, his skin colour was pale and he had been put into a hospital gown under his back brace, there were a lot of monitors all around him and he had a running I.V with fluids and pain medications, he would probably be in pain tomorrow, he would probably be sore all over even if there had not been any other brakes except for his back.
Scotty was going to stay with him tonight at the request of his wife, she wanted updates hourly, her little brother was hurt and she was worried, Scotty understood, he would hate it if his siblings would end up hurt in hospital and he was on the other side of the world. He scrolled through his social media and he was getting so many questions about Lance, not surprising, but he was not going to say anything, Mike would put it out to the press that Lance would be out for Singapore, Japan and Qatar even if they pretty much knew this was his season done, but it was a question if Lance would accept that or not, he had not accepted not being back for the first race of the season.
———————
Lance started to wake up a lot more, he was in more pain now as he was starting to gather what had happened, he had been told that he had crashed in Qualifying, he did not remember it, and he had also forgotten it quite a few times before Claire-Ann managed to let it stick in her sons concussed brain, his head felt so heavy, his back hurt a lot and he was on a ton of different pain meds to try to dull down the senses in his body that was feeling the after affects of the crash.
“mom”
“yes darling, are you feeling OK?”
“can I watch the race?” he asked, he had been told that he should avoid screens as much as possible over the next couple of days while his head was recovering
“are you sure? I don’t think you should watch it, you can watch tomorrow” his mother told him
“please, I need some distraction, my back hurts more than my head right now” Lance complained to his mom, he had not taken it well to learn that his back was broken, he had been very upset and he had been sedated again to calm down, he was not doing himself any favours as when the pain was at its worst his blood pressure shot up and then his head hurt a lot more and he just got dizzy and agitated, and the doctors had him on a low doze of sedatives and muscle relaxers to ease the intense pain that was in his back if he dared to move an inch.
“can I please watch the race” he asked again
“promise me that you will ask me to stop if it gets to much, we can finish it tomorrow” she said and Lace agreed, pressing the button he had for more pain medication before he started, the muscles in his back next to the brakes were spasming a lot, making his back hurt even more, he managed to watch the pre race and first 4 laps before he passed out again, he was so tired and in so much pain, but he heard people talking about him on the broadcast, he knew how much Mike had let the public now what was going on, he would need to say something online, but he could not master the energy to do it, maybe tomorrow, he thought to himself as he fell asleep, his mom stroking through his messy hair and over his upper arm, giving him comfort that he desperately needed.
—————-
The next couple of days were very challenging for Lance, he was made to walk for the first time with a walker for support the day after, he was moving so slowly and he was very off balance and after just two minutes of moving his head was swimming and he felt like he was about to pass out, the nurses got him back in bed quickly and he gave himself more meds, he had a morphine pump connected that he could control himself so he could get meds when he needed, he tried powering through it, but he also knew that he needed a lot of rest to recover as quickly as possible. but sleeping was also hard as he wanted to move to get himself more comfortable but he could not do it, he could not shift his weight in the bed, and the pain that rushed through his entire body when he tried had not been worth it, so he asked the nurses for help, but nothing really worked, he would just have to hope that the pain meds would dull down the pain.
He got out of hospital four days after the accident and Lawrence had ordered his private jet to go and get his son and his ex wife, Henry had also not left Singapore and went home with Lance, it was a bit of a struggle to get Lance into the rented car, they laid the front seat down so he was more laying down and then they went to the airport and Lance was laid in the bed that was on the jet, getting pain meds and sleeping meds before they took off to ease the journey as it was 14 hours in the air and they would have to stop to refuel half way, so it would be best if Lance could rest during the flight.
“are you comfortable?” Henry asked as they were about to take off
“yeah, as good as I can be, my back does not hurt to much when I’m just laying still” Lance smiled, he had started to feel a bit better when the neck brace was off, the back brace was uncomfortable, but he could deal with that, but it hurt a lot to know that this was the second time this year that he was helpless and it sucked, he hated it, but he would have to suck it up again and swallow his pride, there was nothing he could do about it, but he was struggling to accept that it had happened, he had found out that the crash was 54g, so it had been quite a lot force that had gone through his entire body and it was no surprise that he was not quite alright so soon after.
“we are about to take off, try to sleep, call us if you need anything, we need to make you walk for a bit every two hours, so try to take a nap now, I will wake you up.” Henry said as Lance moaned, he was not looking forward to this, but he trusted Henry with his plan of recovery and they were going to try and make the last 3 races of the year, hopefully they would be able to do it, no one had believed that he would be back for Bahrain and look how that turned out.
————————-
Lance was struggling a lot emotionally, he could not see the finish line, he had been in bed for almost two weeks and he was not really allowed to move to much as his head started to hurt and he got dizzy after a couple of minutes of standing so he was just in his room, he still could not really use screens for a long time so he was mostly just bored out of his mind or trying to sleep, he got sleeping pills at night so napping was not really a problem, Henry came to see him for two hours a day and got him to do gentle exercises, but it was very limited of what Lance could do, he was not really allowed to lift anything over 5kg, it was a struggle, even if the physical pain was dulling down a lot, he did not really need pain meds except in the morning and before he went to sleep at night, but the days were endless, his fellow drivers had been in contact to check up on him and wish him well, but he mainly talked to Mick and Esteban on how he was truly feeling. They were his friends and he trusted them. he was also in contact with Alonso, but Felipe Drugovich was now driving his car, Lance hoped he would not impress as much as Lawson had, he knew it was selfish thinking, but he really did not need more hate towards him than he was already facing, he knew that a lot of people were quite happy that he was injured and he had seen comments wishing it had been worse, but as he was already feeling vulnerable and sad, those comments stuck with him the most, the floodgates of painful comments had started during the JapanGP, even if Drugovich did not get points that race, people were already calling for Lance’s head, or at least it felt like it, he hoped it would stop, but It had already gone one his hole career, it would not stop now and he knew that, but it was really getting him down.
Esteban came to see him between Japan and Qatar and he stayed for two days, it hurt to see his friend in this state, but Lance had really needed that, his sister and his girlfriend and also been there for a week to stay with him, but they both had jobs to do and Lance accepted that, he was just glad that they were there with him for a bit, his girlfriend was coming back after next weekend and spending another week with him, it was a long and a painfully slow recovery, but Lance managed to get through it, he would not be racing the rest of the season, but he would be ready for the 2024 season and hopefully there would be way less brakes during that season.