Lost in Copenhagen

(Part of my homeless project)
Amina is from Sweden. She is 26 years old. She gets help to shoot heroin in her neck, as the veins in her arms has been shot up too much. She charms everybody with her smile and laugh, and mostly, just by looking at her, you don't notice she's an addict. But on her bad days....
A few days ago she told me: "I'm going to die in Copenhagen"
Since she is a foreigner in Denmark, there's not much help she can get here. Even the shelters turn her away.

Living in Copenhagen

Rez is from Nepal, but lives in Copenhagen. He was off drugs for three years, but recently started using again.
He initially came to Denmark to study business, but is now skipping too much of school because of his habit.
His younger brother has also become addicted.

Accident with motorbike

Last summer my wife crashed her bike on the freeway doing 130 km/h.

Accident with bike

I picked up the phone.

”Dad, can you come pick me up?….I fell on the bike”

”Are you ok?!”

”Yeah, it just hurts a bit”

”Ok, I´ll be there in 15 minutes”

My son was sitting on a bench, holding out his trousers from his groin. I looked inside, and saw a 2 cm long cut… It would need to be stitched…but nothing too serious.

”What happened?”

” I was ridin´on the backwheel, and coming down, I had too much speed, so I fell forward over the handlebar….broke the brake-leveler”

In the emergencyroom, the nurse began to clean his cut, and felt with her fingers on the slight raise on his thigh….expecting it to be blood  gathering beneath the skin.
It  puzzled her that it was too hard to be blood.

A doctor came in to give a second opinion; and there was no doubt, something was in there.

The missing brake-leveler crossed my mind, but surely that would be impossible…

I was looking at the x-ray screen…and step by step, part of my sons skeleton appeared….. There it was!

While we waited for the ambulance to take us from the emergencyroom to the hospital; nurses and doctors alike came to watch ”the cool little guy with part of a bicycle inside of him”…

While being prepared for the surgery, he joked with the nurse:

”Will I be able to play the piano?!…”
”Well, yes…but probably not today..”
”That´s great!…because I´ve never been able to….”

We were allowed to stay with him until he was asleep for the surgery. I held his hand and fought hard not to cry when he closed his eyes.

The surgert lasted 40 minutes.
The brake leveler had missed a main artery by 5 millimeter.

Mentally and physically I was exhausted for 2 days after
My son never shed a tear.

If it´s possible, I love him more than ever….though he is a little brat;-)