Boy, 17, relives his terror after fearing he’d DIE when he was stabbed through the liver for teasing a lad in the park
Shea Fahy, from Surrey, told how the near-fatal attack was the 'wake-up call' he needed as his life had been spiralling out of control
A TEENAGER who feared he was going to die after he was stabbed through the liver for teasing a lad in the park says the terrifying incident was the “wake-up call” he needed.
Shea Fahy, 17, told how his life was spiralling out of control after he dropped out of college, started boozing and smoking and moved into a homeless hostel after a row with his mum.
He claims the near fatal stab wound pulled him back into line and helped him to get his life back on track.
Shea, who appears on tonight’s episode of 24 Hours in A&E: Just Seventeen, said: “It was a wake-up call.
“I wasn’t on the right path or doing the right things.
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“I was hanging round with the wrong people, I wasn’t going to college, I was drinking and smoking.
“I could easily have ended up in a tragic accident or in trouble with the law. Being stabbed got me back on the straight and narrow and changed the way I am.”
Shea was attacked by an acquaintance in Avondale Park in Ash Vale, Surrey in May 2016.
A knife went straight through his liver, and the doctor who treated him at the emergency department at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, admitted he “expected the worst”.
Dr Rathan added: “Injuries like this can definitely be fatal. He could easily have bled to death.”
Shea had dropped out of his college carpentry course and had been rowing with his mum for a couple of years.
After a particularly heated argument the teen left the family home in Farnham, Surrey, to stay with his half-brother Ollie Sale, 21.
He then moved to a temporary hostel before accepting a permanent place at Pound House homeless hostel for 16-21-year-olds in Woking, Surrey.
He’d been there for a couple of weeks when he and three young lads left the hostel and headed for Woking town centre.
They spent the day drinking before meeting a teenage girl from the hostel in the park at around 5pm.
Shea recalled: “I’d drunk about three or four cans of cider, not that much.
“We went to the park, then one of the boys who I’d only met that day said he wanted to go home.
“I started teasing him about leaving early but he got really angry. It was just banter but he took it the wrong way and we started trading insults.
“He started screaming how he was going to kill me, but I didn’t take it seriously. That kind of talk happens all the time but no one means it.
“He left, then five minutes later he came storming back down the path to the park screaming, saying he was going to beat me up.
“I left my friends, walked over to him and said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything, I didn’t mean to make you this angry’.
“He just said it had gone past the time for apologies. Within five seconds he pulled out the knife and stabbed me in the side.
“I didn’t see it and thought he’d punched me. Then I looked down and saw a hole in my jacket and realised I’d been stabbed.
“I lay down and thought I was going to die. I thought of mum and my little sister Sky (12) and thought I’d never see them again and I started to cry.”
A quick-thinking passerby dialled 999 and an operator gave Shea’s friends instructions on how to stem the bleeding.
Shea drifted in and out of consciousness before being flown by air ambulance to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, where his ordeal was filmed for the Channel 4 documentary series.
Medics called his mother at 10.15pm, whose partner drove her to the hospital.
Mum-of-four Charmaine Sale, 44, a hairdresser, said: “It’s every mother’s worst nightmare.
“So many have died this year from knife wounds.
“When I got to St George’s I was taken to the family room. I was sitting there thinking, ‘Please don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me he’s dead’.
“I kept thinking how Shea was a mummy’s boy. He used to follow me around the house and he was always hanging off my leg, or he wanted picking up.
“When he got to 15 we were banging heads. I’d say one thing and he would just completely do what he liked.
“If I asked him a question he’d think he didn’t have to answer it.”
Any animosity disappeared when they were finally reunited around 1am, once Shea seemed stable.
Charmaine said: “There was a sense of relief on Shea’s face. He thought he’d never see me again.
“It was such a shock to see him. He didn't look like Shea, he was so pale and looked so unwell.
“My initial reaction was to panic. I just wished it was me lying in that bed and not him.
“But so many parents must come out of the family room having heard that their child has died, so I count myself lucky.”
Shea said: “When I saw mum again there was just a flood of emotions and it made me cry.
“It was one of the happiest moments of my life. But I felt so disappointed in myself for letting her down.”
Surrounded by beeping life support machines, Dr Rathan explained to Charmaine and Shea that the knife had gone straight through his liver, which was still haemorrhaging.
Injuries to the liver usually heal themselves, so no operation was planned, however Shea was moved to intensive care when his blood pressure dropped dangerously low.
Shea remained there for three days and left hospital after five, moving back to the family home.
It took six months to recover fully and during that time, he signed up to train as a football coach at an academy and is now studying hard.
“I’m trying to put it behind me but I wasn’t sleeping well for a while and I had counselling to help me cope,” he said.
“Everyone was amazing at the hospital, I can’t thank them enough.”
He added: “I think teenage boys need to stop being reckless and listen to their mums a bit more.”
The British teenager who stabbed Shea was 17 and can’t be named. He pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to four years in prison.
In London, 11 teenagers died from stab wounds over a two week period last month.
One of the attacks took place on a street in Battersea, where a 17-year-old was fatally injured.
24 Hours in A&E: Just Seventeen airs tonight (Wednesday) on Channel 4 at 9pm.