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The miracle called Sid Gold! |
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At the tail end
of 2007, one of Dial-a-Cab’s longest-ever serving
drivers, Sid Gold (ex-E20), finally called it a day
having been a driver with the Society for 42 years. At 86, Sid
was already London’s oldest driver and although he regularly
passed his PCO medicals with flying colours, he decided that
driving a radio taxi carried too much responsibility for someone
of his advanced years. As he walked out of the doors at East
Road for the last time, he told Call Sign: "Dial-a-Cab has been a big part of my life and I am so sad to let it go, but that time had to come one day. I still go out occasionally to work the streets, so I won’t starve!" Sid began driving in 1939, but never passed a test as there were none then. During the war, he was in the RAF - although he never flew a plane. He went onto the Knowledge in the early 1960s and came to DaC in 1965 under the Chairmanship of the late Jack Russell. In 2003, we thought he showed what he was made of when at the age of 82 he was left lying on the floor after two yobs – one of whom held a gun to Sid’s head – attempted to rob him of his takings. He refused, the two thugs gave up and Sid was back at work the following night! But we knew absolutely nothing. The Sid Gold miracle hadn’t even got off the ground yet! Read on to see what this man is made of... On 8 October, Sid’s son Larry gave Call Sign the sad news that his father was close to dying. He had been taken into hospital due to excessive water retention, as he hadn’t taken his water tablets following too much peeing. It was considered a minor problem, but a few short days later Sid collapsed in the ward with a cardiac arrest. He was dead for 10 minutes, but with a final attempt doctors finally brought Sid back to life. Larry was told to expect brain damage in his father due to the excessive time that his heart had stopped. Sid was still unconscious and put onto a ventilator. His condition was described as very bad and medical opinion suggested that even if a miracle happened and his heart (and kidneys) recovered, he could be facing the future as a vegetable. But they hadn’t had Sid Gold for 42 years as Dial-a-Cab had. Miracles are commonplace for him! Several days later and Sid had pulled completely round. His tubes were taken away and he walked unaided to the shower – but not before asking one of the younger nurses if she could help wash his back! However, his looks belied him and his medical team discovered a leaky valve in his heart. Larry was advised to stay for the night, as Sid wasn’t quite as well as he looked. But he pulled through once again. Then following further tests, three badly |
 clogged
arteries in his heart were discovered. The only real option for
that is open-heart surgery. But at 88 years of age? Miracle man
Sid told Larry not to worry, but his son feared the worse purely
because of his dad’s advanced years. The surgical team weren’t
too sure either, but went ahead because of the incredible
strength of Sid. There was concern about possible post-op
complications, but without the op it would probably be curtains
even for a miracle man.He was moved to Barts, but the op was delayed when Sid was diagnosed with angina. Tests showed it wasn’t too bad although they did show Sid to be slightly anaemic and he was given a blood transfusion. Then around six weeks after being admitted, Sid underwent the by-pass and an op to repair a leaky Mitral valve. It was deemed a success by astonished surgeons who couldn’t believe what an 88 year old man could go through – especially as to all intents and purposes, Sid had died once already. Sid was recovering as well as can be expected, but his ordeal wasn’t yet over. His heart rate began dropping to 30 beats per minute and there was talk of a pacemaker. Sid came round and unsurprisingly was very depressed, but soon cheered up when he saw that the nurses had taken to him. Well, they hadn’t seen many real miracle men in the ward! In fact, the nurse looking after him in ICU told Larry that when she saw Sid's date of birth, she couldn't believe it. She thought he was in his early 70's and added that she had seen much younger guys looking in worse shape after heart ops! Sid isn't out of the woods yet, but having now survived a cardiac arrest with ten minutes not breathing and a major heart op, there isn’t much left that he needs to be afraid of! He recently underwent a minor op to successfully have a pacemaker fitted and is now talking about a return to taxi driving! Even for a miracle man, that might not be such a good idea! However, we have no doubt that if he wanted to, he could! Son Larry told Call Sign: "If I could be half the man my dad is, I would be very happy. He truly is one in a billion." From everyone at Dial-a-Cab and Call Sign, our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mr Miracle man, Sid Gold... |
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