AFTER days of preparing for the worst, a missing dementia sufferer’s nephew says being told his aunt was still alive was better than the birth of his children.
Maureen Fairbrass was found in a makeshift bed amidst brambles in an overgrown part of allotments in Sandford Road, Bromley, last Saturday (October 15).
She was very dehydrated and suffering from exposure to the cold and was taken to the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough, for treatment.
The 72-year-old woman had been missing since last Tuesday (October 11) when she wandered off while shopping with her husband in Waitrose, Masons Hill, Bromley.
Her family, including her son ex-Eastenders star Craig Fairbrass, and friends joined the police in an extensive search of the area but as every day passed their hopes of finding her alive quickly diminished.
Mrs Fairbrass’s nephew Michael Dixon said: “There’s no lower I have ever felt in my 40 years of being alive.
“Standing in a pitch black wood with an inspector and there are search dogs with bells on and it’s just the lowest of the low.
“When you heard a bark you think they have found a body and when you find nothing you wonder where this is going to go.
“The divers were ready to go to Norman Park.”
As well as every one of the 498 Bromley police officers, 123 special constables and 154 PCSOs tasked with finding Mrs Fairbrass the family had a large group of friends helping them.
Mr Dixon, of Minster Road, Bromley, said: “It’s amazing how people come together in times like this.
“Every day you saw the people and their faces got more and more serious and you had people searching to expect the worse.”
As the main contact between the family and the police Mr Dixon received the phone call to say his aunt had been found alive and he also got to pass on the news to his uncle.
He said: “It was better than winning the lottery and it was a better phone call telling my uncle.
“He was screaming and he went down on his knees.
“It was more beautiful than my children being born, it was a miracle.
“With the law of averages she should not be here but she survived because she’s a fighter.
“It’s incredible.”
“It affected everybody and the people of Bromley were amazing.
“And the police and the CID have gone beyond their duty.
“With the detectives it is like they became friends.
“They were absolutely amazing.”
He added: “On the Saturday morning there was a blue sky over Bromley and it was a storybook happy ending, it was a happy ever after.”
Mrs Fairbrass is expected to stay in hospital for the next few days.
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