Sophie

 

Ok, this post is really difficult.

Our friend Sophie had a significant and near fatal crash on the #2 highway in New Brunswick, around 25 kilometres before the three of us were able to make it to Moncton.  Her trip across Canada ended immediately.

At the time of this writing, she is currently home in Vancouver awaiting entry into a rehab program to help her recover from a serious head trauma and regain the use of her leg. 

We will update here as her status improves.  

We are not sure what she swerved to avoid, if anything, but she wobbled and lost control of the bike as we crested a hill riding at 25-26kph.  Her head hit the pavement violently and she was motionless and in serious trouble.  

Sherrie called 911 while Andrew kept her breathing on the road. A passing driver, Martin, stopped his truck in the highway to protect us and directed traffic around. An ER nurse on her way to work, and an off duty EMT stopped to help move her off the highway. Police and Ambulance arrived in about 20 minutes, which felt like a full lifetime.  

Martin drove us and the bikes to the hotel, while the ambulance took Sophie to the hospital. She had managed to say a few words to the medical team by that point, and had regained semi-consciousness, but we were not sure of her status as they pulled away.  

She was in the scanner when we got to the hospital. We waited a few hours before they let us see her. The nurse explained that she had some brain bleeding and was being carefully observed before further scanning.   

Sophie was alert and all smiles when we walked in.  Unbelievable.  The tough cookie could not move her leg and had to be helped around by the nurses, but she did not show the tiniest disappointment or self pity and was already chewing on her recovery. Her sense of humour was fully intact.    

"Why in fucking New Brunswick?" She said with her sneaky-sweet comical delivery.   

The emergency staff on the highway and at the hospital were exceptional. A number of circumstances contributed to our being there on the highway with her when she crashed, as well as Martin and several others who stopped to help, but there is not a shadow of doubt that she is alive because she was wearing a well fitted high quality helmet.  

Let me repeat that:

Sophie survived the crash because she was wearing a helmet.  Full Stop. 

The helmet was a Smith brand, and a model that provided full coverage around the base of the skull.  She was wearing it well strapped and it remained perfectly in place to absorb enough of the impact to save her life. 

For the record, Sophie is a very good rider.  She rode a fully loaded bicycle from Vancouver to the Atlantic Ocean. A crash like this can happen to any of us.  

Please wear your helmet every time you ride.     

Sophie's Father and Mother arrived in Moncton the next morning and were at the hospital with her in less than 24 hours.  It is a somber and jarring experience to find oneself in an emergency room on the other side of the country where someone you love is being treated for an unexpected major injury.  All else ceases to exist in those hours and days.    

With immediate family now on hand at the hospital, we headed to Martin's to collect our bikes and continue our trip, without Sophie.  

It was a strange and otherworldly experience to be back on the highway.  Every pebble or crack in the pavement loomed large and made riding slow and laboured.  I'm not sure if either of us took a full breath for the long afternoon it took us to get to Shediac. We tried to enjoy a beer and some fish n chips in the very sweet touristic town, but the experience is a bit of a haze and our minds were not connecting with the moment. We had made it to the Atlantic Ocean, but we hardly cared.     

As the sun set we found a secluded wild camp spot along the North coast of Acadian New Brunswick, between a couple of villages.  It is very pretty through here, we wish we could have enjoyed it.  

Tomorrow we'll be on PEI and we have no choice but to move on.      

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