Amputee to Outaouais crash victim: It gets better
Ottawa amputee sends words of hope to young Outaouais woman
Christine Caron has some heartfelt advice for Sabryna Mongeon, the young Outaouais woman who has undergone multiple amputations after a holiday car crash: “Hang on, it is going to get better.
“There are major hurdles and obstacles ahead. There are going to be good days and really bad days. But there is a community of support out there. Real people, groups, charities out here ready, when you are, to help you deal with or get around any challenges. There is life after amputations and you are not alone.”
Caron knows what she is talking about.
In 2013, a playful nip from one of her dogs left Caron with an extremely rare bacterial infection that almost killed her. As a result, her legs and one of her arms had to be amputated.
When she first began to appreciate the extent of the damage, Caron contemplated suicide, she says.
More than four years later, the Ottawa woman has rebuilt her life and become an outspoken advocate for other amputees. She speaks publicly about her experience and her resilience, and meets privately with those undergoing similar ordeals.
What began to turn her life around was a peer visit from a woman who had also undergone multiple amputations, the kind of visits Caron now makes.
But life isn’t always easy, she acknowledges, and she hopes both Mongeon and her family are ready for the coming months.
“There are hard days. I hope there is a net in place to catch this young lady on her bad days.”
Mongeon, 18, had been driving from her mother’s house in Luskville toward Gatineau on Christmas Eve when she lost control of her vehicle and hit a hydro pole. She was unhurt in the crash, but fearing a fire, she stepped out of the vehicle, touching a fallen, live power line.
The electrical shock “exploded” her left foot, according to her sister, Samantha. Mongeon then passed out and spent hours in the cold before a passerby found her and called 911.
She was sent from Gatineau Hospital to Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, where she has had her left leg amputated above the knee and lost her right foot. Her right arm was removed to the middle of the forearm, and on Friday she underwent additional surgery to remove her left arm above the elbow.
She is in an induced coma, from which she was awoken by doctors who asked her whether she wanted to undergo the amputations, which would save her life.
“Yes I want to live. I don’t want to die. I’m OK with the operation,” she told doctors. Her sister recounted the conversation to this newspaper’s Christian Paas-Lang.
A crowdfunding campaign in her name has now raised more than $100,000, which Mongeon’s sister says will help to pay for a wheelchair as well as an adapted vehicle and home.
When Caron read about Mongeon’s accident and subsequent amputations, she relived her own experiences.
“All I could say was, ‘Oh, my God.’ It just resonates with me.”
Caron recalls being skeptical when she was told by everyone from her doctor to family members that she would be fine and would even dance again.
“I was dying at the end of June and they were telling me at the beginning of July that I would be walking and dancing again. I thought: ‘You are just saying these nice things to keep me alive.’ I thought they were unrealistic.”
But then Caron met Cindy, a quadruple amputee working as a peer supporter, who walked into her room in a sundress.
“She had no legs, no hands. She went into her purse and pulled out her phone, she got herself something to drink.”
Caron was mesmerized, and for the first time she began to believe that she would be OK. “It was a game-changer.” It encouraged her not only to work on her recovery, but to strive to dance again, which she now does, among other things. On this year’s list — learn how to snowboard.
Not everyone is as lucky, she acknowledges. Caron acted as peer support for Sarah Jo Stott, a former Ottawa woman who lost her legs and fingers after being struck by a train in Montreal. Caron, who became close to Stott, said she is still recovering from her death in 2016.
Caron said her thoughts have been with Mongeon since she heard about her accident.
She has contacted the War Amps to see if they are arranging to have a peer visitor see her when she is well enough.
“She needs to talk to somebody who has had the same experience. She is going to be in shock. Her family is in shock.”