‘Daddy, don’t be mad,’ said girl who lost leg
‘Resilient’ Khelyse, 8, on the road to rehabilitation after horrific train accident
“It’s one day at a time for our family.” IVAN KASULE Khelyse’s father
The situation was horrific: Two train cars had just run over, crushed and severed her little leg.
But foremost on Khelyse Crowe-Kasule’s mind was how her dad would react when he found her critically injured on the track just west of Gage Park.
“When I found her, it was really bad and her first words to me were, ‘Daddy, please don’t be mad at me and please don’t hate me,’” Ivan Kasule recalled.
“All I could do is hold her and try to comfort her as she held her severed leg until the help came.”
A quick-thinking police officer was credited for helping save Khelyse’s life by wrapping her leg in a tourniquet before paramedics arrived to rush her hospital. That was April 5.
Khelyse, 8, lost a part of her lower right leg. She has since been discharged from hospital but continues to undergo treatment on the road to rehabilitation.
“It’s one day at a time for our family,” Kasule told The Spectator.
An online fundraiser for Khelyse’s care had reached about $21,300 of its $25,000 goal as of Friday afternoon.
In one photo on the GoFundMe page, a smiling Khelyse sits on the bottom bunk of her bed, giving a double thumbs-up sign. The top bunk is crowded with stuffed animals. The stump of her right leg is wrapped in a green bandage. A walker is parked nearby.
Overwhelmed in the aftermath, Khelyse’s family declined to be interviewed in person or over the phone, only providing brief statements via social media. Kasule referred additional comment to personal injury lawyer Darcy Merkur.
Merkur said Khelyse had been playing with friends near Balsam Avenue South between Cumberland and Maplewood avenues before the accident. An alley leads to a vacant property with easy access to the rail line. At the time, the only barrier was a decrepit, trampled fence.
The kids saw the train stopped on the track and approached it. When it started moving again, Merkur said. “I think she was startled by the sudden movement and tripped.”
Merkur noted the family hasn’t yet filed a statement of claim but said he’s exploring who should be responsible for maintaining a proper barrier along the Canadian Pacific Railway Inc. line.
“It’s a very dangerous situation, especially when you’re taking about kids this age.”
Transport Canada says railways are responsible for the safety of infrastructure, equipment and operations under the Railway Safety Act. However, that doesn’t include fencing specifically.
Hamilton police have concluded an investigation into the accident, Const. Lorraine Edwards said this week.
“The train was travelling a very, very minimal speed. They were unaware that there were children on the track or even that anyone had been injured.”
Edwards referred additional questions about the train’s movements to CPR, which is conducting its own investigation.
A CPR spokesperson said the probe is still underway but didn’t provide details.
In the meantime, Khelyse and her family are trying to come to terms with their future, Merkur said.
“The family’s strong; they’re very determined.”
So is Khelyse, he added, calling her “extremely resilient” despite coping with excruciating pain. “She’ll fight through this. It will take some determination.”
Her father also has faith in her.
“For better or for worse, Khelyse has always shown an incredible sense of will and determination even at an early age. And in this crisis, Khelyse did not disappoint; she orchestrated her own rescue,” Kasule wrote in a Facebook post recalling her grit after the accident.
She “politely” yelled at a woman on her balcony, gave her his phone number and asked her to call 911. Then, she dispatched two friends to get help and asked her other friend to “hold her hand so she didn’t bleed out and die alone.”
Robert Larman, who lost a part of his leg in a train accident when he was 14, says a positive attitude is crucial for recovery.
“I like to describe it as little like a long and winding road, but with the right attitude, the road straightens,” said Larman, 54, who’s a director with The War Amps.
Children are generally resilient and rebound quickly, but because young amputees are still growing, they can expect to undergo adjustments as they outgrow artificial limbs, he said.
The War Amps says on its website amputees must pay “thousands of dollars out of pocket” for proper artificial limbs due to a gap in Ontario coverage.
Larman said at first, he was “angry at the world,” but eventually resumed playing lacrosse and even took up downhill skiing.
“I can do anything. If there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Ten days after her discharge from McMaster Children’s Hospital, Khelyse faced a setback: a fever and elevated heart rate.
Antibiotics were needed to fight the infection and more surgeries were ahead, noted an update posted to the GoFundMe page about a month ago.
Kasule has a long list of people to thank, including medical professionals who’ve helped his daughter; those who provided nursing care, physiotherapy sessions and social work visits.
Moreover, he acknowledges family and friends, complete strangers who’ve come through with unsolicited acts of kindness.
“As tragic as the situation has been, I have also seen incredible kindness in people and humanity.”