Back on track
Officer paralyzed in accident says he had to learn how to live again
Retired RNC Const. Aiden Kenny didn’t realize how difficult it would be to get his life back after he almost lost it in a car accident in 1987.
Kenny was on his way home from playing golf in Terra Nova when a woman died from a heart attack behind the wheel of her car. It ended up in Kenny’s lane and crashed into his vehicle.
“I almost didn’t make it,” he said of that fateful day in June.
“I was paralyzed from the chest down. It changed my life forever,” Kenny told The Telegram Friday.
“No more golfing. No more basketball. No more hockey. Basically, I had to learn how to live all over again,” said the 53-yearold.
As his life hung in the balance 27 years ago, his wife, Jeanette, waited at a hospital in St. John’s as Kenny was transported from the accident scene in an ambulance.
“I remember it very clearly. A day I’ll never forget,” Jeanette recalled.
She said that day her sixth sense kicked in and she felt something was wrong with her husband.
When she got home from work her suspicions were confirmed.
“I saw a police car in the driveway. When I got to the hospital I asked if he was alive, but all they would say is he is on his way,” she said.
“They wouldn’t tell me because they didn’t know if he was going to make it. It was touch and go for a while,” said Jeanette.
But through hard work and determination, her husband was back in uniform in less than a year, she said.
“Yes my life completely changed,” said Kenny.
“But you either adapt and learn to change with it or you drive yourself crazy. I chose to adapt and it got me this far,” he said.
Having been confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, Kenny found the use of an accessible van increased his independence. However, after driving the same one for the past 12 years it finally gave out in December and couldn’t be repaired.
To replace it was beyond his and Jeannette’s financial reach.
When officers got wind that one of their own needed a helping hand, RNC Veterans’ Association president (Rtd.) Sgt. Bob Escott said it didn’t take long for their camaraderie to kick in.
An association breakfast, a fundraising Facebook page, and a big party and silent auction was all it took.
“In six weeks we raised more than $47,000,” said Escott. “Never in a million years did we think we’d raise enough money to buy a van, especially not in this short time,” he said Friday after handing Kenny the keys to his new accessible van.
Before taking ownership, outside RNC headquarters at Fort Townshend, Kenny thanked everyone for their efforts.
“You have not only given me a means of transportation, you have given me my life back, which is priceless,” he said.
“But you either adapt and learn to change with it or you drive yourself crazy. I chose to adapt and it got me this far.” Retired RNC officer Aiden Kenny