‘Lucky to be here’
Woman struck at Sydney bus stop remains positive despite injuries
Angelique Swann is well aware of how pointing out the positives of her situation may look from the outside looking in.
It doesn’t change her perspective, though.
Swann was badly injured on Jan. 11 when a car barreled though a bus stop on St. Peter’s Road where she was standing with her daughter.
The out-of-control vehicle hit her perhaps more than once and sent her body flying across a nearby lawn, causing numerous and serious injuries.
“I’ve been told by so many people that I’m lucky to be here and lucky to be still walking,” she said in an interview from her home.
“Not only that, my daughter is still here and we have had an incredible amount of support and have just been shown so much love and compassion.”
Though she did not see the car coming, others have said she pushed her five-year-old daughter away from the collision. She was conscious throughout the entire ordeal.
“I was hit and thrown and the car was still coming so I was hit again. I feel like I was tumbled along or pushed along but I remember coaching myself through and telling myself ‘I’m still OK and can still move my toes, I still know who I am.’”
The bus stop where she was hit is routinely filled with children, including six from her street alone.
The collision occurred where the children usually stand, so Swann is thankful only she was hit.
“Better me than them,” she said. “I am in pain, I have to sit in this chair day and night but it is not going to be forever. It’s so much better than the alternative.”
The instant she realized she was OK on that fateful day, her concern turned to her daughter Stella.
“My neighbour, who was there, told me my daughter was OK and was going to be looked after. That’s when I heard my little dog under the car give his last little whimper. That was the realization that he didn’t make it.”
Link was a rescue dog they brought to their family only months before. Despite being a new addition, he quickly made his mark on them.
“We named him Link because he was the missing link from our family,” she said. “He was perfect for our family — an older dog and every day we just rejoiced at how perfect he was. He brought so much love to our family and he was loved so much every day.”
In addition to dealing with the loss of a beloved family pet, her injuries are many.
There’s a skull fracture and broken ribs and muscle and tissue damage in her legs. Four broken vertebrae and other bones in the neck area are among her other injuries.
“It’s very painful and one of the doctors did prepare me for this,” she said.
“It’s been kind of up and down. He told me it wouldn’t be a linear healing, it would be up and down and all over the place and that’s exactly what I am experiencing.”
She wakes up some days and her pain is manageable, as long as she takes her medicine.
Other days the medicine doesn’t help.
For the most part, she’s been treated in Cape Breton with the exception of one visit to Halifax. She must return to Halifax for further assessment in the coming weeks.
“It does suck to be in pain every day and not be able to do the things I’ve normally done but it could have been so much worse and it is hard to stay stuck in frustration when you are feeling happy to be here and feeling the love from everybody.”
Sending the love have been people she doesn’t even know, in addition to friends including those living in the Northwest Territories who have set up a Go Fund Me campaign to help with countless accident-related expenses.
Food, positive energy, money, cars to take them to hospital and even house cleanings are among the many other offers.
There’s also a benefit dance and auction scheduled to take place on Feb. 17 at the Royal Canadian Legion branch 12 on Dorchester Street.
It’s these types of offers that reinforce her positive outlook on life — an outlook that even means no resentment towards the people in the car that hit her.
“I really do wish them well. I really hope that this experience maybe makes them better people at the end of it,” she said.
“I have heard from a friend of the girl who was driving. It was awesome to hear from
her. Hopefully, she read my response. I just want her to love herself through it the best
she can.”