EDMONTON – It’s been a long road to recovery for 19-year-old Renaye Wade. Last March 15, she was in a car stalled on the Yellowhead, when it has hit by another vehicle and thrown into the path of a semi.
The crash left Wade in a coma for 34 days, with a brain injury few survive. Her broken pelvis, tailbone and jaw have since healed. But her brain injury continues to take a heavy toll. It’s impacted her speech, and stolen her memories from the last three years.
“Kind of sad…I worked 12 years to graduate, and I can’t remember graduation,” she said.
The 19-year-old is able to walk again, though. And this week, she paid a visit to the firefighters who were first at the scene of her crash.
“The last time your dad was here (a week after the crash) he said he wouldn’t come back until you walked in here,” one of the firefighters, Scott Mackee told her. “And we’re very happy to see that you’re here.”
The crew gave her and her parents a tour of the fire hall, even showing her the jaws of life that were used to peel the roof off her vehicle in order to be able to pull her out.
Firefighter Tyler Ryan still remembers arriving at the scene of the crash, and seeing her vehicle pretty much destroyed.
“A car like that, your heart rate goes up a bit faster when you realize how serious it is,” he said. “And when you see anyone in the car unconscious from the kind of impact…makes you work that much harder to get them out of the vehicle.”
A week after the rescue, he admits Wade’s condition didn’t sound too promising. So seeing her walk into the fire hall was “just an amazing experience.”
“To go from death’s door, basically, to…smiling, happy,” Mackee added. “There’s still a long road obviously. But to see her, how she is now, it’s touching and it tugs at you a bit.”
“You don’t often get to see the results of our work.”
Wade feels she owes a lot to the fire rescue team.
“They helped save my life,” the 19-year-old said. “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them.”
Once she’s out of the hospital, she hopes to go to school. Her dream is to become a lawyer and, one day, a judge.
She also plans to speak out against distracted driving; the driver who hit her faces related charges.
But for now, she’s taking it one step at a time, and is grateful for the support she’s received along the way.
“It means a lot to have so many people care.”
The Wades are hosting a party in their hometown of Mundare Saturday evening – the one year anniversary of the crash – to thank all those who have helped them over the past year.
With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News
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