‘I’m fine’: injured athlete snaps selfie on air ambulance chopper

WINNIPEG – A Winnipeg motocross athlete is recovering from a bruised pelvis after a race Sunday, but it’s not the crash that has people talking — it’s what she did when she was picked up by STARS Air Ambulance.

Ami Houde snapped a “selfie” — a smartphone self-portrait that’s become the social media signature of a generation. The image shows Houde strapped down in the back of the chopper wearing aviator’s headphones, giving a thumbs-up and sporting a big smile.

“I think attitude is everything and it’s always good to make light of a serious situation,” said Houde. “I wasn’t dying, I didn’t think anything was broken so … I thought it would be hilarious to take a selfie in a helicopter because not many people get a chance to do that.”

The 25-year-old hit a berm wrong in her first race of the season in Grunthal, Man., about 60 kilometres south Winnipeg. Though she is walking now and has no broken bones, the nature of her injuries at the time had emergency crews worried, so they called in STARS.

“She’d gone over her handlebars at a fairly high speed, hit her pelvis on her way over the handle bars,” said Jennifer Fosty, who was a nurse on the flight.

The selfie Houde took in the chopper has well over 1,000 likes on Instagram.

She’s not surprised.

“Motocross is like one big family. It’s a huge community so everybody knew that I crashed and wanted to make sure I was OK,” said Houde. “I just wanted to let them know I’m like, ‘Don’t worry guys, I’m fine.’ ”

The athlete is hoping to be back on the track next week so she’s ready to race in a Canadian national event in Calgary in two weeks.