Watch above: A Saskatoon woman who dove into the path of a moving vehicle to save children from the collision survived after being hit herself. As Calvin To tells us, it happened on a Friday the 13th and has caused a superstition she carries with her today.
SASKATOON – For the superstitious, Friday the 13th is a day to hunker down with little explanation. One woman has a good reason to believe in bad luck on such a day.
Carmen Schick may be walking fine now, but she’s come a long way in her rehabilitation.
“I think it was almost a year after I got out of the hospital before I was able to live somewhat on my own,” said Schick.
Thirteen years ago on Friday the 13th, 2001, she was rushed to hospital after being hit by a half-ton truck. It happened outside an Extra Foods grocery store at 22nd Street and Avenue W in Saskatoon.
She saved the lives of two children that day, pushing them out of the way of a vehicle that didn’t stop.
Schick would later be awarded the Governor General’s medal of bravery but her act of heroism had a toll. The accident put her in a coma for eight weeks and in every respect, she was lucky to have survived.
“All my ribs but two were broken. My right arm was broke once, my left arm was broke twice. Lots of internal injuries,” said Schick.
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Up until then, Friday the 13th meant nothing to her, but that’s not the case now.
“Afterwards I would go through the calendar and mark every Friday the 13th. I wouldn’t leave my home,” said Schick.
While Schick’s case was extreme, there are many people around the world who, on the Friday the 13th, change their plans all because of the belief that there is something inherently wrong with this date, while others disagree.
“Just another day … just another day for me,” said one Saskatoon resident on Friday.
But Schick says that on Friday the 13th, “I’m going to stay home,” with a smile.
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