A 27-year-old mother of three was crushed by a falling tree while camping in Alberta in July. She managed to save her daughters and niece from injury, but was paralyzed by the blow.
The wind picked up during the family camping trip on July 3 and Jessica Dicks heard a loud crack. One thing raced through her mind.
“Get to the girls.”
After that, her mind went dark. Her next memory is waking up in a hospital bed.
Dicks suffered a severe spinal injury to her T5 vertebrae, several fractures, multiple broken ribs, a crushed sternum, a collapsed lung and a large gash on her neck that needed 20 staples. Eleven days after she was admitted, neurosurgeons installed rods and screws in her back to support the T5 vertebrae. She was in an induced coma for three weeks.
“My T5 vertebrae is a burst fracture and it’s completely severed,” Dicks said. “The doctors say I’ll never walk again.”
“I think it was probably explained to me 100 times before I got it,” she said. “I was in and out of sedation and… it’s a lot to get.”
Despite her extensive injuries and the long road ahead, this young mother says she’d do it all again.
“If that tree did what it did to me as a full-grown adult, I can’t imagine what it would have done to one of them,” Dicks said.
“I would rather be in this chair doing recovery than in a normal chair watching one of my babies in a hospital bed. That would be unbearable. This is tolerable. I can live with this.”
Her daughters – aged six, four and 10 months – also visit. The eldest calls her mom a hero.
“It’s weird to be called a hero, to be called a lifesaver,” Dicks said. “I know why I did what I did. It’s hard to remember…but I know why I did. I think any mother would do it and I would do it again if I had to.”
It’s been six weeks since the accident. Dicks’ partner has been by her side every single day.
“He’s been amazing. More amazing than I thought anybody could be…He’s loyal and more loving than I ever thought. I’m sure that it’s been hard for him to watch.”
Dicks has since been moved out of the ICU. She no longer requires respiratory assistance nor a feeding tube.
She doesn’t know where she’d be without the support of her family.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do anything without their help, their love and positive vibes.”
She’s started doing physiotherapy and is now waiting for a spot at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. It will still be months until she will be able to go home.
“I’m kind of worried about chasing after all my kids in a wheelchair,” Dicks admitted, “and how I’m going to be able to afford everything I’m going to need to get through a day.”
But it’s her kids that keep her strong.
“I have to get out of here so I can get back to them.”
A Help For Jess Facebook page has been created to provide updates on her recovery and a PlumFund account has also been set up to help support the family.
“My life was perfect before this,” the young mother said. “We lived in a nice house, we had awesome kids.”
“I want people to pay attention to their surroundings, wherever they are, all the time, especially if you have kids running around. Just look around.”
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