EDMONTON – An Edmonton father is crediting a stranger for saving his life following what was one of dozens of crashes on the QEII south of Edmonton, during last Thursday’s treacherous snow storm.
Rob Patenaude was among 102 people wounded in the pileup north of the Highway 13 overpass near Wetaskiwin. His injuries were the most severe.
Patenaude, a professional driver, was behind the wheel of a flat bed truck at the time of his crash. He and the semi-truck in front of him were both trying to change lanes to avoid hitting a vehicle that was starting to swerve on the icy road. Patenaude says that he was in the process of shoulder checking, when the driver in front of him stopped.
“I knew as soon as I saw it I was going to hit. I knew as soon as I saw it. There was nothing I could do.”
His left leg shattered in the impact of the crash. A pick-up then slammed into Patenaude’s truck from behind, breaking his right leg.
He said he didn’t feel any pain until he looked down and saw the bone coming out of his leg. The driver that he hit, Tim, immediately came to his rescue.
“Hell of a guy,” Patenaude says before choking up. “He kept pressure on my wound through the entire hour and a half I was there, and uh, we talked about a lot of stuff,” he adds, his lip trembling.
“You know, without him, I wouldn’t be with my wife and kids.”
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As Patenaude thought of his friends and family, particularly his wife and three-month-old son, he says Tim kept asking him questions to keep him from fainting. All along, Patenaude could hear the crashes happening behind them.
“Every single one. Everyone’s horns, everyone’s yelling, screaming for help,” he says, tearing up again.
While the memories are painful, his focus is now on recovery, and living life to the fullest.
“Live every day as much as you could,” he says. “Don’t let one moment pass.”
He also plans on returning to his career as a professional driver, and would like to personally shake Tim’s hand when he gets out of the hospital. Doctors believe that could take another four to six weeks.
You can watch Patenaude’s full unedited interview with Global News below:
With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News
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