WATCH ABOVE: He was dragged by a train and lost his legs, but as Su-Ling Goh tells us, Adam Knox has certainly not lost his incredible spirit.
EDMONTON — On Christmas Day, 2012, Adam Knox posted a cheerful message to his Facebook page: “Merry Christmas, everyone! A 12-hour shift in -30 weather… but still have to make the most of it!” He had no idea it would be his last day on the job.
One hour later, the then-20-year-old left for work with A & B Rail Services. He and two other workers were using snow blowers to clear some train tracks in northeast Edmonton. All three were wearing ear protection. They did not hear the train barrelling toward them.
“When (the train) hit me from behind it pulled me under and off to the side, and it dragged me 165 feet by my right foot.”
Of the the three men hit, Adam’s injuries were the most severe.
READ MORE: Three rail workers hit by train in northeast Edmonton
He remembers waking up in a snow bank, covered in blood and calmly asking a police officer to call his mother. When Lori Hamm arrived at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, she was escorted to a tiny room where a doctor sat on the floor in front of her.
“‘(Your son) has shrapnel in his forehead and it’s gone through his skull,'” Lori remembers the doctor saying. “‘We don’t know if there’s going to be any brain damage.'”
“‘We don’t know if he’s going to survive the next 24 hours.'”
When she finally saw her son, “I leaned over into (Adam’s) ear and I said, ‘You need to really pull through this for me. Because I can’t live without you.'”
Besides the head injuries, Adam had a punctured lung, a shattered left leg and a crushed right foot. Over the next few days, family flew in from Ontario to be by his bedside. When Adam came out of his induced coma, his father broke the news.
“(My dad) was like, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but you lost your right leg,'” Adam recalls.
“He started crying. And I looked at him, like ‘Dad, it’s ok.’ And he said, ‘What do you mean?’ I was like, ‘Dad, I’m still alive.'”
At first, surgeons thought they could save Adam’s left leg. But five months later, they amputated that too. Because his right knee is now about six inches lower than his left, physical therapists at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital figured it might take years for him to walk on prosthetics. Yet Adam took a few steps the first time he tried.
“I almost started crying,” says Adam, smiling. “But I knew if I would, I’d have to sit down… I wanted to stay up and walk.”
“He’s my hero,” his mother adds. “He’s got so much humour and life in him that he affects everybody around him.”
Adam’s rehab team at the Glenrose says his unwavering positive attitude and determination have had a wonderful influence on other patients. He readily shares his story, offering words of encouragement.
READ MORE: Poor training led to accident that seriously hurt Edmonton rail workers
He’s spoken at safety-related and charity events, even donating $1,000 to the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation to help fund an exoskeleton for people with paraplegia.
“I hope that I can help other people see that life isn’t over. It may seem like it is, but it’s not. It’s what you make of it.”
Adam says he would be nowhere without the support of his girlfriend, friends and family. His twin brother Andrew has helped him retain his sense of humour.
A few days after the accident, on their 21st birthday, Andrew gave Adam a toy license plate inscribed with two words: Train Killer.
“The joke was, ‘You think I look bad, you should see the train.'”
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