EDMONTON – Clarice Cardinal-Anderson was finishing an evening jog on May 30, when she was struck by not one, but two vehicles that had collided in north Edmonton. One of the the cars hit the new mother, sending her flying into the air. When she landed, the other vehicle – an SUV – ran her over.
The 37 year-old’s body was “shattered.” Her wrist was broken in half, nearly all her ribs were broken, her liver and pancreas lacerated, several teeth knocked loose, she was bleeding from the mouth, and road rash covered most of her body. When her husband arrived at the scene, paramedics wouldn’t even let him get in the ambulance without first preparing him for what he would see.
“She’s so strong and to see her so broken was the shock of my life,” Aaron Paquette recalls tearfully.
As his wife lay broken and bruised in hospital, tubes coming out of her mouth, Paquette wrote a message on Facebook to his family and friends about what had happened to his “dear wife.”
“…Backtracking events leads us to the road snaking through our neighbourhood (she was only a few blocks from home), and a yield sign that was mostly ignored.
A car and an SUV had a contest of who could be more impatient, or who could text best while driving. Exactly what was going on in the two drivers’ minds I doubt we’ll ever know. But lack of concern, lack of precaution led to the accident. That we do know…“
The words he wrote have since been shared by more than 70,000 people and counting. And while Paquette would have every right to be angry at what happened to his wife, he says he’s not.
“We’ve all been that driver,” he explains. “We’ve all looked at the radio to change the station, we’ve all been talking to a friend and looking over at a face they were making. We’ve all – at one point or another, took a quick glance at our phone if we were running late – it can happen so easily – in the blink of an eye.”
The consequence of it happening to his wife, however, is that the avid runner will probably not be able to run again. It may also be awhile before she will be strong enough to hold her baby boy, Liam. She is on the road to recovery, though. A road that will likely be a long and painful one.
“A lot of tears, a lot of pain. All the pain she suffered in the accident will pale in comparison to the rehabilitation,” her husband believes.
But he’s just glad that she’s alive, and grateful for all the prayers from around the world that helped them through some of their darkest hours.
He hopes that what his family is going through will encourage drivers to slow down, and by doing so, perhaps save a life.
“We live in a city where it’s go, go, go all the time. But sometimes we forget that not everything is an emergency. Sometimes it’s ok if you’re 10 minutes late. I would trade 10 minutes for the life of a pedestrian, for the mother of a child, for the son of grieving parents, wouldn’t you?”
With files from Laurel Clark, Global News
Comments