The mother of a 26-year-old man who spent more than 12 hours in the freezing cold in an overturned car along a northern Alberta highway on Christmas night says her son has a long road to recovery but she’s just happy he’s alive.
“He’s sore. He’s laying flat in a bed but he’s in high spirits,” Berneice Walker said Friday. “He’s a tough boy. He’s going to get better. He’s going to get out of that bed and come home.”
At around 5 p.m. on Christmas Day, Berneice’s son Michael Walker left their home in Eureka River to head to his aunt’s house in Debolt, Alta, which is about 60 kilometres east of Grande Prairie. It’s about a two-hour drive, one Berneice said her son is very familiar with. When she didn’t hear from her son about two hours later she began to worry.
“We’re real close, all of us. We keep in touch. If the kids are going somewhere they have to text me or call me, let me know they arrived,” Berneice said.
“I called and text and nothing. No answer back.”
Berneice called her sister who said she also hadn’t heard from Michael so the family set out to look for him. Berneice and her daughter set out from Eureka River while her nephew set out from the other end . They drove the highway for hours searching for Michael with no sight of him.
“We spent probably about four hours, four and a half hours total. My cousin Justin was out until 2 in the morning looking for him,” Michael’s sister, Delainah Velichka, said.
Trying to think of any way to reach him, Velichka wrote a post on Facebook about Michael’s disappearance. She said a friend of his from high school was heading home in that direction and said she would keep an eye out for his vehicle.
It was about 7:30 a.m. on Boxing Day when the friend found Michael’s car.
“He waited for 13 hours in a car in a ravine upside down,” Berneice said.
READ MORE: Man trapped for 12 hours in freezing cold after rolling car near Grande Prairie
Berneice said her son used his good instincts to stay alive. He covered himself up in clothes he got that morning for Christmas in hopes of staying warm through the frigid night, as temperatures plunged well below -20 C.
“He took his clothes out, covered his legs and tried to pull them on and put a couple sweaters on himself,” she explained. “He stayed in the car because he knew that if he blew the window out it would get colder. And he knew he couldn’t move because his back was sore. His leg was broken because he saw it was flopping. He knew he couldn’t get out.
“He just uses his head. He doesn’t panic, he thinks things through. He’s just a good kid.”
Michael was flown by STARS to hospital in Grande Prairie and transferred to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton where he remained Friday. While he has a long road ahead of him, Berneice said her son is determined to get better.
“He’s in a lot of pain but he’s really optimistic. He’s happy that he gets this chance again. He smiles through the pain. It gets pretty bad but he still smiles,” Velichka said.
“He knows he’s going to walk, he knows he’s going to have a good life. He’s working hard to get out of the bed and take those first steps,” Berneice said.
“This is definitely our Christmas miracle. We couldn’t have asked for anything else. Just him coming home so we could hug him. It’s all we wanted. We got our miracle.”
Michael’s family said they aren’t sure how long he will remain in hospital.
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