Two and a half years ago, Frédéric Roy was involved in a violent collision while cycling home from work.
“The car ahead of me just turned left at the last second,” Roy told Global News.
“My head slammed into the side,” he said. “I lost 12 teeth. My jaw just broke apart.”
Roy was taken to the Montreal General Hospital, and woke up in the ICU one week after the crash hooked up to various machines.
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Two and a half weeks after the accident, Roy was back home and training again.
“I was on my stationary bicycle getting back into shape,” he said, adding he didn’t want the crash to hold him back.
Roy credits the surgeons at the hospital’s Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic with helping him in his recovery and putting him back together — without having to take him apart.
“By some small miracle, the surgeons managed to reconstruct my jaw without having to graft bone from my leg or my shoulder blade,” he wrote on his fundraising website.
Now Roy is getting ready to take part in the upcoming Ironman triathlon in Mont-Tremblant Aug. 19. The race consists of a grueling 3.8 kilometre swim, followed by a 180-kilometre bike ride and a marathon run to finish.
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Roy says the triathlon is a chance for him to give back and help the doctors continue their work.
“The doctors, the dental surgeon from the Montreal General Hospital help people on a daily basis they are there in the toughest moment of your life trying to help you get back on your feet,” he said.
That’s why Roy started a fundraising campaign for the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic at Montreal General. He’s hoping to raise $5,000.
As of Monday morning, he was more than halfway there, having raised $3,525.
To learn more about Roy’s campaign and how the clinic is helping Montrealers, visit the Montreal General Hospital Foundation’s website.
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