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Portage la Prairie, Man. teenager severely injured in Asessippi Ski Resort accident

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Manitoba teenager severely injured in Asessippi Ski Resort accident
Global's Marney Blunt reports on a teen from Portage la Prairie who was severely injured after crashing while skiing at Asessippi Ski Resort last week – Feb 4, 2020

A Portage la Prairie, Man. teenager has been left with severe injuries after crashing while skiing at Asessippi Ski Resort last week.

Callie Wiebe, 14, was skiing for the first time with her church youth group on Friday. Her father says she was on the last run of the day when they believe she lost control and hit a warm-up shack.

“When her sister had got to the bottom, Callie wasn’t there,” Jonathon Wiebe, Callie’s father, told Global News.

“So she told one of the group leaders and told ski patrol and they found her.”

Wiebe received a phone call that no parent wants to get.

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“You go into survival mode,” Wiebe said. “’We’re going to deal with this, we’ll deal with the emotions later.’ You try to be strong for your child and your family.”

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Callie, a Grade 9 student at Westpark High School in Portage la Prairie, was taken by ambulance to Russell and then Brandon, before being transported to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg by STARS Air Ambulance.

Her father says her injuries are extensive.

“[She has] skull fractures [to] her eyes, and then a skull fracture at the back of her head, a broken bone by her thumb, and internally there’s a lacerated spleen, lacerated kidney, and they’re monitoring that and then they did another CT scan the other day and now they found out her pancreas is damaged as well,” he said.

He says Callie is on heavy pain medication but can communicate a bit with her parents.

“She can [communicate] to give a sentence or an emotional response. One sentence tires her out,” Wiebe said.
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“So it’s more like yes or no questions. She can either nod to say yes or no.”

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Callie was wearing a helmet when she crashed.

“She was wearing a helmet, and there was a couple holes that had punctured the helmet, so who knows what that saved her from,” her dad said.

He also says they’ve been overwhelmed by the support from family and friends. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with travel and other expenses.

Asessippi Ski Resort says they’re conducting a thorough review and investigation of the incident, and hope to be in touch with the family soon.

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