Brooke Deschenes was hit by a dump truck and is finding grace in the aftermath of that trauma.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Ken Boyd
June 08, 2020 - 3:30 PM
Brooke Deschenes is lucky to be alive.
The Kelowna woman was riding her bike down Harvey Avenue, near Richter, June 4 when a dump truck turned right, knocked her from her bike and ran her over.
“The truck did not see her… she went right under the wheel and her lower extremities on her right side were crushed,” Ken Boyd, a close friend, said today June 8.
“Her kneecap, hip, and her pelvis were broken and the skin was pulled from the bone, from the top of the buttocks to her (inner hip.)”
The damage was severe. Deschenes lost a lot of blood but was strong enough to go through multiple surgeries.
The first was six hours. Another more significant surgery will follow next week.
Through it all, the 38-year-old mother of a young son maintained strength and grace that floors Boyd.
“She calls me every day, and says things like ‘I have lamb marinating in the fridge,’ or ‘can you pick up my dog?’” he said, laughing. “She even said she’d like to have a Caesar if you can believe it.”
She’s also been focused on finding the paramedic who was with her in the immediate aftermath because it was important to her to give her thanks.
Sunday, her friend went on social media and made a call to locate the man who helped her and in short order the two connected.
A paramedic named Mark identified himself to her and Boyd said she told him how grateful she was to have him there, and that he gave her the push she needed to “survive the trauma” of the collision.
She told him that the staff at the hospital are shocked by how well she is doing and that in part is due to his intervention.
When she’s released, she’d like to speak with him in person.
Brooke works at a local bank, but her longterm care won’t be covered by her insurance alone.
Boyd is asking that the community help pull her through and he’s created a GoFundMe to help in that aim.
"I asked for $5,000,” Boyd said. “Her longterm care is going to take more than just benefits from work. She will need someone to help her cook and clean, she has a dog, and will need help with her son, he’s not going to be able to do a whole lot.”
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