Twenty years ago, if you had asked me to write a story — on any subject, real or imaginary — I could have produced one in no time!
Today, 15 years after the road accident that nearly took my life outside Québec City, I find the exercise difficult. Me… The born writer and teller of tales! But the truth of the matter is this: I am no longer the man I used to be.
I turn over the facts of what happened as best as I can. There is a period of several weeks, including three weeks spent in a coma, which I cannot recall. Without even being aware of it, I was as good as dead and yet in retrospect, I understand now that it was actually a rebirth. Ironically, in the past, I was always teased for being the “life of the party”. Somehow, this is once again true.
Having always been independent, I gradually learned to accept the help of others, to have my hand held to take a few simple steps. Turns out I could not recover my high spirits, I could not “readapt”, without those others. At the time, this was a hard thing to admit, a harder thing to do, but throughout the triumphant joys and occasional disappointments, I believed that I could build again after such a narrow escape.
I remember the numerous treatments that I received daily received, based on disciplines as varied as they were unknown to me. I remember being surrounded by specialists from many fieldsdomains, some to rehabilitate movement, others the brain.
The incredible thickness of my medical file, fattened with test and treatment forms, never ceased to amaze me. The process seemed endless. First, you are slowly coaxed from the coma; you are repaired and operated on. Then comes the rehabilitation to get you back to your everyday activities.
But you don’t realizse the extent of this until later, when you are amply recovered well enough to read, reflect, discuss…
Yes, I feel as if I was saved, resurrected, reconstructed and reoriented for an adapted life, a different life. They tell me that if the accident had happened 25 years ago, the outcome would have been far different, far worse…
I greatly benefitted greatly from progress in the neurological sciences, from the hard work of those who made this progress possible. And I am grateful. I had many loving family members and friends to rely on too.
I truly believe that research into brain injuries resulting from severeharsh trauma should become increasingly important. If only to help other Serge Cloutiers pull through even better than me!
Ah, the testimony part… Chapter Two, of two
I have briefly sketched how I survived a car accident in 1995 and the after-effects of that event. But the next chapter of my life that I’d like to relate concerns the story of what happened with my immediate family. It goes like this:
I should first mention that my beloved wife Carmen was travelling with me in the small car that carried us to Québec City and then back to Alma, where we lived with our three young daughters. Everyone else was waiting for us at home to celebrate the baptism of my niece’s child. Even my mother had travelled to be there for the event.
But on that baptism day, while our family waited for our return, warm with wine and the presence of so many beloved faces, Carmen and I were in the intensive care of the Enfant-Jésus Hospital in Québec City, both of us in a coma. Following the customary protocol, the hospital made many and various telephone calls before finally contacting my sister, who informed my daughter, who told my mother, that Carmen and I had been severely injured. The joyful feelings of the baptism were suddenly mixed with overwhelming concern… And so happened the major upheaval that would upend the lives of those who love us and whom we love in return.
My eldest daughter, who had a student job in Ontario, was urged to come back home at once. She did, travelling by bus, with worry and distress as her only companions on the way.
My sister, living next door, practically adopted our three daughters, then ages 14, 16 and 18. They moved into their Aunt Lucie’s house for however long it would take. Once the news was announced that Carmen and I were “stable” in intensive care, each member of my entire family, including my wife’s ten brothers and sisters and their spouses, as well as my mother-in-law, took turns keeping vigil by our bedside like guardian angels.
I sincerely believe that the loving attention of our families, our children and our mothers played a major role in the relatively successful recovery that Carmen and I achieved.
In donating to head trauma research, we are also supporting the most precious, effective and immediate treatments made available by the family and friends that surround us. I believe in and contribute wholeheartedly to this cause. And you?