A paramedic treated a teenage automobile crash victim who was so seriously injured she was unrecognizable, only to discover later that the victim was her own daughter, who died as a result of her injuries.
In a Facebook post on November 18, EMT worker Jayme Erickson of Alberta, Canada expressed her “deep, incomprehensible anguish” over the death of her 18-year-old daughter Montana.
“We are overcome with grief and completely devastated,” she wrote. “The pain I am experiencing is unlike any suffering I have ever experienced; it is incomprehensible.”
Erickson described the November 15 tragedy near Airdrie, north of Calgary, as “my worst nightmare as a paramedic.”
“Upon arrival, we discovered two patients with injuries, one of them was trapped and badly injured,” she stated.
“I sat in the car and did anything I could to help the seriously injured woman while firefighters extricated her.”
Erickson’s shift ended after the teen was taken to Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre.
“My doorbell rang minutes after I arrived home,” she wrote. “My life was permanently altered. (RCMP) had been at my house to inform me that my daughter had been involved in an accident.
My own flesh and blood was the gravely injured patient I had just attended to. My sole child. My doppelganger. Montana is my daughter.
Her injuries were so severe that I didn’t recognize her. I was rushed to FMC to meet my newborn child, and her injuries were determined to be fatal.”
A family spokesperson, paramedic Richard Reed, revealed in a press conference that Montana and a friend were heading home after walking dogs at Big Hill Springs park when their car was hit by an approaching truck.
“Despite the cold evening,” Reed stated, “Jayme stayed in the vehicle for over 20 minutes, ensuring the patient’s C-spine was stable and her airway was clear.”
“On her drive back, she voiced her anguish (and) frustration to her companion, knowing that a family would almost certainly lose their daughter, sister, and grandson tonight.”
Reed continued, “Jayme was unintentionally saving her own daughter’s life. As a parent and a first responder, I can assure you that this is a nightmare.”
Corporal Gina Slaney, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Southern Alberta District media relations officer, tells that Montana was a passenger in the “head-on crash” and was taken to the hospital by STARS Air Ambulance.
Montana’s friend was unharmed in the accident. The truck driver received minor injuries.
Montana arrived at the hospital in critical condition, according to a STARS representative.
Erickson and Montana’s stepfather, Sean, are friends of Chad Durocher, platoon chief at the Airdrie Fire Department, and his paramedic wife, Deana Davison.
“On occasion, Montana babysat for us, and our kids spent time together,” Durocher tells TODAY.com. “Montana was a gorgeous young spirit with a super pleasant personality.”
Montana, who had two stepbrothers, was a competitive swimmer who aspired to be a lawyer, according to Davison. “She had been scheduled to graduate this year.”
Erickson shared her heartbreaking loss on Facebook.
“I am grateful for the 17 years I had with her, but I am broken and left wondering, ‘What would you have become, my beautiful girl?’
What kind of person would you have been?’ I’ll never see you graduate and walk across the stage again, I’ll never see you marry, and I’ll never know who you would have been.”
She continued, “I will treasure the memories we created and the time we spent together. I’m completely broken. I’m shattered. I’ve lost a bit of me. I’m expected to pick up the pieces and continue.”
We contacted Erickson, who did not respond.
During the news conference, Erickson stated that her coworkers who are parents “understand that this is our worst dread,” adding, “They realize, even though it is not their daughter, it is their daughter.”
Montana was an organ donor, which her mother referred to as her “final gift.”
“We’re so thrilled to know that our baby girl is going on through others,” Erickson said, “and that she has saved other people in the aftermath of this catastrophe.”
According to the CBC, authorities are still investigating the reason of the crash.
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