Original story by Lori Harvey, a Greatway Independent Life Insurance Agent
In 2012, my then 19-year-old son went to work during Boxing Day. He worked in railway maintenance. He was working during the entire holiday season so that his peers with children could have some valued family time.
Our whole lives changed within 22 seconds of his shift that day. At 10:30 am, I received a phone call from the RCMP. They had notified me that my son had been hit by a train while clearing the snow off the track switches.
When I arrived at the hospital, the trauma team had already sedated him, and I didn’t have the chance to speak to him. His injuries were so severe, I could barely recognize him.
I carefully reached over his nearly lifeless body and whispered into his ear,
"Please don't die on me."
Gratefully, my son survived his injuries. However, he sustained many injuries, resulting in the amputation of his right leg that day. He spent many months in the hospital when he eventually had to have his other leg amputated because it wasn't healing due to the extensive reconstruction. My son would never be able to walk without support again.
My boss at the time didn’t care about this tragedy. My son was still in surgery at the time, and I needed to be there for him, but the boss didn't care. I quit my job because I refused to report to work the day after the accident, despite my boss's orders.
“At any given moment, you have the power to say:
this is not how the story is going to end.”
Since that day, we have grown closer as a family. My son's scars have healed, but it was a long road during recovery. My son became my hero because he faced all the challenges after that fateful day. As his mother, I now feel the need to help others prepare for the unexpected that could turn their life upside-down.
With Greatway as a platform to help, it's now my mission to help others prepare for life-altering events that no one ever thinks could happen to them. I believe that by doing so, I will be able to spare other families the burden of not having enough money to cover the costs of recovery and dealing with such a heinous event and be with their loved ones without of worry for finances when disaster strikes.
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