A Canadian paramedic who responded to a road crash found her own daughter with such severe injuries that she did not recognise her.
Jayme Erickson found a teenage girl with severe injuries she knew would probably be fatal when she arrived at the scene of a crash on the Alberta highway on November 15.
She worked for nearly half an hour to remove the girl, the whole time not recognising her as her own daughter, Montana, and stayed with her before she could be airlifted to a hospital in nearby Calgary. It was there the 17-year-old was taken off life support due to the severe injuries she had suffered.
It was reported that Montana had been walking dogs with a friend who was driving the pair back home. The friend had lost control on icy roads and was struck by an oncoming lorry. The driver was not badly hurt and able to leave the vehicle.
It was only when Ms Erickson got home that police met her and said that Montana had been the victim.
She wrote on a Facebook post: “The critically injured patient I had just attended to was my own flesh and blood. My only child. My mini me. My daughter, Montana.
“Although I am thankful for the 17 years I had with her, I am shattered and left wondering. What would you have become, my baby girl? Who would you have been?
“I am shattered. I am broken. I am missing a piece of me. I am left to pick up the pieces and expected to carry on.”
Ms Erickson attended a eulogy for Montana on Tuesday in the city of Airdrie, where she told reporters of her “fighter” and “beautiful” daughter.
Montana had been a competitive swimmer with ambitions to attend law school. Her organs were donated to help others.
Ms Erickson added: “We’re so happy that our baby girl is living on through others and she has in the wake of this tragedy saved other people. We know it’s what she would have wanted and we are so proud of her and we’re going to miss her very, very much.”
