"The critically injured patient I had just attended to, was my own flesh and blood. My only child. My mini-me," wrote Erickson.
Jayme Erickson's "worst nightmare" as a parademic came true last week. Erickson, a paramedic was dispatched to an accident scene on November 15 where two-vehicle had crashed. After arriving with her partner at the scene at 4:30 pm, she found one of the two victims who was gravely injured and trapped in a car was a teenage girl. But the "injures were so horrific" that Erickson didn't realize that the "critically injured patient" who she had attended to was her own daughter. She described her pain and grief recounting the event in a Facebook post and wrote, "My only child. My mini-me. My daughter, Montana."
She recalls that she did "whatever I could" to attend to the victims, while firefighters extricated her from the wreckage, reports Vancouver Sun. Once the parademics got the patients out, STARS air ambulance took over patient care and flew the teenage girl to Foothills Medical Center. "My shift was over and I went home," explains Erickson.
But after arriving home, "my life was changed forever," Erickson writes. The RCMP arrived at her hourse and informed her that her daughter had been in an accident. That's when Erickson realized that the patient she attended to was "my own flesh and blood." She was then "taken to FMC to see my baby girl, and was informed her injuries were not compatible with life."
Three days later, on November 18, Montana passed away and Erickson had to bid an unwanted goodbye to her little one. “We are overwhelmed with grief and absolutely gutted. The pain I am feeling is like no pain I have ever felt, it is indescribable,” said Erickson.
"I cannot help but be angry for the short amount of time I was given with her," she said. Describing her grief as "unimaginable sadness," Erickson writes, "17 years was not long enough. Although I am thankful for the 17 years I had with her, I am shattered and left wondering." She goes on to describe the unspoken, unfinished things that her little girl couldn't live because of her short life. "What would you have become my baby girl?" Erickson added, "I will never see you graduate and walk across the stage, I will never see you get married, and I will never know who you would have been. I love you more than anything in this world (yes, including the goats my girl!)."
Erickson added that she will "cherish the memories" that they made. "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." She goes on to say, "Love with all your heart. Hold those close to you. Make memories."
A family friend Lindsay Sandalack, started a fundraiser on GoFundMe to support Jayme and her husband who has collectively served as Advanced Care Paramedics for close to 30 yrs. She describes the family as "selfless, kind and so loving" who are beginning "to rebuild a life without their beloved daughter." The fundraiser states, "These will be hard times to wade and we want their future free of financial hardship- whether it's taking time to heal, building their beloved farm, or helping Montana’s legacy live on and have this to fall back on years down the road. This is an endless healing journey."
References:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-erickson-family?member=23418629
Cover Image Source: GoFundMe
