Category : Stories

Sub Category : Historical Fiction

Before I go into this chapter, I would like to say that to this day, even though I learned that the person that hit me was a drunk driver and they were very sorry for what they did. So I was told. They changed my life.  I've never met that person.  However despite all that, I forgive them. This I will discuss later in the book. I was in a coma for 11 days at McMaster hospital in Hamilton Ontario. When I awoke from my coma, my life had changed. According to what I was told by my mother, the doctors told my parents that I may be like a vegetable for the rest of my life, not able to walk or talk and even make it past grade 9. One doctor thought positive though talked positive to my parents. Anyways, I was given lot's of therapy in the hospital and out. All different kind like speech therapy, physio therapy, etc. I remember one time when I was having therapy in the hospital, I woas laying on a big bouncy ball and I rolled over it and onto the floor.   I don't know why I remember that. When I was released from the hospital and went back home to my house in Cambridge Ontario, my life was changed. My friends that I was friends with before my accident were still nice to me and came to my birthday party, but didn't hang out with me hardly. I went to see my okd classroom which wad in a portable. Things were different. I didn't remember a lot of the kids. Some kids I remember but not all.  I attended the rotary center in kitchener/waterloo for one year. A bus would come to my house, pick me up and take me there. At first I was in a wheel chair, but as I did therapy, I was able to walk again, not perfect but okay. There was a little swimming pool there at the rotary center. We would go into it some times. There was also a gymnasium that we would run, walk or wheel chair in.  There was a life skills class there that I attended where we would learn to prepare food, etc. We would also go outside and walk around. I remember aometimes I would help push a wheel chair with someone in it. After about a year, I had to go back to the hospital to get surgery on my left leg to take out a metal plate that was put in there after I awoke from my coma to help with my leg because it was broken from the accident but now at this time it got better so they took it out. I remember before the surgery, the doctors asked me, Would you like a needle or a mask"?  I replled, " How big is the needle"?  Oh, this big, he showed me with his hands making a big needle. The mask, the mask, I replied. So. They gave me the mask and I fell asleep. When I awoke after the surgery, my left leg hurt a lot and there was and still is a scar along my leg. I don't remember what floor my room was on at the hopital but I do remember it was the one closest to the bathroom. When I had to go to the bathroom, my leg hurt a lot and I wanted to sit in the wheel chair and get pushed to the bathroom, but my mother kept telling me/encouraging me to try to walk by my self no matter how painful it is. When I got out of the hospital and went back home to Cambridge Ontario, I first for a little while slept on the pull out couch bed in the family room because it was hard to go up the stairs. Eventually I did go up the stairs. My parents put me in a public school called Centennial public school where I was in a classrook with other children. I had a special teacher that would take me out of the classroom and into another room to do some one on one. The school wasn't too far away from my house, however even though it was a walking distance, my mother had a taxi come to the house, pick me up and drive me to school and back. I guess it was because she was afraid of me walking and maybe getting hit by a car again. While I attended school, my mother and my father put me in different activities to help develop my muscles. Once or twice a week, I would go to court side fitness, when there was a court side fitness in Cambridge. There was a male therapist there that would get me to excersize machines to help me develop my muscles in my body. Such as the treadmill to help me with the muscles in my legs, so that I may walk and run better.  As well as other machines to help with the muscles in my arms, such as the bench press and other machines to.  He even got me to play tennis and squash to help with not just my muscles, but my hand-eye coordination.  A taxi that drove me to school and back would also drive me there to the court side fitness after school once or twice a week. When I was 9 years old, my parents put me in swimming lessons. It was a private swimming lessons where there was just me and the teacher. She taught me to swim front stroke, back stroke and some excersizes in the pool. This pas well helped me to develop my muscles in my arms and my legs. To this day, the swimming instructor and I keep in touch with each other. Well actually, she more stayed in touch with my mother during the years but now I talk to her we developed a friendship. Any how, I was also put on a soccer with other children my age. This helped with my social skills, my hand-eye coordination as I had to follow the ball to kick it with my feet. Last, my mother and my father signed me up fot horse back riding. It was a place called Sunrise, riding for the disabled.  It was and still is a wonderful place. After school once a week, my father or mother would drive me there. At this horse back riding, we would learn different skills, such as, getting the horse ready before we go on. We would learn to put the saddle on the horse, brush their manes, cleaning their hooves which is their feet, as well ad ride the horses. We would ride the horses first with someone walking beside the horse until we were ready to ride on our own. The instructor would tell us what to do, like walk on for walking or trot on for running. We would have competitions at the CNE. I remember one time at the CNE Princess Anne was there. I got to meet her. I shook her hand. I also told her that I have a cat at home named princess. I think she said that she wasn't a cat person or something likel that. One time, we got to go to Vancouver for a competition. Although, we had to ride their horses. I remember that the horse I rode walked very slow. I thought that the horsel was going to stop but it didn't. I had some pets as I was growing up after my accident. First, I had a few fish, then I had a hamster, then a rabbit, then a cat. Having pets helped me a lot, because it taught me responsibility.  Anyways, back to school. I was at Centennial public school until I was 12 almost 13 years old. I was put into some classes as well where there were other children. Some one for a little while would come over to the school and do activities and such with me, like teach me how to make food, snow shoeing, etc. Different activities that would be once a week for a little while. I still had my special teacher inside that would do one on one with me.  At the time, my mother taught kindergarten at that school. So having her there helped a bit although I was on the other side of the school and she wanted me to interact more with the other children then just her. I had some friends at the school. I even had a best friend for a while until something happened. I remember it was in the cafeteria. Some kids told me to tell my best friend, "I call you out".  I didn't know what that meant, but I along with it and told him that anyways. He got upset and when we all went outdoors, he was waiting for me. He was going to fight me, but I didn't know why. Some other kids there were defending me by not allowing him near me. The teacher intervened and we both got sent to the office. The principle talked to us both and also asked me why I said that, "I call you out" and if I knew what that meant. I responded, "No" . Well long story short our friendship was over for a while. I made friends with another boy at the school. We would hang out after school sometimes like on the weekend. He came with me a few times on a Sundays to gym and swim where there would be some other people there with a brain injury, adults and some children. It was an hour in the gym, playing different things, like floor hockey, badminton, etc. Then an hour in the swimming pool, swimming, etc. My mother and 5 or 6 other ladies started a brain injury association after my accident when I awoke from my coma. They would have meetings with specialist coming in and talking, like doctors, etc. There was the gym and swim. As the years went by the brain injury association grew. I tried to fit in with the other kids at school. It was hard though. I didn't know how to fit in very well. My parents sent me to camp. It wasDee called, "camp kiwaten".  Anyways, I was was there when I was 11 and 12 years old. I spent a few weeks there. I stayed in a cabin with other children. My brother and my sister went to another camp. At camp we went canoeing, swimming, did arts and crafts, hiking, learned life skills and more. I had a lot of fun at camp. Although it was fun and I tried to fit in, one scary indecent did happen.  We took a bus to a swimming pool and we sang songs on the bus, etc. Anyways, at the pool, I was in the deep end and a boy pushed my head down under the water and held me there for almost a minute. I tried to get my head out of the water as I gasped for air. He finally let go. I think it was because somebody stopped him. Other than that experience, I had a great time at camp. When I got picked up from camp and gone home,  I found that my brothers bed room was in the basement and I no longer shared a bedroom with him. My father built him a bedroom in the basement. I had a computer, a Commodor 64 with some games on it. It was really to help me with my fine motor skills, cognitive skills, etc. The computer was on a desk that my grandfather built for me. My grandfather liked making things from wood. He even built me another desk, which I still have. My grandmother and my grandfather on my fathers side would even give us haircuts. All three of us, my sister who is 4 years older than me, my brother who is 2 years older than me and me, the the youngest. As I was going to school, sometimes I would forget my lunch so at the office, they would call my father.  My grandmother made me a peanut butter and Jam sandwich and sometimes I would forget it at the house or I just didn't want to eat it. Anyways, my father would stop at Harveys and get me chicken fingers and fries. On Saturdays, every second Saturday, my father would take me with him to his work. Before we went to his work, we would stop at Tim Hortons where we would sit with some of his friends. One time, a lady that worked tgere named Bernie said to me, "Peter, would you like a coffee'?  " Yes, yes, yes", I replied. So that's when I had my first coffee at 12 years old. Although, years later I found out that it was a tiny bit of coffee and the rest milk. But it was still coffee to me. My father worked at a place called Babcock and Wilcox in Cambridge. He was an engineer. Just designed boilers at his last job. He would take me to work with him every second Saturday but not all the time. I got to sit on a chair near him ad he worked. It was only for 2 or 3 hours. I remember as he worked, I would keep active as I sometimes made a kinda basket thing of paper and I would scrumple up paper and try to throw it in there.  I would also colour, draw, etc. Being with my father and spending time with him meant a lot to me.On February 5, 1990, it was my father's 55th birthday. I was at school as it was a Monday. Sometime in the morning, I don't remember exactly what time but my teacher, the one who did one on one with me came over to me and said to me, "Peter, I'm taking you home now".  The first thing I thought was, yes we are going to have a party today because it's my dads birthday today. I was happy. So she drove me. We never went to my house. We went first to my neighbors house. She got out of the car and told me to wait in the car for a bit. So I did. As I waited for her, I saw my sister walking on the side walk towards my house. She was crying. I thought to myself, somethings wrong.  My teacher came back to the car from talking to my neighbors. I asked her, "is something wrong"?  I don't remember what she said but she drove me to my grandparents house which was only a few blocks away.  We got out of the car and walked to the house. I saw my mother inside the house at the front crying as well as my brother not too far away. I asked her what's wrong?  She told me to go to the kitchen and wait there and she will tell me. So, I walked towards the kitchen. When I got there, I saw m grandparents. My grandfather was sitting on a chair against the wall and he was crying as well as my grandmother. I remember, I was standing in the middle of the kitchen and my grandfather told me but in Ukrainian, "your father died".  I burst out into tears. I was standing there crying out loud and my mother came in and hugged me. I was so upset. I learned later that he had a heart attack on his way to work.