Algonquin Provincial Park, The Accident, Resilience and Divine Intervention?

*Updated due to a few errors and an update at the end*

In the year 2000 (yes, it sounds like I'm going to write a short  Sci-Fi story) however, this is a true story about a remote canoeing adventure my husband, son, brother in law and son's friend went on up in Algonquin Provincial Park. The trip was supposed to be fun and it did begin that way.

My husband took months to plan their remote trip to Algonquin and had all the details mapped out well. They knew which Islands they would stay on for the night before they embarked back into the water the next morning. Me, well my major concern was the fear of them being attacked by a large bear. For some reason, I heard more than one news story that year where people were attacked at their camps and killed. Yes, I do worry too much but what we usually worry about doesn't happen. 

The guys had cell phones but there's no reception once you are in a remote area, as most of us already know. The guys took off with the help of some outfitters and began their trek in late June of 2000. They planned to be out for approximately a week, fishing, canoeing and enjoying the remote outdoors. They had 2 people in each canoe. When they were approximately 40 miles out and had to transport the canoe my husband's right knee popped and he went down. 

Thank Goodness My Son's Friend Was An Eagle Scout

As soon as my husband tried to stand, he realized he was not able to. His knee cap was displaced. My husband was in a tremendous amount of pain. My son's friend Abe was able to utilize material they had on hand and he found sturdy sticks- with these materials he made a very sturdy leg brace. They got lucky because they ended up on one of the Islands which had a ranger's cabin. The guys were able to get him to the cabin and they spent two nights there with bats flying over their heads at night. Bats flying over my head... later!  After two nights in the cabin,  my husband felt he regained enough strength to walk back to the river so they could canoe back to the outfitters.  He was walking through some high brush when suddenly his other leg gave out and down he went again. The guys lifted up my husbands pants and found his knee caps were literally up in his thighs. 

No Cell Phones, What Are We Going To do?!!

While my husband laid in 'the bush,' which was about 3 feet tall from what I was told the guys decided to leave my son with his dad and my brother in law, along with my son's friend, Abe, would canoe approximately 40 miles back to the outfitters for help. This canoe trip would get them in after dark 12-13 hours later. As you can imagine, they felt panicked but had to hide their panic from my husband and son who would have to spend the night in the bush together. By all means, far from the ideal situation but a bit of luck was on their side that day. Within an hour or so after my husband went down they heard a 4 wheeler approaching, it was a Park Ranger. The Ranger had a hand radio and he was able to get a hold of Northbay General Hospital who dispatched a life flight helicopter to the area. 

After The Helicopter Took Off

My brother in law and son's friend Abe still had to canoe back almost 40 miles that day. My husband was transported to Northbay General Hospital and my son accompanied him on the Helicopter. I was out of town on that specific day and wasn't planning to go home until the next day. For some reason,  I had an urge to get home that day, and so I did. When I arrived at home I turned on the answering machine to listen to messages- one, in particular,  was un-nerving. I heard, "You have a collect call from "Northbay General Hospital, caller please state your name," CLICK. I had no clue who was calling me. I had no idea WHO was at the hospital and extreme panic set in as I tried to find the number to call the hospital back. Once I called and asked if there was a "Gallagher" admitted, I was told they would transfer me to the Emergency Department. My heart was racing, hands sweating and I felt as though I was going to pass out, while my imagination was wreaking havoc on me. When the operator transferred me to ER,  my son picked up the phone, Ok... phew- he was OK but what the hell happened and to WHO? My son told me dad was in ER and had ruptured tendons in his knees. I was able to speak to my husband who told me they said I need surgery but they can't operate for two weeks. I told him we would get him back home and deal with it here. 

The Ride From Hell

Northbay General discharged my husband to my son's care. My brother in law and my son's friend had made it back to the outfitters by 9:30 pm that evening. I wish I could remember the name of the outfitters because they went above and beyond the call of duty. They called ahead and found a hotel for my husband, drove to pick up his pain medication, helped get my husband into bed by means of an ironing board because he could not walk and put my brother in law and my son's friend up for the night at their place. The next morning my brother in law drove the Chevy Blazer to the hotel to pick up my husband and son to drive back to Pennsylvania, USA.  I had contacted an Orthopedic Surgeon before they left for the ride home. He called my insurance company to see if they would pay for life flight to get him back here.The  Insurance company stated they could only life flight if the patient was dying. So, the 10.5-hour drive began. My husband had to lay flat inside the back end of the blazer for the entire trip back to Pennsylvania. As you can imagine,  this was one hell of a ride. 

Fifteen Minutes From Our Local Hospital

I told the guys to call me when they were about 15 minutes from the hospital in town. Once I received the call from the guys, I had to call  the ER and explain what happened.  I asked them to have a gurney ready to transport my husband inside. Our ER Department told me we needed to get an ambulance a block away in order to have him transported in via a gurney. Seriously, you are telling me after a 10.5-hour ride back from Canada with his kneecaps up inside his thighs he'd have to get moved from on vehicle to another then moved again into the ER Dept?! I was on fire! I called the Orthopedic surgeon and probably sounded like a crazy woman yelling, "They told me,  blah blah blah... and I will NOT call an ambulance!" The surgeon said, "Don't worry about it, just get yourself to the hospital, I will take care of this." When I arrived he was already in the ER. They did get a gurney and also gave him morphine before removing him from the back our the blazer onto a gurney to be transported inside the ER. Thank you, Doctor!

Surgery, Recovery, and The Future

My husband ruptured both of his patellar tendons and his kneecaps had completely detached. That is why his kneecaps were floating (per se) in his thighs. He had surgery the next day. We were told after the surgery the recovery would be long and he may not ever walk again without assistance. My husband is a fighter and when he heard that he may need a walker or a cane to get around the rest of his life, his thoughts were, "I'll show you!" There was a lot of choice language used which I won't repeat but lets just say he was determined to walk again on his own.  My husband spent a total of three months in the hospital recovering. Part of his time was as a patient on the surgical floor and the rest of his time was spent on a transitional floor for Physical Therapy, pain management, and Occupational Therapy. After three months he was discharged to home. I had a bed set up in our den which had a bathroom about five feet from the bed. He came home with his leg braces on and could not bend his knee's, so I had to help him get into the back of the blazer AGAIN in order to get him to Physical Therapy five days per week for the two months. Within a month of his outpatient Physical Therapy, he was able to bend his knees and walk with assistance. He was finally able to sit on the passenger side of the vehicle instead of lying in the back end of the vehicle.  Things were beginning to look up!  He was also able to walk up stairs after five months and that's when he decided it was time to sleep upstairs in his own bed again. 

The Mind Is A Powerful Tool

My husband began working from his hospital bed within days of his surgery. He was actually an employee at this particular hospital at the time. He was the director of IT and had me pick up his mail daily, took phone calls and worked remotely from his PC- he continued to work remotely until he went back to work physically six months later. He didn't have to use much sick time because he worked full time from week two on. I honestly believe by keeping his mind so busy focusing on the present helped him to recover that much faster. He never used the words "I won't or I can't," instead, he would say, "I will walk again, I will prove them wrong." He went back to work full time after six months with a cane. Within a few months, my husband was walking very carefully without a cane. He did prove them wrong and they were amazed. 

The Unpredictable Future and Lessons learned

After my husband returned to work he was employed for approximately one year post surgery by this Hospital. Without notice, they told him they were down-sizing and had to let him go in 2001. We were fairly certain they viewed him as a high-risk employee because he had major stomach surgery the year before. It didn't matter in the end that he didn't let his employer down by working for them throughout his ordeal. It didn't matter that he still spent 50-60 hours per week as a salaried employee after his return to make sure all IT needs were met. He was still let go. My husband had worked without interruption since the age of fourteen years old. He had never been let go from a job. We were both devastated because we had two young children at home. His dismissal turned out to be a push in the right direction. He was tired of working for others and had a side business for almost three years prior to losing his job. Within three months of losing his job, my husband was asked to bid on a major contract and for IT and telecommunications. He won the bids, renamed his company, hired others to work for him and has been working as a self-employed business person since 2001. He also began walking un-aided in less than a year!  

Much of what happens to us in life and our outcome has a lot to do with our mental mindset. My husband has always been able to see positives when others may only see darkness. I'm not sure I could have been half as strong as he's been over the years. He put together a business plan which enticed others and allowed him to continue to provide for his family. I will be forever grateful. He probably has put in more hours over the past 15 years than he did when working for an employer but that doesn't bother him because he's the 'captain of his own ship,' now!  

*A sidenote* - The Ranger who came through and found my husband lying in the bush on that particular day in 2000 said in the eight years that he had been a Ranger he never ran late. On that particular day, he was running almost and hour and a half late on that Island. If the Ranger had not been running late, he would have already passed through the area my husband was lying in before the accident happened.  The Ranger only hit that Island every four days. Coincidence? I'm not sure, I will let you use your imagination. I looked at that incidence as divine intervention. 

My son was traumatized by this event and I had no idea how traumatized he was until he entered College and began to have panic attacks. It took my son quite a while to share with me that he was traumatized. I think he thought his dad was going to die out there. I know it was extremely hard for my then, 16-year-old son to see his dad in such immense pain- he could do nothing to help him and he was alone with his dad for over 24 hours from the time they took off on the helicopter until the guys showed up the next day to drive them back to Pennsylvania. The good news? My son decided to run triathlons which lead to becoming an Ironman in 2014. Exercise has been my son's therapy and continues to be.  

Header Photo: Google images- 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1256617/A-Canadian-scouting-adventure-Algonquin-Park-Ontario.html