She Lost Her Legs but Saved Her Daughter

[RUPERTKBD]

The word "hero" gets thrown around a lot these days, but this woman embodies the true meaning. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/kristen-hiebert-frostbite-saves-daughter-1.3638655

 

Mom who lost lower legs to frostbite to save daughter shares story for 1st time

'It doesn't matter what you look like, you can still do whatever you want,' says Kristen Hiebert

By Janice Moeller, CBC News Posted: Jun 20, 2016 7:00 PM CT Last Updated: Jun 20, 2016 7:00 PM CT

Kristen Hiebert with her daughter Avery at their home in Boissevain, Man. Hiebert lost her lower legs to frostbite following a motor vehicle accident in January. (Jaison Empson/CBC)

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• GoFundMe: Kristen and Avery Recovery Fund

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Kristen Hiebert is still trying to piece together what happened the night her car went off the road and she crawled to safety in frigid conditions to save her little girl, losing the lower part of her legs to frostbite in the process.

She's learning to walk with prosthetic legs. She has discovered a strength she never knew she had.

Everything she did that night, and is doing now, is all for Avery.

"Some days I like to think that it was almost a blessing in a weird way because it's kind of opened my eyes to think of what I need to be doing to better myself and my daughter and to be strong for her," Hiebert said in her first interview since the accident.

Avery, left, and Kristen Hiebert catch bugs outside their home in Boissevain. (Jaison Empson/CBC)

 

Hiebert doesn't remember the accident that left her and her four-year-old daughter clinging to each other for warmth in a ditch for at least 10 hours in –20 C.

• Woman rescues mom, 4-year-old after night spent in bitter cold
• Mom who crawled up snowbank to save daughter after crash loses feet to frostbite

"I remember cars going by and screaming, but I knew in the back of mind that they can't hear me, they can't see me. So we just laid there," she said.

Hiebert, 27, and her daughter Avery were driving home to Boissevain, Man., on Jan. 17 after checking on her mother's house in Glenboro while she was away on vacation. Hiebert took her usual route, one she's driven hundreds of times.

Her car somehow went off the road at a bridge on Highway 23 near Dunrea, Man., and landed in the ditch at the bottom of a steep embankment, missing the river by mere metres. Hiebert was unconscious at first, but eventually woke up and knew she needed help.

She doesn't know how she eventually found the strength to climb up a steep embankment to get help when she had two frozen feet and multiple injuries from the crash.

 

 

Play Media

 

 

Kristen Hiebert describes what happened the night she was stranded in the ditch in the freezing cold with her daughter5:03

"Something inside of me just did it. Like, I don't even really remember it. I just remember that it had to happen," she said.

"I had to do this and I had to get out and I had to save her and save myself — you know, for her — but I would have given anything just for her to be OK. If I had to die or whatever, as long as she was OK that was my main concern always."

She doesn't remember how she managed to pull Avery out as well. Hiebert broke her right wrist and a bone in her right hand. Her left arm was broken below the shoulder. She had a fracture in her neck, bruised ribs, and her left hand was full of bits of glass.

Remarkably, Avery was not injured.

"It was almost like this bubble around Avery because she was perfectly fine," she said. "I don't know how."

The ditch along Highway 23 near Dunrea, Man., where Hiebert's car left the road on Jan. 17. (Riley Laychuk/CBC)

'I just had to get up … that hill'

But next, Hiebert could not make it up the steep embankment to the road because there was too much snow. She knew staying warm would be the next challenge. She had lost her shoes and Avery was missing one of her boots. 

"I just covered her whole body with mine and I blew the hot — my breath into her coat," she said. "I don't know. I thought it might keep her warm."

Hiebert, a single mother, says it was the longest night of her life.

"I told myself and I told Avery that we probably weren't going to make it out of here alive. And we laid there for a long time. And I don't know what hit me. I just had to get up, up that hill," she said.

"The hardest part to me was leaving her down there in the snow. So we, I left her and every so often I'd yell down to her and as long as I heard her I just kept going up and up that hill. And I remember getting to the top and just crying that I had made it."

Hiebert couldn't feel her feet and she couldn't get her broken arms over the railing to wave for help.

"People were driving by and I'm thinking, 'Why are they not stopping?'"

Hiebert holds Avery while they recover in hospital. (Family photo)

Guardian angel arrives

That's when a woman Hiebert calls her "guardian angel" noticed something by the railing and turned around.

Tina Dubyts was driving to her job in Killarney, Man., and pulled over. Hiebert immediately sent her down into the ditch to get Avery, who was taken to hospital in the first ambulance to arrive on the scene.

Avery does some painting as she recovers in hospital. (Family photo)

Hiebert went next and was then airlifted to Winnipeg, where doctors worked to save her frostbitten feet. 

"They had put boots on my feet that were constantly pumping warm water into them but nothing, nothing worked, so they decided to do the amputations," she said.

Hiebert's legs were removed just below the knees. She needed skin grafts on both her knees because of frostbite damage. She also had surgery to put in plates in her broken hand, wrist and arm.

To make matters even worse, Hiebert then caught a hospital superbug — MRSA — which slowed the healing of her grafts and the wound on the end of one of her legs. Her mom and stepfather flew home from vacation in Cuba and were unsure if she would pull through.

Hiebert doesn't remember the first couple of weeks she was at the Health Sciences Centre. She was in hospital for two months, first in Winnipeg and then she was transferred to Brandon. 

 

 

Play Media

 

 

Kristen Hiebert shows some of the injuries she sustained in the crash1:50

The amputations were devastating for Hiebert, but she said nothing compares to the pain of what might have happened and wondering what caused the accident. 

"Did I see an animal, was it ice, was I looking back at Avery? There's so many questions, so there's a lot of times I feel very guilty about her being there and if it was my fault," she said.

"Was I doing something I shouldn't have been, like looking back or changing the radio? The guilt for a long time was unbearable."

Hiebert has no idea how long she was unconscious in the car. That's been one of the most difficult parts of the accident — wondering what her little girl was going through while waiting for her to wake up.

"What she went through was pretty hard on me for a while," she said.

'She's been amazing'

Avery suffered frostbite on one foot and spent more than a week in hospital.

"It hurted me," Avery said, holding her tiny pink foot up for inspection. 

Avery had trouble sleeping for a while after the accident and didn't want to ride in a car at night or go down a gravel road. But these days, she's back to being a normal four-year-old.

She loves to paint, hunt caterpillars in the yard, play in the park with her mom and help her great-grandmother water the garden.

Avery shows off her bandaged foot in hospital. The image at right shows her fully recovered foot today. (Family photo and CBC)

Avery graduated from nursery school on the same day her mom stood for the first time on prosthetic legs. And Avery was right there when Hiebert took her first steps.

"She was just in shock…. It was very cute. She's like, 'Mom, Mom, you're walking!' And I'm like, 'Yes, I'm walking.' So it was good. A good moment for us to share together," Hiebert said.

"She was there and I'll keep her there every moment. She needs to be just a part of it as I am, you know. She's been amazing."

Hiebert is grateful there will be other milestones ahead. Avery's upcoming fifth birthday will be spent at the lake, and they are looking for a place to live in Boissevain so they can get settled before Avery starts kindergarten in the fall.

Then, Hiebert will figure out what to do next. She won't be returning to her old job cleaning hotel rooms and is looking forward to career counselling.

"Everything has to be different now because even when I do have my prosthetics, it's not like I stand for hours, so I've been looking into getting more schooling," Hiebert said. "When she is settled, then I'll work on myself."

Kristen Hiebert stands on prosthetic legs for the first time. (Family photo)

Public support 'very touching to my heart'

Above all, Hiebert wants to thank all the people who have helped her and her daughter. She has been living with her mom and grandmother, dividing her time between their two homes. Friends and family have helped care for Avery.

A GoFundMe campaign started by Hiebert's best friend, Morgan Campbell, has raised more than $90,000.

"I just couldn't believe the support from everywhere, like from the States, from Canada," Hiebert said. "It's very, very touching to my heart."

In her hometown of Boissevain, a social raised $20,000. Prize donations came from as far away as New York. There was a steak night where the local hotel and the Lion's Club matched the money raised. RCMP in Killarney organized a fundraising hockey game where Dubyts was given an award.

Avery at her nursery school graduation. (Family photo)

"The support from my town has just been overwhelming, so I owe them a lot," said Hiebert, her eyes misty with tears.

But Boissevain's mayor should expect a call from her shortly. Hiebert finds it hard to get around on the sidewalks and streets in Boissevain and plans to lobby for better accessibility for all the elderly residents with mobility issues. 

She laughs when asked if she doesn't already have enough on her plate. For Hiebert, there's no question the accident has changed her. 

"It doesn't matter what you look like or what you are, you can still do whatever you want," she said. "I just want to be a good role model for her."

 

And Hiebert said she doesn't know how she'll ever be able to adequately thank the scores of people who have helped her and her daughter recover from their ordeal.

"There aren't words to — to say. It's just been amazing," she said. "Now I am able to do things for my daughter and do things for myself that I never thought was possible."

 

 

[Dazzle]

48 minutes ago, ILL BILL NECRO said:

Meh

Why bother posting something like this? Posts like these need to be neg repped HARD.

 

Back to the article, very sad story but she really is a hero. This is a mom that loves her daughter.

 

Casey Anthony on the other hand...

[leomessi]

18 minutes ago, Dazzle said:

Why bother posting something like this? Posts like these need to be neg repped HARD.

 

Back to the article, very sad story but she really is a hero. This is a mom that loves her daughter.

 

Casey Anthony on the other hand...

it's amazing. 

 

and that guy above you is a heartless prick. 

[kloubek]

Ok... come clean time.

 

My son is 3.  Almost 4.  When he was a baby, he was a crying mess.  For the first 4 months, if he was awake, he was crying.  Literally.  My wife was having hormone issues and was a total scrag to be around.  Life sucked.  Then our son started feeling better and would usually be comforted by Mom, but as soon as I walked in the room he would cry like he had been shot. 

So for 6 months, I had absolutely no connection to my son.  I wish he hadn't been born, and I saw him as a big reason why things were so crappy.  But eventually, he decided he could tolerate me.  Then he actually liked having me around.  Now, he's all about Dad, and I have grown a very close bond to him.

 

My point of telling everyone how crappy it was for half a year is to say that despite that, I would now do anything for him.  Anything.  For those without children, it may be difficult to understand, but he is my heart and my soul.  What this mother did was great, no doubt - but hardly heroic.  This is what any parent SHOULD do for their child in such circumstances.  I would gladly give up my legs or my life to save my son's; no questions asked.

 

[Mr.DirtyDangles]

1 hour ago, ILL BILL NECRO said:

Meh

A mother loses her legs to save her child and this does not even remotely tug on yuor heart ?  .....mind is blown

 

Atleast she still has the majority of her legs and will no doubt be walking on prosthetics in the near future : )

[RUPERTKBD]

2 minutes ago, kloubek said:

Ok... come clean time.

 

My son is 3.  Almost 4.  When he was a baby, he was a crying mess.  For the first 4 months, if he was awake, he was crying.  Literally.  My wife was having hormone issues and was a total scrag to be around.  Life sucked.  Then our son started feeling better and would usually be comforted by Mom, but as soon as I walked in the room he would cry like he had been shot. 

So for 6 months, I had absolutely no connection to my son.  I wish he hadn't been born, and I saw him as a big reason why things were so crappy.  But eventually, he decided he could tolerate me.  Then he actually liked having me around.  Now, he's all about Dad, and I have grown a very close bond to him.

 

My point of telling everyone how crappy it was for half a year is to say that despite that, I would now do anything for him.  Anything.  For those without children, it may be difficult to understand, but he is my heart and my soul.  What this mother did was great, no doubt - but hardly heroic.  This is what any parent SHOULD do for their child in such circumstances.  I would gladly give up my legs or my life to save my son's; no questions asked.

 

Disagree. Just because it's something that you should do, doesn't mean it wasn't heroic.

 

And glad to see that you and your son are now bonding...

[SamJamIam]

1 hour ago, ILL BILL NECRO said:

Meh

I have never seen a better example of a one-word post that should be a bannable offense.

[SaintPatrick33]

Personification of guts and character. 

[Green Building]

15 minutes ago, SamJamIam said:

I have never seen a better example of a one-word post that should be a bannable offense.

I hit +, but can immediately think of others that have been more inflammatory. Though, I do wonder what people have done for others, in such tremendous and significant fashion,  that would merit the "meh" button to be pushed here.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

[Alflives]

3 hours ago, ILL BILL NECRO said:

Meh

You could use a prosthetic heart, and brain. 

[Alflives]

6 hours ago, Dazzle said:

Why bother posting something like this? Posts like these need to be neg repped HARD.

 

Back to the article, very sad story but she really is a hero. This is a mom that loves her daughter.

 

Casey Anthony on the other hand...

Where did that "meh" post go?  I came here to give it a negative, but can't find it now.

[Cerridwen]

Just now, Alflives said:

Where did that "meh" post go?  I came here to give it a negative, but can't find it now.

It appears to have been removed by a mod

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, Cerridwen said:

It appears to have been removed by a mod

That's good, because it was clearly intended to antagonize.  

[Master 112]

I hope she finds them.

[Riviera82]

7 hours ago, kloubek said:

Ok... come clean time.

 

My son is 3.  Almost 4.  When he was a baby, he was a crying mess.  For the first 4 months, if he was awake, he was crying.  Literally.  My wife was having hormone issues and was a total scrag to be around.  Life sucked.  Then our son started feeling better and would usually be comforted by Mom, but as soon as I walked in the room he would cry like he had been shot. 

So for 6 months, I had absolutely no connection to my son.  I wish he hadn't been born, and I saw him as a big reason why things were so crappy.  But eventually, he decided he could tolerate me.  Then he actually liked having me around.  Now, he's all about Dad, and I have grown a very close bond to him.

 

My point of telling everyone how crappy it was for half a year is to say that despite that, I would now do anything for him.  Anything.  For those without children, it may be difficult to understand, but he is my heart and my soul.  What this mother did was great, no doubt - but hardly heroic.  This is what any parent SHOULD do for their child in such circumstances.  I would gladly give up my legs or my life to save my son's; no questions asked.

 

That's great, man! I have a son who is almost 3 and I would move heaven and earth to protect him too. What the mother in this story did was what any good parent would do, or would give everything they had and then some in the attempt.