Crash survivor in critical condition
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/07/2011 (5516 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Friends and family came forward to identify the lone survivor from the head-on collision on Highway 10 south of Erickson that killed two Brandon teenagers Thursday.
Karen Ashby of Brandon is still in hospital, according to people close to her.
The 49-year-old was airlifted to hospital in Winnipeg, and her condition was upgraded from life-threatening to critical this weekend. After members of an online discussion board posted information that Ashby had died, her best friend, Jo-Ann Pasklivich-Holder, contacted the Sun to help quash the incorrect rumours.
She was driving home from her job as a teacher in Duck Bay. Her mother, Ruby Ashby, said Karen called before she left, but she didn’t reach Brandon in the usual time.
"With Countryfest on and more traffic, I figured it could’ve been longer," she said.
But then she turned on the news and saw photos from the collision.
"They showed the picture and right away I knew it was her car," she said grimly.
Both she and Pasklivich-Holder travelled to see Karen right away.
They say Karen underwent surgery immediately in Winnipeg, and much of her physical injury seems to be in her torso.
According to Pasklivich-Holder, Ashby has undergone severe damage to her pelvis and internal organs, but doctors say she hasn’t yet shown signs of brain damage.
They were both excited about news that Karen was nodding in response to questions and conversation with nurses.
"She was in a medical coma while we were there," Pasklivich-Holder said. "When you walk in to see her, it’s just like ‘Oh my god,’ like it’s so hard to believe she made it."
Karen’s mother says Ashby has been a teacher at Duck Bay for 26 years, and she spends every summer at home in Brandon.
She was home just last weekend to celebrate the 18th birthday and graduation of Pasklivich-Holder’s son — Karen’s godson. Pasklivich-Holder is convinced there was a higher power at work in Karen’s survival.
"We had just given her a sun-visor clip of a little guardian angel, something must have kept her safe," she said with certainty.
But although her condition has improved, both friend and mother say Karen still has a long way to go in her recovery.
She is unable to speak because a respirator is helping her breathe, but Ruby heard from a nurse that Karen was asking for a pen and paper before Sunday.
"She’s holding her own, and it’s a miracle she lived," Pasklivich-Holder said softly this weekend.
She and Ruby both expressed their sorrow at the loss of the two teens in the collision — Kayleigh Brugger, 18, and Paul Tschuschba, 17, both of Brandon.
Kayleigh’s father, Kirk, said Sunday he and his family are praying for Ashby.
RCMP continue to investigate the collision.