Less than a week after a violent two-vehicle crash occurred on Edmonton’s north side that saw one car actually be split in half, a woman who was in the car that was struck says she is grateful simply that she, her grandson and her friend are alive.
“I still can’t believe it,” Cassandra Delaney said Friday as she spoke to Global News outside of the hospital where she is recovering.
“How am I alive? How am I still here?”
Police officers were called to a crash in the area of 132nd Avenue and 82nd Street at 4:39 p.m. on Sunday. Investigators believe a man was driving a car west on 132nd Avenue at a high speed it went through a red light and hit another car that was being driven by Delaney’s friend. Delaney was in the front passenger seat where the impact was felt the most. Her grandson Tatum was in the backseat.
Delaney said she is her 22-month-old grandson’s full-time caregiver. They were headed out to go shopping when the collision unfolded about a five-minute drive from their home. She said the crash occurred very suddenly.
“The next thing I knew, I looked at my girlfriend and I was like, ‘What the hell happened?’ All you could see was the airbags,” she recalled. “I looked to the right out my window again and saw somebody had my grandson in their hand. And then all of a sudden I blacked out and I was in the hospital.”
Delaney has a long list of injuries but she, her grandson and her friend all survived. The driver of the other vehicle survived as well. He has since been charged with several offences.
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Delaney said she believes Tatum has experienced some level of trauma because of the crash. She said her friend sustained a serious concussion and has a broken wrist.
“It’s scary,” she said. “No one should have survived that accident. …
“We obviously have guardian angels.”
The level of destruction was evident at the scene of the crash. The car that hit Delaney’s was split in half.
Delaney has a partially collapsed lung, a fractured eardrum, a broken nose, six fractured ribs, several of her teeth have been displaced and she has about a dozen stitches on her head. She said she has difficulty breathing, sleeping, walking and bending over and is in a lot of pain.
“I can’t lift anything. Physically I can’t do much for myself,” she said, before breaking down in tears about how her injuries have impacted her ability to care for Tatum. “I can’t play with him like I used to.”
Delaney said she is grateful to be alive and not paralyzed but her timeline for recovery is not yet clear, as is the level to which she will recover.
Cassandra’s mother has flown in from California and her sister Brianna is caring for Tatum for now.
“My life has changed,” Brianna said. “I have older kids of my own and now I have a 22-month-old so my routine has changed. I took off work just so I can care for him.”
Brianna said she is just happy that her family members survived.
“You never think something like that is going to happen to somebody you love,” she said, adding that she has taken a leave from work to care for Tatum.
“It’s been a challenge but you do what you’ve got to do. You take it day by day and just hope for the best.”
Cassandra, who has been using a wheelchair because of the pain she experiences when walking, said she feels pressure to leave the hospital before she is ready to or has what she needs to live at home. She said she has no home care in place yet and that her home has a bathroom and kitchen on different floors.
Brianna said she too worries her sister will need to leave the hospital before she is ready.
“I feel like there’s a big gap in the transition going home,” she said.
Cassandra said she works as a health-care aide and is not sure when she will be able to return to work.
“(This is) going to affect the quality of my life for the rest of my life,” she said. “I can’t lift somebody. I can’t take care of the people I used to take care of.”
Brianna said she too believes Tatum experienced some trauma but that she believes he is getting better.
“Kids, you always think, ‘Well, they don’t feel this. They don’t have these emotions.’ Well they’re human too,” she said. “He hasn’t cried since he’s been with me, but the minute that grandma came he ran and balled in her arms. And it was almost like it was a release.
“I’m happy he’s smiling.”
Brianna said her sister is a generous person who does not deserve the hardship she is facing.
“I am very proud of of her,” she said of Cassandra. “She is actually getting up and tries to do things — it doesn’t matter the pain she is in.
“She is the last person in the world that deserves something like this. I’m proud that she is staying strong and getting better every day.”
Police said when officers searched the car that they believe ran the red light, they found a knife, a shotgun shell and an open alcohol container. They also said the car is believed to have been stolen.
Cody Slade Desjarlais has been charged with multiple offences, including two counts of impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm, two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and possession of stolen property under $5,000.
–with files from Jasmine King, Global News
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