Paramedic treats dying teen but didn't know it was her own daughter
When paramedic Jayme Erickson responded to a car crash last week, it was just another job. But she later learned her 17-year-old daughter was the critically injured passenger.
The Canadian mum was called to a crash at Airdrie, a city in Alberta, and treated the badly injured teen, but due to the severity of the injuries, was unable to recognise her own daughter Montana.
Montana was travelling with another young female when the vehicle lost control and was struck by an oncoming truck, fellow paramedic Richard Reed told reporters. Ms Erickson worked on treating the teen for almost half an hour until she was eventually airlifted to hospital. She was "trapped and critically injured," the mum recalled. "I sat in the car and tended to [the patient], doing whatever I could while firefighters extricated her".
Following the accident, Mr Reed said Ms Erickson expressed her grief and frustration to her partner knowing "tonight a family will most likely lose their daughter". It was only when she returned home from her shift and was met by police she learned it was her daughter, and she'd unknowingly been trying to keep her alive. "My life was changed forever," she said.
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"The critically injured patient I had just attended to, was my own flesh and blood. My only child. My mini-me. My daughter Montana," she wrote in a message to friends and family. "Her injuries were so horrific I did not even recognise her. I was taken to [Foothills Medical Centre] to see my baby girl." The devastated mum said she was told her daughter's injuries were "not compatible with life". She died three days later.
Grieving mum remembers her 'beautiful' daughter
Sharing the news with family and friends, the heartbroken mum described it as her "worst nightmare as a paramedic" and said her daughter's death has left the family "overwhelmed with grief and absolutely gutted". "I am shattered. I am broken. I am missing a piece of me. I am left to pick up the pieces and expected to carry on," the mum said of her heartbreak.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Ms Erickson described her daughter as a "firecracker". "She was a fighter and she fought until the day that she died," she said. "And she was beautiful, she was so beautiful."
Ms Erickson said she wanted the world to know about the type of person her daughter was. "She would love fiercely if you were her friend. She would love you to the end of the world and back and she would do anything for you. She was a fighter. And she fought," she said.
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