I M E, W A N V 1 L L E , B E .A V t K W ednesday May 10, 2000 Massive injuries should have been fatal (Continued from p a g e A1) X o i4 J P i k i .d £ s r m preparing to give a list of his injuries. "I have per manent brain damage, I tore my aorta to the point that it was hanging by a thread, my bronchus cracked, tore my intestines, ripped my knee liga ments to shreds, damaged my jaw, nose and the bone above m y1 eye, and had to have my spleen removed." Aquan-Assee's fight for survival has earned him a Courage To Come Back award, which was presented to him last Thursday night (May 4th) at the annual public awareness and fundraising din ner put on by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The dinner, held at the Westin Harbour Castle hotel in Toronto, attracted over 800 supporters and Aquan-Assee was one of nine people to win an award. He won in the category of Physical Rehabilitation and was honoured to receive it. "I was nominated last year by my parents but did not win," he said. "This year some of the med ical staff that have helped me along nominated me and I won. I'm proud because it represents a lot of hard work." Aquan-Assee, 31, who at the time of the acci dent was a teacher at Fern Avenue Public School in Toronto, spent 10 days in a coma and after awakening underwent seven different surgeries in a span of two months to try and repair his dam aged body. The road to recovery, which will like ly be unending, has been a long one to this point. "After I came out of my coma I first communi cated by writing on hospital paper," he said. "Since then I've had to start over again complete ly. I've had to re-leam how to walk, talk, think, just about everything." Having spent almost three months at St. M ichael's Hospital recovering, Aquan-Assee, who by then was in a wheelchair, transferred to Credit Valley Hospital where he began various therapy programs to help him attempt to regain what he had lost. "It was hard work," he said. "I did some neu rological activities as well as physio, speech, psy chological, and recreational therapy." Due to severe damage to his brain stem, Aquan-Assee has memory problems that require him to carry an electronic pocket organizer that he calls his "memory." He usually gets only three to four hours of sleep every night because his body is unable to go into deep sleeps. "It's tough because I used to be very physical ly active and now I'm too exhausted most of the time," he said. "Also, I am unable to have dreams while asleep." Aquan-Assee's condition had improved greatly by last September, two years after the accident. He has since returned to the classroom at Fern Avenue School, although, like everything else, he had to learn how to teach again. "I feel like a student studying for a university exam every night," he said. "I've had and still have many things to read and learn about to be an effective teacher once again. I visit a neuro-psy chologist every two weeks to make sure I'm suit able to be in a classroom." Now living in Toronto, Aquan-Assee volun teers at St. M ichael's hospital in his spare time as a way of giving back. He returns to Oakville every weekend to be with his family, who he credits with giving him the strength to recover. "I thank God for my second chance," he said. "The support of my family has been incredible and I'm proud that I persevered and didn't give up. That's one thing I'll never do. I'll never give up." y ^ i z t n a Th e £ i irons id n W th e a r m fG A /: YOUR OAKVILLE LINCOLNuEALER Photo by Peter J. 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